Now that the dotbomb poseurs have been weeded out, the theory and practice of entrepreneurship is once again returning to its roots and real entrepreneurs are returning to centre stage. Entrepreneurship is once again clearly being seen for what it really is: someone with a good idea with the skills and commitment to make it work. Starting a company from scratch is a risky business financially and personally. It takes aggressiveness, persistence, a good portion of luck and intuition and an ability to marshal resources and talent. Oh, and a positive cashflow and demonstrable path to profit would help. Here are some key trends in entrepreneurship, business start-ups and the venture capital (aka private equity capital) arenas. Business start-ups falling relative to business closures Statistics show the ratio of business start-ups to business closures is decreasing. UK year 2001: 19% more businesses closed than were started 342,000 business start-ups (15% decrease from 2000) 410,000 business closures (4% increase from 2000) UK 4th quarter 2001: 35% more businesses closed than were started 79,300 business start-ups (6% decrease from 2000) 109,000 business closures (10% increase from 2000) ...