Entrepreneurs’ motivation: Goal striving among entrepreneurs in the new venture creation process

Goal striving, the enactment of motivation, is central to new venture creation. This paper presents two independent studies, one utilizing panel data from a 36-month period and the other utilizing a fine grained journal entries of eight cases over a six-month period that provide a broad and detailed examination of entrepreneurs’ goal striving. The results show that successful entrepreneurs set multiple clear, specific, and actionable goals that are focused on the venture and offer clear feedback on whether a goal is attained, and can be pursued simultaneously. These results provide insight into entrepreneurs’ goal striving towards venture creation.