For decades, the United States has been experiencing a shocking decline in the number of new business start-ups - and it has gotten worse since the Great Recession. While new business formation in Silicon Valley, New York, and Boston is booming, entrepreneurship in most of the country - particularly rural regions - is declining. Things are even worse for women and people of color. This is of paramount importance to the United States because start-ups account for all new net-job growth, champion innovation, and strengthen our middle class.From the perspective of an entrepreneur with more than 50 years of experience in diverse industries - from software to real estate to winemaking - author Craig Hall provides his expert evaluation on the challenges facing entrepreneurs today. After careful analysis defining the current environment for startups, Hall optimistically concludes with specific strategies for go-getters to successfully bridge the opportunity gap. We can, and must, reverse these trends in order to level the playing field for entrepreneurs to safeguard the future of the American Dream.