This July 4th weekend, as America celebrated the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, my wife and I decided to take our kids into Philadelphia and experience history firsthand.

We visited Independence Hall and the Museum of the American Revolution, including a powerful exhibit called The Declaration’s Journey, which explores the history and global influence of the Declaration from 1776 to today. The exhibit brings together rare documents, art, and artifacts that show how the Declaration has traveled far beyond Philadelphia and influenced independence movements around the world. (Museum of the American Revolution)

It was one of those family days that starts with sunscreen, snacks, and mild logistical chaos, and ends with everyone learning more than expected. I was especially glad my kids were exposed to it. Even better, they actually seemed to enjoy it.

As I reflected on the day, I found myself genuinely inspired. I knew parts of the story, but I also learned a ton. My thoughts wandered to something that may sound cliché at first: there are real parallels between the Declaration of Independence, the Revolutionary War, and entrepreneurship.

Not the clean, heroic, textbook version of entrepreneurship. The real, messy, uncertain version. The version where the stakes are high, the future is unclear, the people matter more than the plan, and you are trying to build something that does not yet exist.

A quick interesting (to me) historical note: July 4, 1776 was not the day everyone signed the Declaration. It was the day the Continental Congress adopted the text. Two days earlier, on July 2, the Continental Congress voted for independence; on July 4, it adopted the text of the Declaration,  and delegates began signing the engrossed parchment about a month later, on August 2. (National Archives)

That distinction actually makes the entrepreneurial lesson stronger. The Founders declared the direction before every signature was gathered. In other words: vision first, alignment next. That sounds a lot like building a company.

1. Progress matters more than perfection

One of the most powerful parts of the museum exhibit was how it did not treat the Declaration as a flawless document.

It is one of the most important documents in modern history. It helped articulate the idea that governments derive their power from the consent of the governed. It gave language to liberty, equality, and self-determination. The National Archives describes the Declaration as one of America’s foundational statements of identity, even though it is not legally binding in the way the Constitution is. (National Archives)

And yet, it was deeply imperfect.

The famous phrase “all men are created equal” remains one of the most quoted lines in American history. But the Founders did not fully live up to it. Enslaved people were excluded. Women were excluded. Native Americans and other marginalized groups were excluded. The country would spend generations fighting over the gap between the words America declared and the reality America practiced.

There is also another line in the Declaration that is much harder to sit with. In listing grievances against King George III, the document refers to Native Americans as “merciless Indian Savages.” That language is brutal, dehumanizing, and historically important to acknowledge.

So yes, the Declaration was visionary. And yes, it was flawed. Both things are true.

That may be the first lesson for entrepreneurs: if you wait until the idea is perfect, the market is perfect, the team is perfect, the product is perfect, and the timing is perfect, you will never declare anything.

The Founders did not wait for perfect alignment. They declared a direction. Then the country had to spend the next 250 years wrestling with what those words really meant.

Entrepreneurship works the same way. Your first product will be imperfect. Your first positioning statement will be imperfect. Your first operating model will be imperfect. Your first go-to-market strategy will be imperfect. Your first leadership team may be imperfect.

But imperfection is not always the enemy. Sometimes, the quest for perfection is. 

Progress creates evidence. Evidence creates learning. Learning creates refinement. Refinement creates momentum. As an entrepreneur, you do not need the perfect version to start. You need a version clear enough to move.

2. You need the right people in the right seats

The Declaration was not the work of one person alone.

Thomas Jefferson did much of the drafting, but Congress appointed a Committee of Five: Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston. The document was debated, edited, adopted by Congress, printed, distributed, and eventually signed by delegates representing colonies with different interests, cultures, economies, and levels of enthusiasm for independence. (National Archives)

That is not just history. That is organizational design. The Revolution required thinkers, writers, diplomats, financiers, generals, soldiers, messengers, printers, foreign allies, and local leaders. It required people who could argue, persuade, compromise, strategize, and execute. It required thirteen colonies to become something more than thirteen separate entities with thirteen separate agendas.

That should sound familiar to anyone building a company. Gino Wickman and the EOS world talk about getting the right people in the right seats. Jim Collins famously framed it as getting the right people on the bus. However you phrase it, the principle is the same: talent alone is not enough. Fit, role clarity, and shared direction really matter. 

In entrepreneurship, this is often the hardest part. Sometimes you have the wrong people on the bus. Sometimes you have the right people in the wrong seats. Sometimes you think someone is the right person, and they turn out not to be. Sometimes someone was right for one stage of the business, but not for the next one. And sometimes, the hardest leadership decision is not about strategy, marketing, sales, or finance. It is about people.

If you do not have the right people rowing in the same direction, almost nothing else works. The Revolutionary War was not won by a single brilliant document. It was won through coordination, leadership, sacrifice, alliances, and execution over time.

Businesses are built the same way. A great idea may get people’s attention. A great team turns it into something real.

3. Entrepreneurs need a rebellious streak

At some level, entrepreneurs are rebels, not just builders. 

That does not mean they are reckless, angry, or contrarian for the sake of being contrarian. In fact, the worst entrepreneurs are often the ones who confuse rebellion with ego.  Real entrepreneurial rebellion is different. It starts with a refusal to accept that the current way is the only way. Every meaningful company begins by pushing against something: an outdated industry model, a lazy customer experience, a bloated incumbent, a broken pricing structure, a slow process, a gatekeeper, a monopoly, or a giant competitor that has become too comfortable. The entrepreneur looks at the status quo and says, “This does not have to be this way.” That is a rebellious act. 

And it is not very different from what the Founders were doing. The Declaration of Independence was not a polite suggestion. It was not a customer feedback survey. It was not a minor process improvement memo sent to King George III. It was an act of defiance. From the British point of view, the Declaration was treason. The final line makes clear that the signers understood the stakes: they pledged to one another their “Lives,” their “Fortunes,” and their “sacred Honor.”

That was not branding language. That was a huge risk. If the Revolution failed, the men attached to the cause were not going back to business as usual. They were publicly challenging the most powerful empire in the world. The British government dismissed the Declaration as the work of disgruntled colonists, but the act itself was unmistakable: the colonies were rejecting the legitimacy of the existing system. That is the part of entrepreneurship people do not always talk about. Founders are often celebrated once they win. But before they win, they usually look irrational. 

• Why would you compete with a giant?
• Why would you leave a stable job?
• Why would customers switch?
• Why would the industry change?
• Why would your small team succeed where better-funded companies have failed?

Those are fair questions. And sometimes the doubters are right. But sometimes the doubters are simply too invested in the way things already work. Entrepreneurs need enough rebellion to see what others have normalized. They need enough conviction to challenge the industry’s default assumptions. They need enough stubbornness to keep going when the incumbent laughs, ignores them, copies them, or tries to crush them. But rebellion by itself is not enough. A rebel without discipline is just noisy. The best entrepreneurs combine rebellion with strategy. They are not merely against something. They are for something better: Better access, better service, better technology, better economics, better outcomes, better lives for the people they serve. That is what separates a serious entrepreneur from someone who just likes being disruptive. 

Our Founders were rebelling against British rule, but they were also making a case for a different kind of government. Entrepreneurs rebel against broken markets, but the great ones also make a case for a better future. 

That is the entrepreneurial lesson. You do not build something meaningful by accepting every inherited rule. At some point, you have to be willing to say: the old model is not good enough anymore. And then you have to prove it.

4. The outcome is uncertain, and you get knocked down anyway

Entrepreneurship is often romanticized from the outside. The founder story gets cleaned up after the fact. The pitch deck becomes mythology. The sleepless nights, missed payroll scares, failed hires, bad assumptions, customer churn, and existential dread get edited out.

But anyone who has actually built something knows the truth. Elon Musk once described entrepreneurship as “eating glass and staring into the abyss.” Dramatic? Yes. But any founder who has had to make payroll, lose a major customer, raise capital, pivot a strategy, or carry the emotional weight of a company knows exactly what he meant.

The Revolutionary War had plenty of abyss-staring. Independence was not inevitable after July 4, 1776. Declaring independence did not mean winning independence. The Continental Army endured brutal setbacks, uncertainty, and long odds. Even moments that we now treat as patriotic symbols, like Valley Forge, were messy and punishing in real time. The National Park Service describes Valley Forge as the 1777–1778 winter encampment where Washington’s army emerged more cohesive and disciplined, but that transformation came through hardship, not a neat strategic offsite. (National Park Service)

Even major breakthroughs did not eliminate uncertainty. The alliance with France in 1778 was a critical diplomatic success, bringing financial and military support. During the Revolutionary War, the Oneida Nation broke with the rest of the Iroquois Confederacy (or Six Nations) to become one of America’s earliest allies. But even with that help, victory was not guaranteed. That is another entrepreneurial lesson – there is rarely a single moment when everything suddenly becomes safe. You win a big client, and then you have to deliver. You raise money, and then expectations increase. You hire a strong leader, and then the culture changes. You find product-market fit, and then competitors notice. You survive one crisis, and then the next one introduces itself. The job is not to avoid getting knocked down. You will get knocked down.

The job is to keep moving with enough conviction, humility, and adaptability to survive the next stretch.

The Founders pursued independence without knowing whether they would succeed. Entrepreneurs build companies without knowing whether the market will reward them. In both cases, conviction matters most when certainty is unavailable.

5. A declaration creates accountability

One of the things I kept thinking about is the word “declaration.”

The Declaration of Independence was not a private journal entry. It was not a brainstorm. It was not a vague aspiration buried in a notebook somewhere.

It was a public statement of intent. In entrepreneurship, there is a major difference between having an idea and declaring a direction. An idea can stay comfortable. A declaration forces movement. 

• “We are building this.”
• “We are serving this customer.”
• “We are entering this market.”
• “We are changing this industry.”
• “We are no longer willing to accept the way things have always been done.”

A declaration does not guarantee success. But it creates accountability. It gives people something to rally around. It turns ambiguity into direction. The Founders were not merely complaining about the British Crown. They were making a case for a different future.

The best entrepreneurs do the same thing. They do not just say, “This process is broken.” They say, “Here is what should exist instead.” That is a very different kind of leadership.

6. Successful people copy previous examples

Another thing that struck me at the museum was something I had not fully appreciated before: the Declaration of Independence did not just shape America. It became a model for the world.

In one of my previous jobs, we used an acronym I always loved for finding great ideas: SWIPE — Steal With Integrity, Pride, and Enthusiasm.

The idea was simple. When you see something good, do not pretend you are too original to learn from it. Study it. Respect it. Adapt it. Apply it to your situation. That is exactly what successful entrepreneurs do.

Apparently, it is also what successful independence movements do. The Declaration of Independence helped create a new global template. It gave people a structure for saying: here is who we are, here is why the current system is no longer acceptable, here is the case against that system, and here is the future we are declaring for ourselves. That template traveled. The Museum of the American Revolution notes that more than 100 nations have integrated the Declaration’s ideals into their own independence movements. (Museum of the American Revolution)

The example that hit me hardest was India. 

As someone of Indian heritage, I did not know that India’s 1930 Declaration of Purna Swaraj, or complete independence, echoed the structure and spirit of the American Declaration. The Purna Swaraj declaration, originally drafted by Mahatma Gandhi,  was issued on January 26, 1930, after the Indian National Congress moved beyond the demand for dominion status and called instead for full independence from British rule. (Declaration Project)

There are important differences, of course. India’s declaration was shaped by its own history, leaders, moral philosophy, and strategy, especially the commitment to nonviolent resistance. But the structure is familiar: a statement of rights, a list of grievances, and a declaration that the current system was no longer legitimate. That is not plagiarism. That is inspiration and pattern recognition. That is learning from what worked.

Entrepreneurs sometimes get too precious about originality. We act like every idea has to be completely new. Every strategy has to be invented from scratch. Every positioning statement, business model, pricing strategy, team structure, sales process, and leadership philosophy has to come from divine inspiration.

It does not.  The best entrepreneurs are often world-class observers. They notice what is working in one category and apply it to another. They borrow from competitors but improve the execution. They study companies outside their industry and adapt the operating model. They learn from mentors, peers, customers, books, podcasts, frameworks, and even history museums. They do not copy blindly. They copy intelligently. That distinction matters. Bad copying is imitation without understanding. Good copying is translation.

The American Declaration did not give India its independence. India had its own leaders, its own context, its own sacrifices, and its own path. But the American Declaration offered a powerful structure for articulating a case for freedom.

That is the entrepreneurial lesson. You do not have to invent every tool you use. You do not have to be the first person to see a problem. You do not have to build from a blank page. But you do have to know what is worth swiping, how to adapt it with integrity, and how to make it true for your own mission. Successful people copy previous examples. The great ones improve them.

7. The story keeps evolving after the launch

The Declaration was not the end of the American story. It was the beginning of a long, unfinished argument about whether the country would live up to its own words.

That is one reason the museum exhibit was so compelling. It showed how the Declaration traveled, how it influenced others, and how its meaning continued to evolve across generations and around the world.

That is also how companies evolve. A launch is not the finish line. The first website is not the brand. The first customer is not the market. The first version of the product is not the category. The first operating model is not the culture. Entrepreneurs often put too much emotional weight on the launch. But the launch is just the declaration. The real work is what happens after.

• Do you listen?
• Do you adapt?
• Do you live up to the promise?
• Do you fix what is broken?
• Do you keep expanding the circle of people who benefit from what you are building?

The companies that endure are not the ones that get everything right on day one. They are the ones that keep closing the gap between their stated ambition and their actual behavior.

That is harder than writing the declaration. It is also the work that matters most.

The entrepreneurial lessons of Independence Day

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that the Declaration of Independence is not just a historical document. It is a case study in the messy act of building something new. It teaches us that bold ideas can be imperfect.

• Words matter, but execution matters more.
• That the right people make the mission possible.
• That alliances can change the trajectory.
• That uncertainty is part of the job.
• That getting knocked down does not mean the cause is lost.
• That successful people borrow from proven models and adapt them with integrity.

And that sometimes, before the outcome is clear, before everyone agrees, before every flaw is fixed, and before the path is fully visible, you have to declare what you are building. That is true for countries, companies, and entrepreneurs.

• Progress over perfection.
• Right people, right seats.
• Rebel against the status quo.
• Steal with integrity, pride, and enthusiasm.
• Keep going when the ending is uncertain.

That may not be the clean version of the story. But it is the real one.