Founders: Shaping Futures Beyond Degrees and Job Titles

If you’ve ever watched The Founder, the film about Ray Kroc and the birth of the McDonald’s empire, you’ll know it’s not just a story about fast food. It’s a story about seeing opportunity where others see obstacles, about relentless pursuit, and about the power, and the peril, of founding something. Whether you see Kroc as a hero or a villain, the film makes one thing clear - founders shape the world we live in. They don’t just find jobs. Founders create industries, change communities, and redefine what’s possible.

Every day in schools around the world, kids are taught to aim for good grades so they can get a good job. They’re told to tick boxes. Get a qualification, follow a safe path, work for a reputable company, and so on. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned from years of helping young people develop real-world skills, it’s that the best way to prepare students for an unpredictable future isn’t to teach them to follow, it’s to show them how to create.

That’s what founders do. They build. They start. They take ideas and turn them into opportunities for themselves and for others. And yet, most students never hear about “founding something” as a career option. They don’t see it as a path they can take, even though it’s one of the most powerful ways to gain financial independence, personal fulfilment, and the ability to adapt to a changing world.

The outdated promise of the degree-and-job pathway

For decades, the degree-to-job pipeline was a safe bet. Study, graduate, get hired, climb the ladder. But that promise is crumbling in many industries. Automation, outsourcing, and economic shifts mean jobs can disappear overnight. According to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs report, 23% of current jobs are expected to change significantly or vanish altogether in the next five years.

Meanwhile, traditional education often doesn’t keep pace with the skills employers need. Research from Stanford’s d.school and other leading institutions highlights how many students graduate without the creative problem-solving abilities, entrepreneurial mindset, or confidence needed to create their own opportunities when traditional jobs aren’t available. The Stanford d.school, in particular, emphasises building creative confidence and teaching students to approach challenges with curiosity and initiative, essential skills in today’s rapidly changing economy. This aligns with the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2023, which identified critical thinking, creativity, and entrepreneurial skills as among the most important capabilities needed for the future workforce (World Economic Forum, 2023).

That’s why teaching kids to think like founders is no longer optional. It’s essential.

Entrepreneurship is more accessible than ever

Another myth that holds students, parents, and even teachers back is the idea that entrepreneurship requires huge capital or tech wizardry. In reality, the barriers to entry have never been lower. Online marketplaces, low-code tools, and social media mean you can test a business idea with almost no upfront investment.

A 2022 Harvard Business Review piece on “Lean Startups” shows that the average cost to launch a small-scale online venture is under $5,000. That’s cheaper than a single semester at many universities. And according to the Kauffman Foundation, more than 75% of new entrepreneurs in the U.S. start their businesses with personal savings or small family loans, not venture capital.

Why does this matter? Because it means we can and should teach entrepreneurship as a skill everyone can access, not a secret club for Silicon Valley insiders.

What students gain by trying to found something

When a young person starts even the simplest venture, selling custom T-shirts, running a lawn-mowing service, launching a lemonade stage, or creating a tutoring side hustle, they learn more practical, transferable skills than many classes can teach in a year. Some of these are -

• How to solve problems creatively
• Understanding empathy and the power of 'jumping in someone's shoes'
• How to communicate with customers and partners
• How to manage budgets and cash flow
• How the value of time is an important metric to track
• How to deal with 'fast-fail', how and when to pivot
• How to build confidence by turning ideas into action

Tom Byers, professor of entrepreneurship at Stanford, calls starting a venture the “ultimate personal development program.” I couldn’t agree more. Whether the business succeeds or flops, students learn to see problems as opportunities instead of obstacles, a mindset that benefits them for life.

Founders make jobs, they don’t just take them

It’s worth remembering: founders are the backbone of job creation. According to the Kauffman Foundation’s long-term research on job growth, nearly all net new jobs in the U.S. over the past three decades came from companies less than five years old. Large, established corporations often shed jobs as they seek efficiency. Startups and small businesses are the real engines of employment.

So when we teach kids to become founders, we’re not just helping them secure their own futures, we’re setting them up to create jobs for others, strengthening entire communities.

The myth of risk and why it shouldn’t scare us

Many parents and teachers worry about the “risk” of entrepreneurship. But, to be fair, there's no risk-free path. The myth that a job at a big company is safer has been repeatedly shattered, from mass layoffs during economic downturns to entire industries being wiped out by technological advancements.

A 2023 Forbes report showed that the average tenure at a single company is under 4.2 years for workers under 35. Job security is a fading illusion. Meanwhile, founders who learn to adapt build real security: they develop skills to earn, pivot, and reinvent themselves.

We should be honest with students: risk is part of life. Learning to navigate it, manage it, and even embrace it is what makes founders resilient. As Peter Drucker, the father of modern management, famously said, “The best way to predict the future is to create it.”

What I admire about founders

I’ve spent years working with young people on real-world skills through Ripyl and other programs I've built or supported. The students who thrive aren’t always the ones with the highest grades. They’re the ones willing to step up, take a chance, and learn from what happens.

I admire anyone who takes that leap, not because they want to become a billionaire, but because they want to build a life around their passion. They’re the ones who show that you can define success on your own terms - enough income to live well, work you love, and the freedom to shape your future. That’s the heart of entrepreneurship.

The role of educators and parents

If you’re an educator or a parent reading this, your role in this conversation is critical. We need to normalise talking about entrepreneurship as a career path, just as we do law, medicine, engineering, or teaching.

Start by asking students what problems they see in their communities. Encourage them to brainstorm solutions they could turn into small ventures. Support their side projects, however messy or imperfect. Celebrate effort and creativity, not just perfect results.

According to a Gallup study of entrepreneurship education, students who were encouraged by teachers or parents to start ventures were more likely to launch businesses later in life, and reported higher confidence, financial literacy, and satisfaction with their careers.

Entrepreneurship builds essential 21st-century skills

Stanford University and Harvard Business School both emphasise that entrepreneurship is one of the best ways to develop skills the future demands:

• Creative thinking
• Critical problem-solving
• Communication and persuasion
• Financial literacy
• Collaboration across cultures and disciplines

These skills are not only essential for founders but increasingly required even inside traditional organisations, as companies expect employees to think entrepreneurially.

What about failure? Reframing it as a stepping stone

Another myth holding people back is the fear of failure. But failure isn’t the opposite of success, it’s often a necessary part of it. The World Economic Forum’s research into entrepreneurial ecosystems reveals that students who learn to fail fast and iterate develop resilience that benefits them across every aspect of life.

When young people understand that failure is feedback, not a permanent label, they become better equipped to navigate any career or life challenge. As educators, we should highlight stories of entrepreneurs who failed multiple times before succeeding, such as Arianna Huffington or James Dyson, to demonstrate that persistence matters more than perfection.

The power of small wins. You can, but don’t have to, build the next Facebook

One of the most important messages we can share is that entrepreneurship doesn’t have to mean creating a unicorn startup. A small business that brings in $50,000 a year can change a family’s life. A side hustle can pay for college, build confidence, or fund other dreams.

Most entrepreneurs, at least the ones I know and have come into contact with, don’t seek hypergrowth; they aim for steady income, personal satisfaction, and independence. That’s a valid and valuable goal.

What can we do right now?

If you want to help more young people see entrepreneurship as a real option, here are are few things you can do starting today:

• Talk about it - Bring it up with your kids or students. Ask them what they’d start if they could. The crazier the idea, the better.
• Encourage projects. Support small ventures, from bake sales and lemonade stands to online shops, as experiments in real-world learning.
• Model curiosity. Share stories of local founders or your own experiences with starting something new, big or small. Better yet, reach out to them. I promise, most will give you their time.
• Show them empathy - Encourage your kids or students to listen, not just hear, what is happening in conversations. Then, turn those insights into tangible solutions that could be turned into solutions.
• Understand what "Fall in love with the problem" means. Show your kids or students that the greatest entrepreneurs don’t start with flashy ideas or perfect products, they start by deeply caring about a problem. They dig into the frustrations, gaps, and needs they see around them. They talk to people, ask questions, and observe what’s missing. They continue to explore until they understand the problem better than anyone else.

I believe our communities, economies, and schools need more founders, people willing to build, innovate, and create new opportunities not just for themselves, but for everyone around them.

If you’re a parent, talk to your kids about starting and owning a business as a career path. If you’re an educator, make room in your curriculum for real-world projects that teach entrepreneurship (and get Ripyl). If you’re in business, mentor or share your story.

When we show young people they can be founders, we don’t just give them a path to a paycheck, we give them the tools to control their destiny, support their passions, and make a difference in the world.

Founders don’t wait for the future. They create it. And we owe it to the next generation to show them how.