Chapter 1
Introduction to Entrepreneurship
Why do people become entrepreneur?
The three primary reasons that people become entrepreneurs and start their own firms are to be
their own boss, pursue their own ideas, and realize financial rewards.
(1) Be their own boss
Entrepreneurs want to be their own boss because either they had a long-term ambition to own
their own business or have become frustrated working in traditional jobs. In traditional jobs,
people may not work independently, cannot pursue new opportunities or even may not be
allowed to implement any new ideas into practices. Therefore, sometimes people prefer to work
in traditional businesses for some years to get experience and to save money to start their own
business in future.
Example:
Wendy DeFeudis left her conventional job due to frustration and started her own company. She
is the founder of VeryWendy, a company that makes customized social invitations. According to
her, she feels great satisfaction while working for herself than working for a large firm.
(2) Pursue their own ideas
Some people are naturally alert, when they recognize ideas for new products or services then
they have a desire to implement those ideas into some kind of businesses. For instance, some
people recognize the need for a product or service that is not available in the market place. If
idea is important enough to support a business, then they usually spend enough time and energy
to convert the idea into a part-time or full-time firm or businesses. In this way they relate the
ideas with important business opportunities.
Example:
Melissa Pickering left her mechanical engineering job from Walt Disney Corp to pursue an idea.
She is the founder of iCreate to educate, a company that develops software apps to allow
students to build, express, and share their creativity through animated videos.
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(3) Pursue financial rewards
People start their own firms to get financial rewards. However, this motivation is secondary to
the first two reasons. People may not get financial rewards if they feel that they don’t have
control over their firms’ operations. This could happen due to bad economy or intense
competition in the market place
Examples:
People such as Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com, Mark Zukerberg of Facebook, and Larry Page and
Sergey Brin of google made hundreds of millions of dollars to build their firms.
REFERENCES
(1) Barringer, B.R. and Ireland, R.D. (2019). Entrepreneurship: Successfully Launching
New Ventures. 6th ed. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice-Hall.
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