In 1938, a time of fear and division in Europe and the U.S., President Franklin D. Roosevelt told an American audience: “Remember, remember always that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists.”
Those famous lines capture the essence of what makes this country, and the innovation economy, the strongest in the world.
Entrepreneurs are the true revolutionaries. They seek to change the world by replacing the old with something better. They build companies, creating jobs and seeking improvements in our lives. In doing so, they take on the old guard and, against all odds, often they come out on top. This was the same spirit that compelled people to come to America in search of change and a better life than the one they had been born into. And for this reason, we are a country built on a spirit of collective improvement and change.
Immigrant entrepreneurs have had remarkable impact on our economy and our country for its entire history. In the last few decades, this seems to be accelerating. Immigrant-founded companies — among them, Google, eBay, Tesla Motors and Yahoo, just to name a few — represent roughly a third of all publicly traded venture-backed companies and are responsible for more than $1.7 trillion in revenue, according to the National Venture Capital Association. The companies these immigrants have created employ approximately 600,000 people.
So we continue to celebrate the immigrant spirit here at CRV. We announced our visa program last month (visas@crv.com) as well as our initiative to provide funding, support and office space to immigrant entrepreneurs.
As a firm of immigrants representing 7 countries and 8 languages, we are looking for the next generation of bold entrepreneurs. We speak your language. FDR was right — we are all descended from immigrants and revolutionists. And we are all in this together.
Thank You,
The CRV Partnership
