I understand what the author is try to do with the headline, but I think it is literally impossible to <i>accidentally</i> start your own business (especially when you incorporate it). These people saw a problem ("I lost my job and I need money to live off of") and a way to solve it ("I can spend some time making product X and setting up a website to sell it online") and then <i>consciously</i> decided to go ahead with that plan.<p>Successful people aren't successful by accident.
<i>The silver lining may be that the survival rate is about the same in expansions and recessions, says Dane Stangler, senior analyst at Kauffman. ...<p>Research from Kauffman in June found that more than half of the companies on the Fortune 500 list in 2009 and nearly half of the companies on the Inc. magazine 2008 list were founded during a recession or bear market.</i><p>This makes either perfect sense or no sense at all. Would it also follow that given the cyclical nature of the economy, about half the time we're in a "bull" market and half the time we're in a "bear" market? Not sure how useful this statistic is. After all, it takes many companies awhile to get to the Fortune 500.<p>(Edit) My brain must still be stuck on Seth Goldin's 50-50 Suburban/Prius math problem from yesterday. I guess what this article amounts to is anything that can be construed as good news would be encouraging to the entrepreneur!
This reminds me a lot of a previous NYTimes article:
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/14/technology/start-ups/14startup.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/14/technology/start-ups/14sta...</a>
"Weary of Looking for Work, Some Create Their Own"<p>Which I thought was discussed here, but I can't find a link.