Entrepreneurship: Taught by Parents or Learned Through Life? That's the question!
Are entrepreneurs born with certain traits, raised to be enterprising, or forged by real-world experience?
This classic “nature vs. nurture” question in business asks whether entrepreneurial skills can be taught – by parents or educators – or if they are primarily learned by trial and error in life. Experts from multiple fields have debated this. Experienced entrepreneurs and scholars weigh in on both sides. On one hand, many universities now teach entrepreneurship, reflecting a belief that an innovative mindset can be cultivated in a classroom. On the other hand, successful founders often insist that nothing rivals the lessons of hands-on experience and even failure in the real world.
Below, we explore how entrepreneurial traits develop according to business leaders, educators, and psychologists, and what research says about upbringing versus real-world experience. We also highlight examples of entrepreneurs who credit their parents for instilling an entrepreneurial spirit versus those who attribute their success to life experiences. Finally, we discuss whether formal education or parental guidance can substitute for real-world practice, and share practical tips for parents who want to foster entrepreneurship in their children.
The Role of Upbringing and Parental Influence
Parental Support and Modeling:
There is growing evidence that upbringing plays a significant role in shaping future entrepreneurs. Research has found a strong intergenerational link – having an entrepreneur as a parent substantially increases the odds that a child will become an entrepreneur. A landmark study of adoptees in Sweden (Journal of Labor Economics, 2015) showed that “parental entrepreneurship increases the probability of children’s entrepreneurship by about 60%.” Moreover, both biological and adoptive parents contributed to this effect, with post-birth (environmental) factors twice as important as pre-birth (genetic) factors. In other words, being raised in an entrepreneurial environment (role-modeling, dinner-table business talk, seeing a parent run a business) had a larger impact than heredity. This suggests entrepreneurial mindset is highly learnable through environment and example. Other studies back this up: for instance, research in Spain found that children of business owners were driven toward entrepreneurship by their parents’ positive role modeling. And a 2018 survey of business-owning mothers in the U.S. found 89% believed they were inspiring their kids to become entrepreneurs someday.
Beyond imparting business know-how, parents often shape traits like confidence, independence, and resilience which are crucial for entrepreneurship. In Margot Machol Bisnow’s book Raising an Entrepreneur, after interviewing 70+ families, she observed that *“almost every successful person had a parent who supported and believed in them.”* That support frequently came in the form of encouragement, values, and mindset rather than formal business lessons. For example, Esther Wojcicki – mother of Susan Wojcicki (YouTube CEO) and Anne Wojcicki (23andMe co-founder) – followed a simple rule: *“Don’t do anything for your kids if they can do it themselves.”* She used guided practice (showing her daughters how to do something, doing it with them, then letting them do it alone) and deliberately avoided helicopter parenting. This approach taught Susan and Anne to tackle challenges independently and build confidence from a young age. Jessica Jackley, co-founder of Kiva, similarly credits her mother for building her self-confidence “every single day” by telling her she could achieve ambitious goals and by forbidding boredom – instead, they were “always learning…playing games, exploring or having little adventures.” Jackley says *“this spirit prepared me to be an entrepreneur — to be proactive and see opportunities in the world.”*. Another entrepreneur, Ryan Hoover (founder of Product Hunt), was raised by a mother who was herself a creative entrepreneur. She encouraged him to tinker, create, and pursue fun side projects, which he cites as *“the inspiration behind his company.”* These examples show how parental attitudes and activities in childhood can spark entrepreneurial tendencies – by encouraging creativity, autonomy, and a “can-do” attitude.
Many successful entrepreneurs point to supportive, hands-on parenting as a key influence. For instance, Kiva co-founder Jessica Jackley says her mother’s daily confidence-building and a household rule of “no boredom” – always learning or having little adventures – instilled in her a proactive mindset to “see opportunities in the world,” which prepared her for entrepreneurship. Consistently, research finds that having encouraging, entrepreneurial parents significantly raises the likelihood of a child becoming an entrepreneur, largely through role modeling and an environment that nurtures independence.
Psychological Development:
Psychologists note that certain childhood environments foster personality traits useful for entrepreneurship. A recent study on attachment theory, for example, found that individuals with a secure early childhood attachment (i.e. who felt safe and supported by caregivers) were more likely to develop traits like risk-taking, innovation, and self-reliance later on. In the study spanning three countries, those with secure relationships growing up scored higher on a constellation of entrepreneurial traits (creativity, calculated risk-taking, internal locus of control, need for achievement, autonomy). The researchers conclude that “the ability to explore, develop and initiate originates in early childhood and develops throughout life when significant relationships…encourage healthy development and autonomy”, thereby enabling entrepreneurial success. In essence, children who are encouraged to explore and are confident in their support system often feel freer to take risks and pursue new ideas – behavior that is at the heart of entrepreneurship.
Additionally, some entrepreneurs emerge from childhood adversity with notable drive and resilience. Difficult early experiences – such as poverty or trauma – can sometimes cultivate a strong motivation to change one’s circumstances, creativity in problem-solving, or tolerance for risk. (One study even found that exposure to hardship in youth can increase risk-taking and entrepreneurial activity in adulthood.) However, adversity can cut both ways: without a supportive figure or opportunity to channel those experiences, hardship can also hinder entrepreneurial outcomes. Overall, positive nurturing and role modeling from parents, or sometimes a compelling need arising from adversity, often plants the seeds of an entrepreneurial mindset at an early age.
The Importance of Real-World Experience
While upbringing sets the stage, real-world experience is often the decisive factor in developing entrepreneurial skills. Business leaders frequently emphasize that entrepreneurship cannot be fully learned from textbooks or parents alone – one must learn by doing. Sir Richard Branson, who famously started his first business as a teenager, has said *“you don’t learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over.”* In his view, first-hand experience – including the mistakes and failures – is the greatest teacher. Branson attributes much of Virgin Group’s success to the fact that he and his team were willing to experiment, fail, and learn from those failures, rather than trying to do things the “correct” way from the start. “We made most of our key breakthroughs by learning from our failings…failure enables you to learn, grow and perfect your methods,” Branson notes. He even calls failure “one of the secrets to success,” since many great ideas *“arise from the ashes of a shattered business.”* This perspective is common among veteran entrepreneurs: real-world trials, errors, and persistence build the adaptability and insight that formal lessons alone can’t provide.
Empirical research backs up the value of experience in entrepreneurial success. A study by Stanford University professor Kathryn Shaw examining 2.8 million small businesses found that entrepreneurs with prior startup experience had dramatically higher success rates in new ventures. In fact, regardless of innate tendencies, the amount of practice and experience an entrepreneur had was a strong determinant of success. This aligns with the idea that entrepreneurial skill is iterative: learned and refined through each venture, whether it succeeds or fails. Seasoned entrepreneurs often build on lessons from earlier efforts – for example, knowing how to navigate cash flow, understanding customer needs, or coping with setbacks – which gives them an edge in future businesses. By contrast, first-time founders must acquire these hard-won lessons in real time.
Many entrepreneurs who did not grow up with business-owner parents still develop an entrepreneurial mindset through life events and personal drive. Some cite early independent ventures or work experiences as pivotal. For instance, a number of self-made business owners got their start with childhood hustles like paper routes, lemonade stands, or selling products door-to-door – experiences that taught them sales, customer service, and the rewards of initiative. Others point to adversity as a catalyst: Howard Schultz, the founder of Starbucks, grew up in public housing and has said that witnessing his father's financial struggles motivated him to build a company where employees would be treated well. Daymond John, founder of FUBU, learned to sew and sell tie-top hats on the streets of Queens to help his single mother pay the bills, an experience that honed his hustle and marketing skills from a young age. In these cases, necessity and life experience were the teachers – showing these future entrepreneurs how to solve problems creatively and persist despite challenges.
Even those who did have supportive parents often stress that they had to step out on their own and fail to truly learn entrepreneurship. Spanx founder Sara Blakely is a good example: her father actively taught her not to fear failure (celebrating her mistakes at the dinner table, as we’ll see below), but she also notes that she had “never taken a business class” and had “zero background” in the product she invented. Blakely attributes her success to boldly diving in and learning along the way. “A lot of entrepreneurs are held back by the fear of failure, so that lesson from my dad was a real gift,” she says – it allowed her to take the real-world risk of starting a company. She encourages people to use inexperience as an asset: *“What you don’t know can become your greatest asset if you let it.”* In other words, she leveraged a mindset from her upbringing (comfort with failing) to maximize learning from experience.
Finally, survey data underscores how many entrepreneurs value experiential learning over formal training. In one poll, 61% of entrepreneurs said their entrepreneurial characteristics arose from their innate drive, whereas only 1% credited their college education with shaping their entrepreneurial mindset. While “innate drive” can include personality traits, it often refers to self-motivation and lessons gained through one’s own journey. The overwhelming consensus was that higher education played little role in making them entrepreneurs. Instead, the school of hard knocks – starting a venture, failing, adapting, and trying again – is seen as the real crucible for developing entrepreneurial savvy.
Can Education or Parenting Replace Experience?
Teaching Entrepreneurship:
Formal education and parental guidance can jump-start entrepreneurial skills, but experts generally agree they are not full replacements for real-world experience. You can teach foundational knowledge – for example, how to write a business plan, basic accounting, or marketing principles – and you can foster certain mindsets in a supportive environment. Business schools and even high schools have introduced entrepreneurship courses to do just that. In fact, the number of university programs in entrepreneurship quintupled from 1975 to the mid-2000s, reflecting the belief that at least some aspects of innovation and business creation can be taught. “We absolutely can teach people what they need to know to be innovators – the right question is how it is done,” writes Wendy Torrance of the Kauffman Foundation. Educators try to provide simulated experiences like case studies, startup competitions, or “free time” to innovate inside companies, so that students can practice entrepreneurial thinking in a low-risk setting.
However, traditional classroom methods have limitations in this field. A Harvard Business Review piece noted that the typical business school approach (e.g. lengthy market analyses and detailed business plans developed in class) often leads to *“analysis paralysis, not entrepreneurial success.”* Planning and theory alone can’t capture the uncertainty and creativity of starting a real company. As educator Ashish Bhatia remarked, spending too much time crafting the perfect plan in school might actually handicap would-be entrepreneurs when they face the messy realities of the market. Similarly, Neal Goodman, Ph.D. quips that *“the most difficult part of becoming more entrepreneurial is having to unlearn most of what business courses teach.”* Real startups reward agility and risk-taking, not just textbook knowledge. Goodman suggests it may be easier to find people with life experiences that show initiative and risk-taking than to “educate someone to change their worldview” if they haven’t experienced it. This view reflects a healthy skepticism about purely academic entrepreneurship training – many instructors have never launched a business themselves, and their curricula might emphasize analysis over action.
Even entrepreneurship parents can’t fully simulate real business stakes for their kids. They can encourage and guide (as we’ve discussed), but eventually the child must test their skills in the marketplace. As one Inc.com columnist put it bluntly: Sure, you can take an entrepreneurship class, but it won’t really prepare you for start-up life – good old-fashioned experience is the key. The consensus is that experience is irreplaceable because only it provides the pressures, failures, and unpredictable challenges that forge true entrepreneurial capability. Many founders say they learned more from a failed venture or a tough first year in business than they ever could have from lectures.
That said, education and parental teaching are still valuable. They can shorten the learning curve by equipping aspiring entrepreneurs with tools and confidence before they dive in. For example, a parent who is a business owner might teach their teenager how to manage a budget or negotiate with vendors during a summer side-hustle – lessons that will certainly help when the teen later starts a company. Formal programs can also provide mentors, networks, and resources that would be hard to access otherwise (e.g. meeting investors through a university incubator). In essence, guidance can load the “toolbox” with useful gear – but the individual will still need to build something real to truly become entrepreneurial. As Harvard’s Noam Wasserman pointed out, founders themselves clearly believe they can learn and improve – otherwise they wouldn’t be flocking to accelerators and courses – but they also learn by doing once they leave the classroom.
In the end, upbringing, education, and experience each contribute in different ways. Upbringing (parental influence) can shape attitude, values, and early exposure; formal education can provide knowledge and a safe practice ground; but real-world experience provides execution skills and resilience that come from actually weathering the storms of business. Entrepreneur and investor Mark Cuban summed it up well in an interview: “Everyone has ideas, but most people don’t put in the work or take the risk to execute. The magic is in the doing.” The doing – the act of launching and growing something in reality – is where all the theory and support have to prove themselves.
Raising Future Entrepreneurs: Tips for Parents
For parents who want to cultivate an entrepreneurial mindset in their children, experts offer several actionable practices. While you can’t force a child to become an entrepreneur, you can create an environment that nurtures key entrepreneurial traits like curiosity, initiative, and resilience. Here are some evidence-backed strategies for fostering entrepreneurship in kids:
Encourage Their Passions and Ideas: Pay attention to your child’s interests and give them opportunities to explore those areas. What might start as a playful hobby can be the seed of a future business. For example, if your child shows an interest in baking or coding or running a lemonade stand, encourage it! Provide materials or classes to help them delve deeper. Allowing kids to attempt small moneymaking ventures (a lemonade stand, mowing neighbors’ lawns, selling crafts) is a great way for them to learn basic business skills firsthand. Early little “businesses” teach kids how to plan, interact with customers, handle money, and adjust when things don’t go as expected – all in a low-stakes setting.
Embrace and Normalize Failure: Create a family culture where failure is not fatal – it’s just part of learning. Entrepreneurs must be willing to fail and try again, so start building that resilience in childhood. Sara Blakely’s father famously did this by asking his kids each week, “What did you fail at this week?” and high-fiving them when they had a new failure to share. His message was that not trying is worse than not succeeding. You don’t have to use the exact same question, but make sure your child knows that mistakes and missteps are okay – even welcomed – as long as they learn and keep going. When a project or idea doesn’t work out, talk through what went wrong and what could be done differently next time. Teaching kids to “bounce back” from setbacks will give them the grit they need later in life. As one expert put it, explain to them that trial and error is how we grow, and that every failure is just data for your next attempt.
Give Them Real Responsibilities: Help your children develop independence and leadership by assigning tasks they can own. Whether it’s managing a weekly chore, caring for a pet, or organizing a small garage sale, responsibility teaches accountability and initiative. Importantly, avoid doing things for them if they can do it themselves (think of Esther Wojcicki’s rule). If your child wants to start a little venture, let them make the key decisions and do the work – you can guide and ensure safety, but resist the urge to take over. This might mean letting them handle the cash box at the lemonade stand, or letting them email a local shop to ask if they can sell their handmade crafts there. Such experiences build self-reliance and confidence. Encourage independent decision-making by offering advice when asked, but ultimately let the child choose their course so they learn to trust their judgment. They’ll gain problem-solving skills and confidence in their own abilities.
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