Some of the best entrepreneurs I have worked with had something in common long before they built successful companies: They were immigrants, or the children of immigrants. In fact, Carnegie notes that immigrants have founded or co-founded more than half of America’s billion-dollar startups.
I think I understand why so many first- and second-generation Americans flourish in entrepreneurship. My family immigrated from Cyprus when I was eight years old. I didn’t speak English. We arrived on a Friday night, and by Monday morning, I was sitting in an American classroom trying to make sense of words I couldn’t understand.