The preparedness paradox: Wait for “ready,” and it might never come

Evidence tier: A1 Evidence type: Auto-discovered official publication Source: Shopify News Official publication date: 2026-07-13 Captured: 2026-07-16T20:30:43.186Z

New data reveals the gap between feeling ready and actually starting, and what founders who crossed it want you to know.

Starting a business used to look quite different. So much hinged on how much capital you had, who was in your rolodex, or how many years you could grind it out. Those walls are coming down. Across five global markets, roughly eight in ten founders say technology and AI have made it easier to start a business with limited resources or expertise. The tools are better, the costs are lower, and the path has fewer roadblocks.

So, what's holding people back?

To find out, Shopify partnered with The Harris Poll to survey current business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Australia, and France. One pattern stood out: 93% of aspiring founders in the U.S. say they feel at least somewhat ready to start a business. More than half say they could start today. And yet they haven't.

That gap—between feeling ready and actually starting—is one of the most persistent patterns in entrepreneurship. We call it the preparedness paradox. The technological barriers to starting have fallen, but the psychological barriers still remain. Aspiring entrepreneurs wait to start until they feel ready, not realizing they won't feel ready until they start. The survey finding that cut across every market is today’s founders didn't wait for “ready.” They simply began and learned as they went. And looking back, most wish they hadn’t waited as long.

The on-ramp is wider

Between 61% and 84% of respondents across markets say starting a business today is more accessible than it's ever been and requires less formal training or credentials. The top reasons: AI and modern tools have lowered the cost and complexity, and platforms let you reach customers without a big budget.

Founders credit technology most with finding and reaching customers and getting set up to sell. Between 23% and 33% say AI lets them do things they couldn't have done otherwise, and up to 39% say it cuts the time and effort required to run their business.

“Sidekick has been a massive game changer when it comes to marketing, product demand, inventory planning, and just maximizing my time,” says Mordechai Hoffmann, co-founder of Blurrd Goods. “It used to take hours upon hours to do research, and now I just put it into Sidekick and it spits out answers in a minute.”

Aspiring founders seem to know it, too. Across markets, up to 30% say AI tools that make starting easier would be enough to push them to start.

What's left is the leap

If the tools are there and the path is clearer, why are people still stuck? Because readiness feels like a prerequisite, and it's not. That's the preparedness paradox rearing its head. The top reasons aspiring founders give for not starting yet (not enough money, still developing the idea, not feeling prepared) are the same reasons current founders once gave, too. The difference is what happened next.

"We couldn't stop thinking about the idea, so we trusted our instincts and took the leap. We're still figuring it out every single day, and honestly, we hope that never changes," says Alexandra Gold, co-founder of Dough Dissolve. "We became ready by doing. We try new things, see what works, learn from what doesn't, and adapt quickly."

In four of five markets surveyed, roughly 70% of founders say they worked through their earliest challenges by trial and error. Many entrepreneurs didn't follow a playbook.

When asked whether they'd do things differently, up to 57% of founders who waited before launching say they wish they'd started sooner. Not that they'd been better prepared.

How founders get there depends on where they are

Even though founders in all five markets come to the same conclusion, how they get there varies. The survey revealed behavioral distinctions market to market, each with a different relationship to risk, preparation, and the leap itself.

United States: the confident ones. More than half of aspiring founders in the U.S. say they could start a business today, the highest of any market. And among American founders who waited before launching, 57% wish they'd started sooner. These survey participants showed the most conviction.

Australia: the quick ones. Nearly three in ten Australian founders started their business within days or weeks of deciding to. Once they launched, their biggest focus was staying consistent (43%). For Australian respondents, the approach seemed to be action first, optimization after.

United Kingdom: the methodical ones. More than a third of U.K. founders believe in starting small and learning as you grow. Half say starting was harder than they expected, and they adjusted course. Ultimately, U.K. respondents favored the long game over the big bet.

France: the clear-eyed ones. French founders reported the widest gap between expectation and reality. More than half (52%) said starting was harder than anticipated. Rather than relying on trial and error alone, French survey respondents leaned on mentors, formal resources, and platforms.

Canada: the scrappy ones. Capital was the number one obstacle Canadian founders named (38%), and yet they were also the most reliant on trial and error at 77%. Even though Canadian survey respondents had less financial runway, they didn’t take less action.

No one feels fully ready, but how people move forward looks different in each market.

Money still matters

While readiness is the biggest psychological hurdle, there are also more tangible ones. Money is the top barrier aspiring founders name in every market, cited by 38% to 46% of them.

But "enough money" might not mean what you think. Many entrepreneurs don't go all-in on day one. They start small and stay within their means, whether it was a first inventory order, a small pre-sale, an online store built on a weekend. You may not have everything you need, but you can start with what you have.

"I started this company with about $8,000 of my own dollars. I never raised outside capital or equity. I still control the whole company. We were extremely capital constrained," says Eli Khakshouri, founder of Retrospec. "I remember our first logo. We bought it on eBay for $50, and that was the first logo that went on the first bike."

For some entrepreneurs, the lack of resources was the motivation. “When I started my business I had an eviction notice on my apartment door,” says Olajuwon Ajanaku, founder of Eastside Golf. “At the end of the day it takes belief, it takes grind, it takes grit. There was no Plan B. You hear it all the time, but I actually lived it.”

When founders talk about what was hard, they don't talk about it like a warning. They talk about it like a cost they'd pay again. The difficulty didn't make them wish they'd chosen any differently.

Only one way to find out

Many entrepreneurs start without the full picture. There was no perfect plan, guaranteed market, or enough runway. Just a vision and the willingness to work through the obscurity. They didn't beat the preparedness paradox by getting ready. They beat it by starting.

The tools to start are here. The gap between idea and action has never been smaller. If you're waiting to feel ready, that feeling may never come. Because “ready” isn’t a feeling, it’s a decision.

“I just took it one step at a time,” says Lisa-Jae Eggert, founder of 3 Moms Organics. “I learned what I needed to learn as I went. Looking back, I don't think you become ready before you start. You become ready because you keep showing up and figuring it out.”

That thing you're waiting on? It's you. You don't get ready and then start. You start and then get ready. So start something.

Methodology

Survey conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of Shopify from May 25th- June 8th, 2026, among business owners and senior decision makers in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and France.