How to become an entrepreneur

Find out how to become an entrepreneur in the UK.

Students on their laptops at the student centre

Information is correct as of August 2025. Before deciding on whether to pursue a career, you're advised to contact your careers service for the most up-to-date guidance.

What is entrepreneurship?

Entrepreneurs are simply people who have decided to branch out on their own, rather than seek employment through a company or organisation.

This could be by pursuing their own business ideas, investing in other startups, or spotting everyday problems and turning them into opportunities. It could also mean being a freelancer or creating a social enterprise. Entrepreneurship can allow people to follow their passions, think creatively, and shape their own future.

Qualifications required

There are no set qualifications to become an entrepreneur.

You may want to:

  • study for an undergraduate degree and then go on to a Masters and/or PhD in a business-related course
  • study a degree in any subject related to your entrepreneurial aspirations, whether that be business-related, creative, tech, or social
  • decide against going to university and start a venture without studying first.

Whatever you study, business and freelancing support is available to you from the Entrepreneurship Team.

While we welcome students from all subject areas to take part in entrepreneurship programmes, you may like to consider the following subjects at Sussex:

Skills required

Anyone can develop the skills needed to become an entrepreneur.  It’s particularly helpful to have a growth mindset, an understanding for your core strengths and how you can learn and access support along the way.  Here are a few of the key skills you might need to build:

  • pro-activity
  • creativity
  • communication
  • time management
  • adaptability
  • resilience.

How do entrepreneurs get started?

To get started as an entrepreneur: 

  1. Talk to other entrepreneurs

    Learn about the industry from people who are already working in it. They can share their stories about how they developed their start-up ideas and give you tips. You can then work out if you think this is the career for you.  

  2. Understand your customer to develop your idea, product or service

    Whether you have an idea or not, you’ll want to research your customer, and the problems they face, in order to develop a valuable offering for them. The best ideas are sometimes the most simple, perhaps ideas that are common but done in a unique way.

  3. Write a business plan

    Spend time collecting all the information about your business into a business plan. You may need to consider how much it will cost to operate your business, and how it will make money. You can work out your forecasted sales and profits. You may then need to work out how much money you will need from investors to help get your company off the ground.

  4. Get funding

    You’ll likely need funding to start your company. Entrepreneurs can seek funding from many different sources, including loans, investors, friends and family or other networks, grants, crowdfunding, the government, and competitions.

    As a Sussex student, you may be able to access , including the Startup Sussex and Big Ideas competitions, grants, and access to other founder support institutions such as Sussex Innovation. Students have access to entrepreneurship support for up to three years after graduating.

    For students in the Business School, there is specialised support available including alternative placement opportunities like Venture Creation Year, enabling you to explore self-employment and business creation as a core component of your studies.

    You may also be able to look for start-up funding from resources including:

      • the government's 
      • banks or building societies
      • crowdfunding
      • investors
      • . 

  5. Consider office space

    You may also want to look for your own work space by looking at share work spaces like serviced offices where you go and rent a desk once a week. To keep costs down you may want to consider working from home at the beginning of your venture. 

  6. Build your product or service and start pitching 

    Depending on the product or service you are developing, consider asking friends who have the relevant skills to help you, or offering internship opportunities to students who may want to get some experience on their CVs.

    When your first product or service is ready to promote, you may want to get out there and pitch it to companies. When you have your first order you can monitor how the product or service does while continuing to secure more orders. 

You can get more advice from: 

How to get entrepreneurial experience

To get experience in business, it might be worth applying for placements at companies and firms. You could also work or volunteer with small businesses in your local area. You might also benefit from work shadowing or working as an assistant to an entrepreneur or leader in your community.

You may want to look for internship opportunities at start-up companies, so that you can get an idea about how newly-formed companies work, and what it’s like to work in them.

If you are a student at the 亚洲情色, the Careers and Entrepreneurship team provide a range of support and guidance to those seeking placements, internships or jobs that could offer insights or experience of entrepreneurial ventures.

The entrepreneurship team at Sussex were a great helping getting Floom off the ground. We were lucky enough to win the Santander Elevate grant which we invested in equipment.” HARVEY PLATT
BA Economics

Read more about Harvey's business venture

Studying at Sussex

If you choose to study your degree at Sussex, you'll benefit from:

  • careers and entrepreneur support for up to three years after you graduate
  • the chance to join our alumni network
  • mentoring schemes so you get real-world advice, support and experience while you study. 

What do you want to do next?