Who are these entrepreneurs?

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Did you know that most entrepreneurs were married and had children when they started their businesses? Would you guess that a little more than half of new business owners had interest in becoming entrepreneurs during their college years? How about that the average birth order of entrepreneurs is 2.2 and the average number of siblings is 3.1? These are just some of the interesting factoids from the July 2009 Kauffman report, “The Anatomy of an Entrepreneur: Family Background and Motivation.” This study examined the backgrounds, life histories and motivations of 549 company founders from a variety of industries, generating a different perspective on today’s entrepreneur.

But what’s the future of entrepreneurialism in the U.S.? We’re counting on small businesses to help us out of the recession, but the age distribution of our population is getting older. What’s going to happen to entrepreneurialism in this country when there are fewer young people to start businesses? Don’t despair – those baby boomers aren’t fading into retirement, many are starting businesses, which may lead to a different kind of entrepreneurship boom. Read more in another Kauffman report, “The Coming Entrepreneurship Boom.”

(Thanks to Linda Willett for finding and pointing out these interesting reports!)

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