A study at the University of Liverpool has revealed that entrepreneurs are driven to start companies by their passion for ideas rather than the pursuit of wealth.

Researchers who asked entrepreneurs and small business leaders about their motivations for achieving business success found that only 6.9% were driven by financial reward.

Those surveyed cited a ‘lack of money to invest’ and the ‘fear of failure’ as barriers to starting up a business.

The survey was conducted by VentureNavigator – a state-of-the-art online service based at the University of Liverpool designed to help start-ups and small businesses improve their chances of success.

The research found the greatest motivator for entrepreneurs is passion about new ideas with 41.4 per cent of those surveyed citing this as their prime motivation for starting a business. 39.7 per cent were primarily driven by ‘wanting to be their own boss’.

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Morris Miselowski’s thoughts

To quote the wise one – Homer Simpson: derrrrr!

The vast majority of successful businesses (including Google, Microsoft and most others) I have ever come across were founded on a burning all consuming desire to bring to life an inner business demon that has possessed the entrepreneur.

Reward for effort is certainly important and greases the path ahead, but its main purpose is validation and an impetus to continue.

The overused and oft abused term “passion” is the bio fuel of choice by great entrepreneurs around the world.