The Future of Capitalism… As Told By A Recovering Capitalist
By: Mat Chacon
Tags: Government, Capitalism, Prosperity, Entrepreneurship

By Mat Chacon, CEO of spatial computing company Doghead Simulations

Personal prosperity is born from capitalism.

In fact, capitalism is the only system consistently proven to not only accelerate innovation, and economic wealth, but also democracy. It is a beautiful system of amelioration. However, it can also be a cookie cutter recipe of destruction. With all of the prosperity and freedom it enables, capitalism also widens the wealth gap. While there has been no better ideological system for personal and societal prosperity to date, I’d say that traditional capitalism today is largely failing to meet society’s needs and the COVID-19 pandemic is shining a very bright light on this insufficiency as are the recent protests over racial injustice and economic inequality. We’re teetering a knife’s edge of revolution. A new system may need to be explored.

Before you continue with this article, you should know that I am a successful serial entrepreneur. But, it wasn’t always that way. I grew up in poverty, raised in the American urban metropolis of south central Phoenix, Arizona. It was our capitalist market economy that enabled me to pull myself out of that poverty and enjoy a rich life of abundance. But, I never forgot where I came from. That is why I freely donate my time to anyone on earth that wants or needs it, completely free of charge; 10% of my day, every day. However, after 22-years of being a successful entrepreneur and CEO, I now find myself in an odd position that I must admit to you now:

“My name is Mat Chacon… and I’m a recovering Capitalist.”

Though I do see some obvious pitfalls with modern capitalism, I sincerely believe that a new system of capitalism does not mean that we should simply abandon capitalism altogether. Like most systems, capitalism is organically evolving with the ever-changing political and economic landscape and it is rapidly maturing into a more egalitarian structure being driven primarily by today’s youth.

As capitalism evolves, we must be sensitive to the protections of democratic ideals and guide it’s development toward more meritocratic practices and away from the state-led market economies being favored by the current governments of Mainland China, Russia and Venezuela. That being the case, it is important that we recognize that people are not their governments. People should not fear their governments, and that happens in state-led capitalism because those governments abhor the free market system. Those governments act in the best interest of the few people at the top and not in the best interests of society at large.

I see the same thing happening in America. The few are benefitting far too richly from the many, and without any reciprocation of those benefits. We can do better.

Personally, I like the idea of stakeholder capitalism, where companies do not solely act in the best interests of their boards or shareholders. This is a system where companies act in the best interests of not only those people, but also the people that work at those companies and the human beings who purchase and interact with their products and services… in effect, the best interests of society.

After all, doing something that benefits society can and will benefit you, personally. This is a mindset shift that is desperately needed if we are to positively advance without abnegating our fellow human.

To that effect, I’d like to advance the idea of Entrepreneurial Capitalism. Now, I know those two words may seem entirely congruent, but hear me out. Entrepreneurial Capitalism is a system where success is achieved and rewarded through hard work and high standards, rather than class privilege or wealth. Entrepreneurial Capitalism is specifically focused on taking calculated risks, and disrupting the status quo. Consider it a “level up” of meritocratic capitalism.

There is no contesting that capitalism conceived the entrepreneur. It is those entrepreneurs that have consistently led improvements and innovations that have helped society flourish. Entrepreneurs start-up small companies that disrupt the status quo and then those start-ups become the mega-corporations we all interact with, and then new entrepreneurs disrupt those behemoths to bring about new innovations that make life better. It is not big governments or taxes or giant corporations or even a select few people at the top that improve society. It is the lone entrepreneur working diligently in their own self-interest to improve their personal station in life that, in-turn, improves the world at large.

Entrepreneurial Capitalism can be a beautiful cycle for consistent improvement. It can challenge the free market to do better by the people who are challenged by it. One of the more immediate challenges to the current free market system in an entrepreneurial capital economy will be to celebrate the the right things.

Too often, as entrepreneurs, we celebrate the wrong people and the wrong accomplishments. Instead of celebrating a $20 million investment by people wealthy enough to lose that $20 million and not need to live on Top Ramen the rest of their lives, we should celebrate the customer wins that enable us to raise that $20 million investment from the people that actually purchase our products and interact with our services on a daily basis. Running a business with a customer-centric approach, essentially running a largely customer-funded business, will enable a freedom that doesn’t necessarily exist when you raise money from investors.

Another challenge will be to disrupt the current boards of companies and involve employees of different levels in an organization on those boards to help steer the company in directions that are profitable and can also benefit society.

So, before we find ourselves in a system will only benefit even fewer people, like state-led capitalism, let’s get in front of the groundswell of change that is already happening and promote a more equitable system that rewards the hard work, high standards, and risk taking of the lone entrepreneur while also benefitting the society that helps that person flourish.

Entrepreneurial Capitalism promotes growth in society-benefitting, business building activities like abundant and economical housing and afforable, high-quality education that require some loosening of existing restrictions to be successful. It is also a system that requires government cooperation to enact new restrictions on society-limiting activities like lobbyists for politically connected companies and removing certain requirements in accredited college degree programs that require students to spend years in college and get deep into debt paying to learn about subjects that they’ll only forget and never use in life.

As we move into a future impacted by a global pandemic and violent protests on racial and economic inequality, we need to recognize what we can improve to not only elevate our own personal prosperity, but also enhance the lives of the people who make up our society.

Personal prosperity is born from capitalism. But personal and societal prosperity can be achieved with Entrepreneurial Capitalism. We owe it to ourselves and our society to do and be better.

A new system of capitalism must be explored.

For more thoughts, essays and other fun posts, you can find and directly message me on Twitter @TheVRCEO or here on Medium, using my name, Mat Chacon.