The world around us is shifting quietly, and so is the work culture. The traditional model, where people chase stable employment in a well-established company, is now getting redefined into what experts now call the “startup culture”, where entrepreneurship isn’t an exception; it is the norm.
The viral small-startup-turns-big, founders-turned-millionaires idea has now become the new dream. The rise of small businesses, solopreneurs, and startups is slowly reshaping how the entire economy works. Many entrepreneurs and businessmen abide by this mindset of turning an idea into the endgame.
Ratan Tata, the Chairman Emeritus of Tata Sons and a well-known business figure, emphasises, “Take the stones people throw at you and use them to build a monument.”
However, as more individuals choose to build rather than work for someone else, the traditional workforce begins to transform. And the question that arises out of this is: what happens when there are more entrepreneurs than employees?
As per Press Information Bureau, Government of India, “India has emerged as one of the most vibrant startup ecosystems globally, earning its place as the 3rd largest startup hub. With over 100+ unicorns, the Indian startup landscape is shaping the future of innovation and entrepreneurship.”
That, along with millions of freelancers, creators, and other small business owners already built an empire of self-sufficiency for India.
This influx of newcomers into the market surely brings in ideas and income generation, also giving rise to a significant imbalance. Any startup or company needs diverse roles to function smoothly, including designers, marketers, engineers, accountants, etc.
However, if everyone starts to chase entrepreneurship, this will disrupt the entire process by creating a vacancy in the other spheres.
The Economic Times quotes businessman Ratan Tata on his view of teamwork and collaboration. “If you want to walk fast, walk alone. But if you want to walk far, walk together.”
While entrepreneurship fuels innovation and growth, without enough people to fill specific job roles, even the best ideas die.
India’s Big Leap Towards Entrepreneurship
India’s workforce is undergoing a gradual shift towards entrepreneurship, as more individuals opt for self-employment over traditional employment.
According to the economic survey 2024-2025, the percentage of self-employed workers or entrepreneurs has increased from 52.2% in 2017-2018 to 58.4% in 2023-2024. This trend highlights the growing inclination among Indians towards entrepreneurial activities and other flexible career options.
A Randstad Workmonitor survey revealed an entrepreneurial ambition among Indians. With 83% of the Indian workforce aspiring to be entrepreneurs, this percentage outnumbers the global average of 53%.
Further, almost 56% of respondents are considering leaving their current jobs to launch their own businesses, making India a leader in entrepreneurial intent among the global workforce.
The Times of India quotes Paul Dupuis, CEO and Chairman of Randstad Japan (former CEO and Managing Director of Randstad India), “A stable business environment, market-oriented reforms like raising of FDI caps, implementation of GST, and key initiatives like Make in India and Digital India are fostering a new aspiring and ambitious Indian.”
At the same time, the growth of digital work culture and freelancing has opened new doors to independent work, allowing people to pursue flexible, self-driven careers. This reflects a broader transformation in the Indian mindset, from one that traditionally valued job security to one that prizes autonomy, innovation, and ownership.
Furthermore, government initiatives such as Mudra Yojana, Skill India, and Start-Up India have played an important role in encouraging entrepreneurship, driving people towards self-reliance.
Such a shift, however, would also bring forward multiple problems. If an excessive number of individuals leave conventional jobs without a well-planned business infrastructure, financial understanding, or support networks, the consequences could be market saturation, unstable incomes, and unequal economic development.
Not all new ventures succeed, and without stable, structured employment situations, many individuals could experience irregular income and a lack of important transfer incomes such as healthcare or retirement allowances.
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What Really Happens When An Economy Has Too Many Founders?
Too many founders would result in an economy with too many producers and not enough consumers. Numerous brands producing similar products for the same audience would lead to oversaturation in the market. This would lead to other market issues like reduced margins, higher marketing costs, and fading business longevity.
According to the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), around 17% of startups close down due to the lack of a proper business model. The idea that being a founder is better than working as an employee is creating havoc because if everyone is leading, who’s doing the rest of the work?
Scott Andrew Shane, Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies and Professor of Economics at Case Western Reserve University, in his 2009 article, Why encouraging more people to become entrepreneurs is bad public policy explains, “Firm productivity increases with firm age… the average new firm makes worse use of resources than the average existing firm.”
This simply means that when too many people leave serving as employees to start new startups and firms, the average productivity decreases because new firms are less efficient as compared to established ones. This results in a waste of resources and the failure of many new startups.
He further explains, “When countries get wealthier and real wages rise, the opportunity cost of running your own business goes up because the amount of money that you could have earned working for someone else increases. This increased opportunity cost leads more people to go to work for others than when real wages were lower.”
Healthy economies naturally drive people towards employment over entrepreneurship. If there are too many entrepreneurs, it results in lower wages and poorer conditions.
Too many people chasing to build “something new,” without being backed by a team for proper execution, would mean producing too many products people don’t really need, or creating a market where there’s not enough demand because the number of consumers has decreased.
Bill Taylor, co-founder of Fast Company, has also closely examined this notion. He closely studies the idea of widespread entrepreneurship.
In his 2011 article for Harvard Business Review, titled “Too Much Entrepreneurship Is a Bad Thing”, he explains that too much importance on entrepreneurship, especially among young minds, can do more harm than help.
He explains how it could lead to oversaturation and thus depletion of resources, new non-established firms could jump into the market, ultimately failing the venture due to lack of knowledge and skills, and may divert the goal from sustainable business growth to rapid experiments.
In the long run, this would lead to too much crowd in tiny markets. Investor caution would rise as a result of which funding would die. This will lead to entrepreneurial burnout, turning an ambitious movement into a loop of dying startups and hopes.
So the next question that arises is, what could be done to avoid this strain? The answer is balance.
How Can Balance Flourish In An Economy?
Adam Smith, the Father of Economics, called demand and supply the “invisible hand” in the market, a force that maintains the equilibrium in the market. In a healthy economy, producers create what consumers demand, resulting in fair pricing and innovation.
This theory, however, only works when there’s harmony in the market. When entrepreneurs outnumber employees, the economy loses its equilibrium and causing a fall in prices, failing startups, and a waste of resources.
According to Bigbasket CEO Hari Menon, “Ideas might spark the fire, sure, but execution is what keeps it burning through stormy nights and unpredictable days.” So, not everyone needs to be the founder; a team with collaboration of the right minds could lead to innovation within the system.
Many Indian brands like Zerodha, Lenskart, and BoAt all grew because the right ideas met the right team of executors. Just like that, the most successful startups didn’t grow just because one person led; they grew because leadership was shared, skills were divided, and execution was multiplied.
The lesson is crystal clear. To build a successful startup culture, we need more than just founders with the right ideas. We need teams, a plan, and a space where innovation and collaboration work hand in hand. Because in the end, a balanced startup rewards not just ambition, but serves both producers and consumers.
Images: Google Images
Sources: The Economic Times, The Times Of India, Press Information Bureau
Find the blogger: @shubhangichoudhary_29
This post is tagged under: entrepreneurship in India, startup culture India, too many entrepreneurs, employment vs entrepreneurship, Indian economy startups, future of work India, freelancing trends India, startup ecosystem India, entrepreneurship challenges, Indian workforce shift, startup boom India, impact of too many startups, economic effects of entrepreneurship, Ratan Tata entrepreneurship quotes, Scott Shane entrepreneurship study, Adam Smith invisible hand economy
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