This is Planet Money from NPR.

We are in the middle of an industrial revolution, the third industrial revolution.

Industrial revolution, number one, steam.

Number two, electricity.

Number three, the one we are living through, this very moment, computers and the internet.

This is not a secret.

In fact, we think about it, talk about it all the time.

One, Facebook, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

But there are aspects of this third industrial revolution that we don't talk about that much

and that are really interesting and important and big.

One of those, the third industrial revolution has made it easier than ever to start a business.

Sure, it used to be that to start a business, you needed connections, capital, brick and

mortar space.

You sometimes needed millions of dollars.

But today, if you want to start a company, you got a laptop, you got an internet connection,

you're like 90% of the way there.

And a lot of that 90%, a lot of that reason that it's so easy to start a small company today

is because of a few giant companies.

Giant companies that have made it very easy to do a lot of the core things you have to do

to start a company.

You know, things like finding customers and getting paid.

However, if you are one of those small companies building on the backs of giant companies,

...