Applying a lifespan approach of human development, this study examined pathways to entrepreneurial success by analyzing retrospective and current data. Along the lines of McClelland’s ideas of early entrepreneurship development and Rauch and Frese’s Giessen-Amsterdam model on venture success, we investigated the roles of founders’ adolescent years (early role models, authoritative parenting, and early entrepreneurial competence), personality traits (Big Five pattern), and entrepreneurial skills and growth goals during venture creation. Findings were derived from structural equation modeling studying two comparable samples of founders (N = 531) and nascent founders (N = 100) from Germany. Across both samples, reports on age-appropriate entrepreneurial competence in adolescence and an entrepreneurial Big Five profile predicted entrepreneurial skills during venture creation, which in turn predicted founders’ setting of ambitious growth goals and entrepreneurial success. Early entrepreneurial competence was related to the availability of entrepreneurial role models and authoritative parenting during adolescence as well as to an entrepreneurial Big Five profile. In line with prospective reports on early precursors of entrepreneurship, the findings illuminate the development of entrepreneurship in general and entrepreneurial success in particular over the lifespan, especially with regard to factors relevant in the adolescent years and the interplay with personality across different developmental periods.
