Excited by Startups? Explore the Challenges of Entrepreneurship and If a Degree Is Right for You

Key Takeaways:

• Entrepreneurs play an important role in the United States economy and society through their innovation, which increases productivity, competition, jobs, and economic growth
• Entrepreneurship is more than just startups. Internal entrepreneurs, or intrapreneurs, use their creative skills to drive innovation within existing companies and organizations
• To effectively handle the challenges of creating a successful startup business, entrepreneurs need to develop a wide variety of business skills and knowledge
• To launch your career as an entrepreneur, a degree program with courses and experiences in both entrepreneurship and business can ensure that you develop key skills that you’ll need.

From “mom and pop” small businesses to major tech companies that can trace their beginnings to someone’s garage, the efforts of countless entrepreneurs to start and build businesses can be seen all around us and are woven into our daily lives.

Taken together, the work of entrepreneurs has a profound impact on the United States economy and society through continuous innovation and increased productivity, competition, and jobs, all of which ultimately drives economic growth.

Are you excited by the thought of taking a great idea and running with it? Do you have a concept for a product or service that you are passionate about and that you think would appeal to a significant number of people? Have you thought about tackling the challenges of starting your own business and contributing to building the community around you?

If so, then becoming an entrepreneur could be the right career move for you.

What Is an Entrepreneur and Entrepreneurship?  

Let’s start with some definitions. 

• Entrepreneur: one who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of a business or enterprise¹
• Entrepreneurship: a skill in starting new businesses, especially when it involves seeing new opportunities²
  • Entrepreneurship is also the process of creating a new business, often characterized by innovation. These business ventures, led by entrepreneurs, introduce new products or services that can cultivate new markets and drive economic change.³

There are a lot of moving parts to starting, growing, and maintaining a business. Just within the brief definitions above, we can see the outlines of some of the major tasks that an entrepreneur faces in one form or another:

• Creating an innovative product or service
• Developing a plan for starting a business
• Organizing and managing a business
• Understanding the marketplace in which their business competes
• Developing and executing a plan to identify and attract customers for their product or service
• Assessing and mitigating the potential financial and other risks to their company

How might an entrepreneur approach these major tasks? Intuit’s list of eight actionable steps to becoming an entrepreneur provides an example.⁴

• Adopt an entrepreneurial mindset focused on growth, resilience, and flexibility
• Find a niche in the marketplace or innovative idea for a new product or new way of doing something that you can build your business around
• Build your network to support your new endeavor
• Validate your business idea by doing research
• Write a business plan that lays out your vision and path to success
• Fund your business, such as through investors, loans, or your own money
• Take the legal steps to formalize your business
• Manage and grow your business to make it sustainable 

Can You Be an Entrepreneur Without a Startup? Yes! Check Out the Role of an Intrapreneur

Maybe creating a new business from scratch sounds like too much to take on. You don’t need to build a startup in order to use your entrepreneurial talents. One path to consider is to become an intrapreneur⁵, or internal entrepreneur, within an existing company or organization.  

An intrapreneur is an employee or contract worker who is assigned to work on a task or project that is aimed at spurring innovation within the company, such as developing an improved or new product, service, technology, or process.

Intrapreneurs are valued for their creative vision and innovation mindset. They are problem solvers who can pick up on trends and opportunities that others might miss to make systems within the company more efficient, open up new markets, and stay ahead of the competition.

Because they work for an organization, intrapreneurs are not as exposed to financial risk as startup founders might be. They also have the resources of the organization to help bring their innovative ideas to life.

What Do You Need to Know to Become an Entrepreneur and Start a Business?

Being an entrepreneur who starts a new business comes with risks. It is instructive to be aware of the challenges involved in starting a business and the most common reasons that businesses fail.

Reasons Why Small Businesses Fail⁶

• Cash flow problems
• There’s no demand for their product or services
• Poor business management
• Financial challenges
• Poor employee management
• Inadequate marketing
• Failure to adapt to market changes
• Inventory mismanagement

A great idea for a business is not the only thing an entrepreneur needs for success. The reasons businesses fail highlight a variety of skills, knowledge, and experiences an entrepreneur might want to have, including:

• The management expertise it takes to build a business from the ground up
• Knowledge of marketing and market research, so that they are producing goods and/or services that are in demand and can compete in the marketplace
• An understanding of finance in order present a credible business plan to potential funders and to use their resources to their best advantage
• Access to funding that is adequate to launch, maintain, and grow their business to the point that they have established a revenue stream to make the business sustainable
• The hands-on experience of having worked on an entrepreneurial project before
• A network of successful entrepreneurs who can provide them with sound advice

How do you acquire the skills and knowledge you need? A degree program in entrepreneurship or a combination of entrepreneurship and business can help you create your path to success as an entrepreneur. 

What to Look for in an Entrepreneurship Degree Program

We’ve reviewed the challenges and pitfalls that a potential entrepreneur could face while building a startup, as well as the types of skills, knowledge, and experiences that can prepare them to succeed in your enterprise.  

If you are looking to pursue an undergraduate or graduate degree program, here are several questions to consider as you choose which program to enroll in:

• Does the curriculum cover the gaps in your educational background, skills, and business expertise?
• Are you interested in just focusing on entrepreneurship, or do you feel that you would benefit from gaining a stronger understanding of business concepts and skills, as well?
• Are your sights set primarily on founding a startup, or are you also considering career roles as an intrapreneur?
• Will you have opportunities to experience entrepreneurship in the program you are considering, as well as taking courses?
• Will you have chances to interact, learn from, and network with startup founders and other entrepreneurs?
• Is there a robust entrepreneurship ecosystem with resources you can tap into at the school that you are considering and in the city where it is located?

A Master’s Degree at Illinois Tech Can Be Your Pathway to a Career as an Entrepreneur

As the only technology-focused university in Chicago, Illinois Tech offers two master’s degrees in tech entrepreneurship that focus on the skills and experience you need to begin an entrepreneurial journey. Both programs include a hands-on capstone course in which you apply your skills in real time to build a startup, commercialize a new technology, or drive innovation within a company.

You’ll graduate ready to stand out in any business, from small startups to large corporations, especially those that leverage cutting-edge technology for success.  

Master of Technological Entrepreneurship

You’ll develop the expertise and problem-solving abilities to thrive in highly competitive business environments, including strategizing for the high-tech business space, design thinking, and navigating the legal and transactional aspects of forming and growing a business.

M.B.A. Technological Entrepreneurship

Master core M.B.A. skills in strategic management, decision-making, marketing, operations, finance, and leadership. You’ll also explore design thinking and have the direct experience of creating an innovation project or business.  

At Illinois Tech, you’ll also have ready access to entrepreneurship resources on campus and in Chicago, including:

• Illinois Tech’s Kaplan Institute for Innovation and Tech Entrepreneurship, with programming such as Startup Studio, Genisys Venture Immersion, mentorship opportunities, and pitch competitions
• Our partnership with Chicago Innovation, which connects you with year-around events and networking with thousands of professionals across industries
• Chicago’s dynamic entrepreneurial ecosystem of business incubators, startup accelerators, prototyping labs, and venture capitalists 

FAQs

Do you need a college degree to start a business?

No, you do not necessarily need a college or advanced degree to found and run a business, as many successful business owners have shown. You should consider, though, the challenges you are likely to face in the type of business you are starting. Do you have the nuts-and-bolts business knowledge and skills you’ll need, including soft skills such as communications and critical thinking? Are there industry certifications or state licenses that could be required? A degree may also help you gain credibility, such as with potential funders, and provide you with valuable opportunities to build your network, find mentors, and gain relevant hands-on experience.

Is entrepreneurship a good major?

As with choosing any major, there are important questions to ask yourself, such as: What are your passions, and what do you want to study? What kinds of work and careers excite you? What kinds of educational background, skills, and experiences will help you on your preferred career path? Entrepreneurship degree programs, especially at the graduate level, can vary considerably in what they offer, including specialized tracks. It is important to research your options carefully to find one that will be a good fit for your needs.

What do you study in an entrepreneurship master’s program?

Master’s programs in entrepreneurship usually include coursework focused on launching new ventures and becoming a leader in innovation, covering topics such as developing business plans and strategies, market research and evaluation, finance, leadership, and how to start and grow a business. In general, master of science degrees in entrepreneurship have a more specific and technical emphasis. M.B.A. programs with a specialization in entrepreneurship tend to lean into developing a more general business background.

Is it risky to choose to become an entrepreneur?

According to the Commerce Institute, only 25 percent of all businesses that are started in the United States last for 15 years or more.⁷ Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that an average of 80 percent of employer businesses survive the first year, 70 percent survive at least two years, 50 percent survive at least five years, and 30 percent survive at least 10 years.

Footnotes:

¹ Merriam-Webster (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/entrepreneur), accessed 12/2/25

² Cambridge Dictionary (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/entrepreneurship), accessed 12/2/25

³ Indeed (https://ca.indeed.com/career-advice/finding-a-job/what-is-entrepreneurship), accessed 12/2/2

⁴ “How to become an entrepreneur: 8 actionable steps” https://www.intuit.com/blog/innovative-thinking/how-to-become-an-entrepreneur/, accessed 12/2/2025

⁵ Investopedia, “Understanding Intrapreneurs: Their Role, History, and Company Benefits” https://www.investopedia.com/terms/i/intrapreneur.asp, accessed 12/2/25

⁶ U.S. Chamber of Commerce, “Reasons Why Small Businesses Fail and How to Avoid Them” https://www.uschamber.com/co/start/strategy/why-small-businesses-fail, accessed 12/2/2025

⁷ Commerce Institute, “10 Small Business Statistics Everyone Should Know (Updated Frequently)” https://www.commerceinstitute.com/small-business-statistics, accessed 12/2/25