I understand what the author is try to do with the headline, but I think it is literally impossible to accidentally 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 consciously decided to go ahead with that plan.
While it is technically impossible to accidentally start a company, it is quite possible to accindentally find oneself in a position where starting a company seems like the best realistic option, which I imagine is what the title was hinting at.
Like my girlfriend, within a relatively short time frame she lost her job, got turned town at the last minute for this other job she had been promised and then met a guy who also was thinking about starting a company and who not only shared the same professional interests she did, but had a complementing skill set. All of these where unplanned circumstances which all accumulated in her starting a company.
I know what you mean. Someone could invent something for themselves, then make a few more for friends and family that want it, and so one until they have realized a business. Then you might consciously decide to incorporate or otherwise take it to the next level.
Still, I don't like how the author made it seem like the people in the article won the lottery or something. They made the decision to make the best of their situation, instead of just stumbling into something new.
The title is not meant to be taken literally. I believe it's a riff on "The Accidental Tourist," which has spawned lots of titles of the form "The Accidental X," for any case where ending up as X was not the original intent.
The silver lining may be that the survival rate is about the same in expansions and recessions, says Dane Stangler, senior analyst at Kauffman. ...
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.
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.
(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!
Even if it is true that we are in a bull market half the time and in a bear one half the time, this can still be viewed as encouraging statistic because it means that companies that start in a bear market do not suffer any excessive weeding out on their way to the fortune 500 as a result of starting in a bear market.
Successful people aren't successful by accident.