Beyond the start-up stereotype

A student entrepreneur at Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland might be looking for their first customer, or they may be a mature student with an established business already operating for several years.

New analysis of the University’s 2025 Global University Entrepreneurial Spirit Students’ Survey (GUESSS) suggests both types of student entrepreneur are more common on campus than many might expect.

Of 1,457 student respondents, 60 said they owned and managed a business that had generated regular sales in the previous three months. Another 165 were building a venture of their own. Nineteen were doing both.

That means 206 were already involved in a business or trying to create one. At the same rate, a university of 40,000 students could have around 5,600 students running a business, developing one, or both.

But the most interesting finding is not the scale. It’s the difference between the two groups.

The students already running businesses have a profile that challenges the usual image of the student start-up founder. Their average age was 33. Nearly two-thirds had more than five years of relevant work experience. The median business had been operating for four years and employed the equivalent of two full-time people.

“A lot of attention naturally falls on students with a new idea,” says Professor Rod McNaughton, Academic Director of the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

“This survey tells us to look harder at the students who already have a business, customers, and opportunities for growth ahead of them.”

Nearly half of these active business owners were studying at masters or doctoral level. Business and management were the most popular fields, the rest were also found across health, social sciences, engineering, law, computer science, arts and humanities.

The survey cannot tell us why an established business owner chooses to study, but McNaughton sees several possibilities.

“Some may be looking for the skills, networks or confidence to take an existing business further. Some may be making study work around a business that helps support them. Others may be using university to open up a new direction, including commercialising research.”

The second group has a different set of challenges,says McNaughton.”These students are not yet operating businesses with regular sales. They are trying to turn an opportunity into one.”

The 165 respondents building a venture were already doing much of the work that comes before a launch. Some 60 per cent had researched markets or competitors, 53 per cent had spoken with potential customers, and 47 per cent were developing a product or service. A further 44 per cent expected to have their venture established before finishing their studies.

The survey results also point to what still lies ahead. Only 16 per cent had tried to obtain external finance, 12 per cent had registered their business, and 7 per cent had applied for patent, trademark or copyright protection. They have begun the hard work of finding out whether someone will buy what they are creating. Now comes the equally hard work of building something that can keep going.

The two groups also see their futures differently from the broader student population. Across the full University of Auckland sample, 21 per cent expected to be founders within five years of graduation. Among students creating a venture, the figure was 56 per cent. Among students already running businesses, it was 48 per cent.

That does not mean every current venture will become a lasting career. A business can be a source of income, a way of learning, a stepping stone or a route into a different future.

For Darsel Keane, Director of the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, the findings point to an opportunity for the University to see student entrepreneurship more broadly.

“There are students taking their first steps, through to those who are already experienced business owners,” Keane says. “The opportunity is to create more connection between them. Someone who has dealt with customers, a first hire or a difficult decision brings experience that can be invaluable to another student who is still working out how to start.”

She says it’s also an opportunity for business owners who may not think of themselves as part of the University’s entrepreneurial community. They may be looking for fresh capability, new networks or simply other people who understand the problems they are working through.