Entrepreneurship across the generations

In the UK, more than a third of working-age adults are now running or planning to start a business (Global Entrepreneurship Monitor UK 2024/25).  But while everyone is talking about startups, far fewer are talking honestly about what it actually takes, and how that changes depending on when you begin.

Because the reality is this: there is no single blueprint for entrepreneurship anymore. There are generational ones.

For Gen Z, starting a business is often the first step, not the fallback. Early-stage entrepreneurial activity among 18–29-year-olds has surged in recent years (Global Entrepreneurship Monitor UK 2024/25), reflecting a generation that sees opportunity everywhere and isn’t waiting for permission.

But starting early comes with its own realities. As Honor and Cat Black, Gen Z co-founders of Maiden Cricket, put it: “You don’t realise how much you don’t know until you’re in it. Starting young gives freedom but it’s also constant learning, in public.”

That tension between confidence and inexperience is defining. Younger founders are often faster, more instinctive, and more willing to experiment. They build audiences before businesses, test ideas in real time, and aren’t afraid to pivot. But they’re also navigating a landscape where everything is visible, and success can feel like it has a deadline.

Millennial founders sit in a different space, caught between the pressure to have it figured out and the reality that no one ever fully does. For Alla Ouvarova, co-founder of Two Chicks, the biggest shift is letting go of the illusion of readiness: “You think you need a perfect plan. You don’t. You need to start and then keep adjusting.”

It’s a mindset that cuts across generations, but one that Millennials have had to learn through experience. Because if there’s one constant in entrepreneurship, it’s that the mistakes don’t change.

As Tracey Rob Perera, angel investor, fractional CFO and Innovate UK Scaleup Director, puts it: “What I have experienced myself and also see across founders at every stage is that the challenges don’t necessarily get easier, they just change. The founders who succeed are the ones who are clear on their purpose, build the ability to adapt, stay open to opportunities rather than just relying on experience alone”

Founders still scale too fast. Still underestimate cash flow. Still wait too long to test what actually works. The difference across generations is how quickly those lessons land.

For Gen X founders, that learning curve has already been paid for. Nico Cossu, founder of PuffPizza, is blunt about what experience teaches you: “When you start out, every opportunity feels urgent. Experience teaches you that focus is the real growth strategy.”

It’s a realisation shift from motion to intention. From doing more to doing what matters. Often it’s one that younger founders often only reach after burning time, money, or both.

By the time you reach the Boomer generation, the perspective sharpens even further. Mike Anderson, founder, investor and coach, puts it simply: “You don’t get better by avoiding mistakes. You get better by recognising them faster and repeating them less.”

This is the similarity that runs across every generation: entrepreneurship isn’t about avoiding failure. It’s about reducing the time it takes to learn from it.

What’s changing, however, is who is entering the system and how early. Millennials and Gen Z now make up a growing proportion of business leaders, particularly in London and the South East (Gender Index England 2025). At the same time, more people are growing up seeing entrepreneurship as a default option, not a risk.

This can be powerful, but it’s not always positive. Because while ambition is rising, so is fear of failure, now affecting nearly 60% of adults in the UK (Global Entrepreneurship Monitor UK 2024/25). The gap between wanting to start and being equipped to sustain something real is still wide.

And that’s where generational crossover becomes critical.

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Younger founders bring speed, creativity, and a willingness to challenge convention. Older founders bring context, discipline, and the ability to see around corners. One without the other is limiting. Together, they’re powerful.

The same dynamic is playing out across the ecosystem. Women-led businesses, for example, are growing faster on average than male-led firms, even as they remain underrepresented at scale (Gender Index England 2025). The pipeline is improving, but the system still needs experience, investment, and knowledge-sharing to convert momentum into lasting success.

So the question isn’t whether more people should become entrepreneurs. They already are. The real question is whether they’re learning from the right people and at the right time.

Because the future of entrepreneurship won’t be built by one generation, it will be shaped by how they learn from each other.

Join the conversation at SCALE London

This is exactly the conversation taking centre stage at SCALE London, bringing together founders from Gen Z through to Boomer to challenge assumptions and share hard-earned lessons on what it really takes to build a business today.

Entrepreneurship across the generations

• EXPO Stage, Mezzanine Level, Business Design Centre, London
• 23 April 2026
• 12:20–12:50

Chaired by Tracey Rob Perera, the panel features:

• Cat Black (Maiden Cricket)
• Alla Ouvarova (Two Chicks)
• Nico Cossu (PuffPizza)
• Mike Anderson (Founder, investor, coach)

Part of the UK’s largest gathering of scaleup founders, investors and business leaders, SCALE brings together 4,000+ of the country’s most ambitious entrepreneurs across 22–23 April.