Entrepreneurship, both in the conventional wisdom and the academic view, has long been seen as the province of great individuals. Scores of books and articles have been written extolling the virtues of heroic entrepreneurs. This chapter starts from the assumption that this “great man” theory misses the fundamental mechanisms that spur entrepreneurship and economic growth. Indeed, entrepreneurship is more than an economic process and extends beyond the process of new business formation. At bottom, entrepreneurship is a social process that stems from a broad set of social and cultural conditions.