With the second decade of the 21st century beginning in a matter of days, Onondaga Historical Association director Gregg Tripoli wants to make sure Central New York holds on to its entrepreneurial past.
Tripoli recently wrote a piece for the Syracuse Post-Standard titled, “Central New York history shows what it takes to be an entrepreneur,” highlightinglocal ideas that have impacted the world.
“Our local history is filled with compelling and fascinating people and companies that have had national and international impacts and that provide classic examples of what it takes and what it means to be an entrepreneur.”
One example Tripoli points to is Shubert brothers, from Syracuse. They worked in the theater district in Syracuse in the late 1800s and early 1900s. They helped build an empire of theaters all over the world, and turned an undeveloped part of Manhattan know as Longacre Square into the theater district we know today as Times Square.
Tripoli uses the Shubert example to point out that you don’t have to be an Einstein to be an entrepreneur. He says too much emphasis has been placed on creating a new idea, coming up with something out of whole cloth. He says the Shuberts didn’t invent theater - but they did take it to another level.
“The truth of the matter is that the most valued creation in our economy comes from process innovation. Not from that one big idea, or that new product that no one has ever heard of before,” said Tripoli. “Taking something that’s already on the market, that’s already invented and making it better, faster, or more relevant. To improve it in someway and making it more valuable.”
