Opportunity vs necessity entrepreneurship: why it broke.
The opportunity vs necessity entrepreneurship split sorted founders into two boxes for nearly two decades. Then the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, which built it, retired it. Since 2020, founders rate four separate motives, because one person's reasons shift across a single year.
The objection in its strongest form.
Perhaps you are not blocked at all. You have seen something real, and you want to build it. So your job feels like a detail rather than a cause. Research once called this opportunity vs necessity entrepreneurship. Founders were asked whether they pursued an opportunity or had no better options.
Why opportunity vs necessity entrepreneurship was retired.
The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor has run across dozens of countries since the nineties. Its own account says the old question was too constrained. So in the 2020 survey, founders rate agreement with four statements. These are making a difference, building great wealth, continuing a family tradition, and earning a living because jobs are scarce.
Motives behave like weather.
You can now say yes to all four, to different degrees, on the same afternoon. In fact, the same founder reports one thing in March and another in November. Both times, they tell the truth as they see it. However, no validated test can tell you whether you are pulled or pushed. Therefore any quiz with a score is selling false certainty.
Test your own opportunity vs necessity entrepreneurship mix.
Write how strongly you agree with each of the four motives the 2020 survey uses.
Put the date on the page, so you can compare your answers again in a few months.
From the book.
So before I show you anything, let me tell you what nobody has. There is no validated test anywhere that will tell you whether you are pulled or pushed, researchers are still arguing about how to measure the thing at all, and anybody handing you a quiz with a score on the end is selling a certainty nobody has.
I Want to Start a Business but I Can't Quit My Job, chapter 5: Stuck is not the same as ready
Questions about opportunity vs necessity entrepreneurship.
Is opportunity vs necessity entrepreneurship still a valid way to sort founders?
Not according to the people who built it. They found it too constrained and replaced it in the 2020 survey.
Is there a test that shows if I am pulled or pushed?
No validated test exists, and researchers still argue about how to measure it. So treat any scored quiz with suspicion.
Can my motives change?
Yes. The same founder can report one motive in March and another in November, and mean both.
Read the whole chapter.
This lesson covers one section of chapter 5, “Stuck is not the same as ready”. The book goes further, with the full evidence, the stories and every exercise.
Lessons in this chapter.
- 01 Passed over for promotion: when skill is not the issue.
- 02 Opportunity vs necessity entrepreneurship: why it broke.
- 03 Test the job market: apply for three jobs.
- 04 Blocked mobility entrepreneurship: the three doors.
- 05 Why do employees really quit: the shock that starts it.
- 06 Nietzsche on work: the best policeman.
- 07 Immigrant self employment: the price of a shut door.
- 08 Running away from your job: does it disqualify you.