A Reminder That Entrepreneurship Isn't Synonymous With Building Businesses

Entrepreneur Office Hours - Issue #279

Photo by Sean Pollock on Unsplash

I had a surprising moment this week when I realized I’d just wrapped up my tenth year teaching entrepreneurship at Duke.

A decade.

I mentioned it as an offhanded aside while chatting with a student, and he looked genuinely surprised. Not because I’d lasted that long, but because I’d chosen to. “Wait,” he said, “if you love entrepreneurship so much, why are you working for a company? Why not be out building something?”

It’s a fair question. One I’ve been asked in various forms for years. And it speaks to one of the biggest misconceptions I’m constantly trying to correct: that entrepreneurship only means starting your own company.

Yes, that’s one version of entrepreneurship. But it’s certainly not the only version. In fact, sometimes starting a company is the least effective way to be entrepreneurial. Remember that companies require infrastructure. Overhead. Legal work. Hiring. Management. Funding. All of which are important — but also, all of which are distractions from the core job of an entrepreneur: solving meaningful problems and creating value.

Often, the best way to create meaningful value in the world isn’t by building something new from scratch. Often, it’s by plugging into an existing structure and using it as a launchpad. That’s exactly what Duke has been for me over the past ten years. I’m not in charge of running the university; other people are (thankfully). This lack of administrative responsibility means I get to focus all my energy on creating programs, building classes, mentoring students, experimenting with ideas, and finding new ways to make the world better than I found it.

Am I working in a startup? No. But is it entrepreneurial? Absolutely.

In fact, I’d argue that one of the smartest things a founder can do as they grow their businesses is to hire entrepreneurs. Not just employees. Not just operators. But people who think like problem-solvers. People who ask, “What’s broken, and how can I fix it?” People who aren’t satisfied just doing the job they were hired for, but who constantly look for ways to make things better.

That’s entrepreneurship, too.

So yes, I’ve spent the past ten years “working for a company.” But I’ve also spent the past ten years being deeply entrepreneurial — just inside someone else’s organization.

If you’re someone who wants to make an impact, don’t fall into the trap of thinking the only way to do that is by founding your own thing. You can be an entrepreneur from anywhere. What matters isn’t who signs your paycheck. What matters is whether you’re creating real value for the people around you.

And if you’re doing that? You’re doing the work.

-Aaron

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This week’s new articles…

The Critical Difference Between Entrepreneurs and Everyone Else

For anyone who’s ever wondered what makes someone an entrepreneur, consider this your answer.

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Are You Stuck on the Entrepreneurial Treadmill of Doom?

A simple (and hopefully helpful) metaphor to describe a difficult problem lots of new founders struggle with.

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Office Hours Q&A

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QUESTION:

Hey Aaron,

How do you know when your startup idea just isn’t working and it’s time to let go or pivot? I keep telling myself to “give it more time,” but I don’t know if I’m being persistent… or just delusional.

—Marcus

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You’re asking one of the hardest — and most important — questions in entrepreneurship. Everyone talks about the grit and persistence it takes to build a company, but almost nobody talks about the other side of the coin: knowing when to quit.

The truth is, knowing when to walk away (or pivot, or drastically rethink what you’re doing) is one of the most undervalued skills an entrepreneur can have. Not because quitting is easy — most of the time it’s gut-wrenching — but because sticking with the wrong thing for too long is way more dangerous than giving up too soon.

But let’s clarify something: quitting doesn’t mean failure. It means you’ve gathered enough data to make an informed decision. That’s actually a win. It means you’re treating your time, your energy, and your team’s capacity as the valuable, finite resources they are.

So, how do you know when it’s time?

It usually comes down to traction and trendlines. Are you getting any pull from the market — customers engaging, people referring others, signs that someone out there really wants what you’re building? And more importantly: are those signals increasing over time, even a little? If they’re not… and they haven’t been for a while… and every attempt to tweak things leads to more indifference? That’s not a plateau. That’s a flatline.

You’re also allowed to pay attention to your own energy. Are you waking up excited to work on this? Or are you dragging yourself through it, hoping something finally clicks? Persistence doesn’t mean grinding yourself into the ground. It means moving forward with purpose. If that purpose has evaporated, it’s okay to acknowledge it.

Here’s the mental reframe I’ve always found helpful: you’re not giving up on entrepreneurship — you’re just letting go of this version of it. Letting go of an idea that’s not working creates space for the next idea that might. And you’ll be bringing everything you learned — about your market, your customers, and yourself — into whatever you build next.

In short: don’t romanticize the idea of perseverance. Romanticize the idea of progress. If sticking with your current idea isn’t leading to any, it might be time to make a new bet.

You’re not being delusional for holding on. But you’ll be wise if you know when to let go.

Got startup questions of your own? Reply to this email with whatever you want to know, and I’ll do my best to answer.