Thesis

Grit in Entrepreneurship: importance of an underresearched success predictor

The start-up scene has been growing unstoppably in recent years, more and more ideas are being implemented, and more and more unicorns are emerging from them. At the same time, the uncertainty in the markets is higher than ever, founders struggle with well-known and new problems and more than 90% of all start-ups fail. The question of success predictors is obvious. In addition, the question arises as to how, apart from purely monetary success, the personal well-being of the founders can be guaranteed in this extreme environment. An interesting approach arises from psychology: grit, defined as passion and perseverance for long-term goals, seems promising as a predictor of success and has so far been little studied in the entrepreneurship field. In this thesis, the background and the special features of grit in the field of entrepreneurship are to be worked out on the basis of literature research.

Keywords: Grit, Entrepreneurship, Success, founder personality