The Experience Myth

A pervasive myth about entrepreneurial success is that it is related somehow to experience in a corporate setting. That is, young people have been told that before they go out and start a business they should get a “real job” for a few years. Young entrepreneurs are finding more success than ever.


The fallacy of this myth came to mind grading a paper today. A student was telling about an encounter with a fellow student who was twenty years her senior. The older student had spent her entire career in human resources in the corporate setting. When the younger student told her about the entrepreneurship class she was taking, the older student said something like this: “If I knew leaving college what I know now, I would have started my own business and never looked back. Now it’s too late. My life is too complicated to even think about such a thing.”
Certainly, sometimes it makes sense to gain some experience. A student with a passion for the restaurant industry needs to have had experience in running such a business, for example. But much of this experience can be realized even during the time that these young people are pursuing their education. The key is to choose experience that directly supports the entrepreneurial path desired. And, there should be a clear time frame, with specific milestones of experiences gained, and with a defined “exit strategy” to allow transition into the entrepreneur’s own venture.
It should be noted that there is some research that supports the role that experience that the entrepreneur has had plays in predicting the success of a venture. However, the strongest predictor is experience in another entrepreneurial venture. This is even stronger support, in my mind, for getting started in an entrepreneurial career sooner rather than later. Also, caution must be taken with how these studies actually measure “doing better”. They tend to focus on growth rates of the business, which may or may not even be what the entrepreneurs themselves even consider as part of their success. Bigger, faster may not lead to longer term viability and success.
More and more educational institutions are now preparing their graduates to begin careers as entrepreneurs. Success rates of students graduating from these programs often exceed 80% measured after several years in business. This is critically important, since we are now in an entrepreneurially driven economy.