CURATED READS FOR GEN Z—AND THEIR Z-CURIOUS COLLEAGUES

first up

Welcome back! This week, we’re understanding the forces behind Gen Z entrepreneurship.

Some headlines might make you think Gen Zers are a cohort of CEOs and sole proprietors. Some survey data indicate that half of Gen Zers want to be founders.

That wouldn’t be that surprising, if true: Zoomers came of age when becoming a start-up founder seemed relatively easy. Venture capital fundraising soared during the pandemic, often supplying direct-to-consumer start-ups with cash to support then-booming businesses. At the same time, Gen Zers became warier about the value of the traditional four-year college degree, which could have encouraged plenty of them to venture out on their own. And the barrier to entry for starting a new business is arguably lower now, depending on what venture pond you’re diving into (hello, gen AI).

There’s still a good chance that in this economy—in which Gen Z faces higher-than-average inflation, student debt, credit card debt, and high housing costs—Gen Zers are actually looking for nothing more than relatively stable paychecks. Our own survey data show that even though Gen Z respondents who are working are more likely to have independent jobs or multiple jobs than older workers, less than a third do so because they enjoy the work or the autonomy it offers; instead, McKinsey Global Institute director and senior partner Kweilin Ellingrud and coauthors have found that the majority (56 percent) of working Gen Zers would prefer to work as a permanent or noncontract employee.

(Gut check: this may all be cyclical. The stereotype of the millennial founder—where hoodie-clad tech bros descended upon Silicon Valley to build the next Google—was more myth than reality. Elder millennials graduated college during the Great Recession, had student debt of their own, and struggled “to find a spot in the workforce,” as one Atlantic article put it. “Younger workers have had trouble gaining the skills and experience that can be helpful in starting a business. Some doubt their ability.” Sounds like a familiar refrain. . . .)

FWIW, most entrepreneurs hit their stride in their 40s, meaning Gen Zers have another decade-plus to go from red to black in their business ventures. 

Likewise, the side hustles Gen Z is known for could turn into full-time entrepreneurial work over time, and the vocational programs Gen Zers are flocking to have “entrepreneurial potential,” too.

Ultimately, being an entrepreneur doesn’t mean you have to be a start-up founder. Gen Zers can even be entrepreneurial in a corporate environment. This kind of business building can start with figuring out where there are opportunities for your team or company to work better. That may mean identifying a group of colleagues who volunteer to test gen AI tools relevant to your work. Finding “greener” ways to operate could be another path to owning a new venture in your existing job.

“The surprising, positive thing is that [new-business building] has become a greater priority, with more than 50 percent of global CEOs naming new-business building as one of their top three priorities,” said McKinsey senior partner Paul Jenkins, who leads McKinsey’s Leap by McKinsey venture group. “That wasn’t the case in the past two years.”

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CROSSWORD

—Edited by Alexandra Mondalek, editor, New York