Are Millennials Choosing Entrepreneurship or Being Pushed Into It?
The 'forced founder' question asks whether millennials are choosing entrepreneurship or being pushed into it by a tough job market. The short answer is: mostly, they're choosing it. New data shows that while hiring has slowed, the surge in new founders is driven more by opportunity than desperation. Let's look at the real story behind the numbers.
The Job Market Reality: Slower Hiring, More Founders
It's true that the job market has been sluggish. LinkedIn's latest data shows hiring is down about 5% year-over-year, and it's dropped nearly 30% over the past few years. At the same time, the number of LinkedIn members calling themselves founders has jumped 75% since 2022. Education and tech lead the way, with founder numbers up 90% and 89% respectively.
On the surface, it looks like a clear case of necessity: bad job market leads to more entrepreneurs. But the data tells a more complex story.
Why the 'Forced Founder' Label Doesn't Fit
Sharat Raghavan, LinkedIn's director of data science, says the data doesn't support the idea that people are being forced into entrepreneurship. "LinkedIn's data can't really tell that story," he explains. The founder growth has been steady since 2022, not a sudden spike. People don't start a business overnight—it takes months of planning.
Plus, the Kauffman Foundation tracks this exact question. Their research shows that roughly 85% of new founders in recent years started their businesses because they saw an opportunity, not because they had no other choice. That's up from about 68% during the pandemic.
Necessity vs. Opportunity: It's Not Black and White
Raghavan points out that even "necessity" isn't one simple thing. He breaks it into two types:
- Income necessity: Losing a job and needing money fast.
- Career-change necessity: Can't find the right role in your industry or city, so you build your own door instead of waiting.
The second type looks a lot like opportunity dressed up as necessity. And that's exactly the millennial experience: a generation that has lived through multiple downturns and learned not to wait for the perfect job to appear.
The Solopreneur Surge: Founders Who Don't Call Themselves Founders
Many people fueling the founder numbers don't even use the title. They're consultants, coaches, creators, or side-hustlers. LinkedIn captures this activity even without a formal company registration. And Raghavan warns against dismissing these solo operations: "There's always a chance they will scale. That's why I'm very hesitant to say these aren't real businesses."
The formalization is happening too. U.S. government data shows business applications are up about 8% year-over-year. So even if people resist the CEO label, they're quietly making it official.
AI Lowers the Barrier, Authenticity Raises a New One
You can't talk about entrepreneurship in 2025 without mentioning AI. Raghavan, who also teaches at UC Berkeley's business school, sees AI as a major engine behind the trend. "AI is lowering the barrier to entry," he says. Just like cloud computing once removed the need for expensive servers, AI now handles back-office tasks, financial projections, and pricing for solo operators.
That's why 77% of U.S. founders say starting a business feels more accessible today, and 69% say it's more achievable than for previous generations.
But there's a catch. As the technical barrier drops, a human one rises: 59% of entrepreneurs say they've had to become creators to grow their businesses. In a world full of AI-generated content, authenticity is the new scarce resource. Founders must become their own best marketing agents. "People want to connect with a brand and a person," Raghavan says.
The Real Headline: Agency, Not Desperation
Strip away the doom-and-gloom framing, and what's left is something millennials should feel good about. The data doesn't show a generation being cornered into entrepreneurship. It shows a generation refusing to wait.
"A lot of people are taking more agency over their own career in a job market that's sluggish," Raghavan says. "That's not too surprising, but it's really interesting to see it happening in the data."
The 'forced founder' makes for a dramatic headline, but it paints millennials as victims. The numbers suggest the opposite: a workforce that looked at a stalled market, did the math, and decided to bet on itself. That's not desperation. That's a generation taking the wheel.
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