Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurship gets students talking about business, risk-taking, and innovation. These questions work well for discussing both famous success stories and the practical challenges of starting something new.

Questions are organized by level from beginner to advanced. A printable PDF of all the questions is available at the bottom of the page.

Beginner (A1-A2)

1. Do you know any entrepreneurs? What kind of business do they have?
2. What kind of business would you like to start? What would you sell?
3. Who is the most successful businessperson in your country? What kind of business do they have?
4. What kind of business is very common in your city or town? What do they sell?
5. What kind of business would be fun to own? What would a normal day look like?
6. What was the first business you remember visiting as a child? What did they sell?
7. What is a popular store or shop in your neighborhood? What can you buy there?
8. If you had a shop, what would you name it? Why?
9. Do you like to buy things from small businesses or big stores? Why?
10. What is a business you go to every week? What do you buy or do there?

Elementary (A2)

1. What are three good things about being your own boss?
2. What skills do you need to run a restaurant? Give me some examples.
3. What is the most interesting business you have ever seen? What made it interesting?
4. Have you ever sold anything? How did it go?
5. What are three things every new business needs to have?
6. Where do people in your city usually open new businesses? Why do you think they choose those places?
7. What’s the biggest business success story you’ve heard of? What did they do?
8. Have you ever had a business idea but didn’t try it? What stopped you?
9. What is a business that used to be popular but is not anymore? What happened?
10. Have you ever visited a factory or a company? What did you see there?
11. What is one thing that makes a restaurant or cafe successful in your area? Why does that help?

Intermediate (B1)

1. Does your country have a lot of entrepreneurs? Why do you think so?
2. What is the most profitable type of business to open in your country? Why do you think so?
3. Should a restaurant open where there are no restaurants or where there are lots of restaurants? Why?
4. In your country, is it better for a restaurant or cafe to be unique or familiar? What is good about each?
5. What traits make someone a good entrepreneur?
6. Would you like to open your own business? Why or why not?
7. What kind of business would you never want to start? Why?
8. Have you ever worked for a family business? What did you think of it?
9. What is the hardest part of starting a new business? Why?
10. What is a good business to start with very little money? Why?
11. Should schools teach students how to start a business? Why or why not?
12. What do you think makes a small business survive when bigger companies exist? Give me some examples.
13. Should people quit their jobs to chase a business dream or keep working while building it slowly? Why or why not?
14. What’s the biggest mistake new entrepreneurs make? How could they avoid it?
15. Do you think entrepreneurs care more about money or about making a difference? How so?
16. Should young people start businesses right after school, or should they get work experience first? Why or why not?
17. Do you think family businesses are a good idea? Why or why not?
18. If a friend asked you to invest money in their business idea, what would you consider before saying yes or no?

Upper-Intermediate (B2)

1. What are 4 pros and 4 cons of being an entrepreneur?
2. How are businesses today different from businesses in the past?
3. What must a company do or have to be successful?
4. Are people born entrepreneurs or are they made?
5. What’s more important for a new business: a great product or great marketing? What is good about each?
6. Is it better to start a business alone or with a partner? What are the downsides of each?
7. How has social media changed entrepreneurship? Consider both positive and negative effects.
8. How is entrepreneurship different in your country compared to other countries you know about? What causes those differences?
9. What must an entrepreneur do to build customer trust in a world full of scams and dishonest businesses?
10. How do economic recessions affect entrepreneurship? Consider both the challenges and opportunities.
11. What role does failure play in entrepreneurial success? How should entrepreneurs approach setbacks?
12. Some people say entrepreneurship is mostly about luck, while others say it is about skill. What factors actually determine whether a business succeeds or fails?
13. What are the advantages and disadvantages of crowdfunding compared to getting a bank loan to start a business?
14. Why do some businesses that seem like great ideas still fail? What patterns do you notice in business failures?

Advanced (C1)

1. How might the rise of automation and AI simultaneously create new entrepreneurial opportunities while destroying traditional small business models?
2. What tensions exist between the entrepreneurial ideal of ‘following your passion’ and the economic reality that most new businesses fail?
3. How do platform companies like Uber and Airbnb both enable individual entrepreneurship and create new forms of economic dependency?
4. Why have entrepreneurship programs become so popular in universities when research shows most entrepreneurs don’t have business degrees?
5. How does the global venture capital system shape which problems entrepreneurs try to solve and which communities they serve?
6. When a tech company like Uber or Airbnb disrupts a traditional industry, workers in the old industry often lose their jobs. Where is the line between innovation and causing harm?
7. Some entrepreneurs become billionaires while their employees can barely pay rent. How should we think about wealth inequality that comes from entrepreneurial success?
8. In many countries, entrepreneurship is celebrated as a path to freedom and independence. But how much of that success depends on advantages like family wealth, education, or connections that most people do not have?
9. Entrepreneurs are often told to ‘follow their passion,’ but many successful businesses solve boring problems like plumbing or logistics. How much does passion actually matter, and can it sometimes be a trap?
10. Small businesses are often seen as the backbone of a community, but big companies create more jobs and lower prices. When a Walmart or Amazon moves into a small town, who really wins and who loses in the long run?

PDF: Download a PDF of all the questions