Nebraska Entrepreneur recently caught up with Jeff Raikes and asked him a few questions about entrepreneurship in Nebraska. Raikes is a Nebraska native who currently serves as the CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. To see his full bio, visit gatesfoundation.org/leadership.

Here’s the full transcript from the video above:

I think one of the things that’s really made our country great, is that spirit of innovation, that spirit of creativity. The kind of capability and capacity that builds new products and services and really creates new value for people. That comes from great entrepreneurship. People who have that sort of creative spirit, who will then bring that to the market, to society, in ways that really raise the overall quality of life.

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Any great company needs to have “intrepreneurs.” People who have those ideas and innovative approaches, of: “How can we make this better?” “How can we do this process better” “How can we build this product better?” So that it will do well in the marketplace, so it will satisfy customers better. That kind of innovative spirit, that kind of intrapreneurial approach, is important in big companies.

The best time to pursue your dream, to pursue starting your company, is when you have a great idea, when you have an idea that’s really going to sell, and that will transcend whatever the economic environment is. Of course if the economy is tough it may be a little bit tougher to get the financing. If the economy is going really well you might have a lot of competitors for your idea. So the most important thing is to really figure out what is the idea that is going to sell.

For entrepreneurs to be successful, it’s very important to focus in on who you’re going to serve, who do you think your target market is going to be. Having a great idea, having something that you love, that nobody else is interested in, that’s not going to sell. So what you have to do, you have to really think through “who is it that’s really going to like the thing that I want to build –the product I want to build, the service I want to take to market – and really understand them.

Here in Nebraska, of course we’re not in the middle of Silicon Valley, but nor was Seattle, Washington. The most important thing is to understand what your assets are. Here in Nebraska we have very smart, hard-working people, who really bring the right kind of values. And if you use that as a platform, you can do great things, you can build great businesses, right here in Nebraska.