Bizhelp 24:
Entrepreneurs are starting businesses driven by a passion for ideas rather than the pursuit of wealth, but do you need to spend more time ensuring your intellectual property (IP) is adequately protected?
A survey of users of VentureNavigator shows that entrepreneurs and small business leaders are driven to start companies by their passion for ideas rather than the pursuit of wealth.
When asked to rank main motivations for starting a business ‘financial reward’ came a distant third with 6.9 per cent of the vote, behind ‘passionate about the idea’ (41.4 per cent) and ‘wanting to be your own boss’ (39.7 per cent).
The survey also asked users to identify what they see as the main barriers to success when starting up. The top two responses were a ‘lack of money to invest’, chosen by 44 per cent, and ‘fear of failure’, with 19 per cent.
One of the main surprises of the survey was that the challenge of protecting Intellectual Property (IP) was not cited as a barrier to success or an area where advice is sought, despite widespread expert opinion that this is one of the fundamentals of starting a business.
“Despite the economic barriers put in the way of small businesses and start ups, it is good to see that the British entrepreneurial spirit is not dead,” said Janice Pittis, Project Director for VentureNavigator. “Passion is such an important driver as there is much hardship to be endured during the early phases. Passion by itself, however, is not enough. There must be adequate business acumen to turn an idea into a viable business opportunity and this is where entrepreneurs need help from experts and their peers who have done it themselves and can advise.” Read more.
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