Entrepreneurship is often framed as a path to freedom, innovation, and self-determination. But for many, it is not a choice—it is a response to exclusion.

In our study, published in the Journal of Business Venturing Insights, we examine how trans and non-binary entrepreneurs in the United States and Puerto Rico turn to entrepreneurship not primarily to pursue opportunity, but to navigate instability, misrecognition, and institutional retreat.

Rather than a story of empowerment alone, this research reveals a more complex reality: entrepreneurship as survival—and as resistance.

When institutions step back, people do not disappear

Recent years have seen a rollback of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives across multiple institutional settings. For trans and non-binary individuals, this shift has reshaped access to employment, recognition, and economic stability.

Participants in our study described repeated experiences of exclusion—from subtle misgendering in interviews to stalled career mobility despite strong qualifications. In this context, entrepreneurship did not emerge as a dream to pursue, but as a condition to navigate.

As one participant shared, starting a business was “less about ambition and more about stability.”

When institutions withdraw, people do not disappear from economic life—they adapt, resist, and find alternative ways to survive.

Leaving the system to regain control

For many participants, entrepreneurship began as a strategic exit from labor markets that felt unreliable, conditional, or outright exclusionary.

Some described submitting multiple job applications with no success. Others shared how workplace environments required constant negotiation of identity. Even highly credentialed professionals reported difficulty sustaining stable employment.

Entrepreneurship, in this context, was not about chasing opportunity—it was about regaining control.

Control over how they present themselves.
Control over who they work with.
Control over how they exist professionally.

This challenges one of the most dominant assumptions in entrepreneurship research: that entrepreneurial entry is primarily opportunity-driven.

The hidden work of being seen as legitimate

Starting a business, however, does not eliminate structural barriers—it transforms them.

One key insight from the study is that entrepreneurship requires ongoing legitimacy work. For trans and non-binary entrepreneurs, being qualified is not always enough.

Participants described how credibility had to be continuously proven in client interactions, investor conversations, and professional networks. Evaluation often extended beyond the quality of the service or product to include personal identity.

In this sense, entrepreneurship is not just about building a venture—it is about constantly being recognized as someone who deserves to be there.

Platforms open doors—but also create new dependencies

Digital platforms play a central and paradoxical role in this process.

For many participants, platforms provided access to clients and income outside traditional employment systems. They enabled visibility, connection, and participation in the economy.

At the same time, they introduced new forms of dependency.

Visibility—and therefore income—became tied to opaque, constantly changing algorithmic systems. As one participant explained:

“Algorithm changes can erase visibility overnight.”

Another described platform-based work as “a constant negotiation between visibility and vulnerability.”

These systems do not simply support entrepreneurship—they shape who gets seen, who gets opportunities, and who remains invisible.

Resistance is not always loud

Resistance is often imagined as visible, collective, or overtly political. But in this context, it is quieter, more relational, and embedded in everyday practice.

Participants described resistance as continuing to work despite exclusion, setting boundaries with clients, leaving hostile environments, and supporting others in similar situations.

As one participant put it:

“Resistance is just continuing to do my work… without apologizing for who I am.”

Entrepreneurship, in this sense, becomes more than an economic activity—it becomes a way to maintain dignity, identity, and community under constraint.

Why this matters

These findings have important implications beyond academia.

• For policymakers, promoting entrepreneurship without addressing structural exclusion risks shifts responsibility from institutions to individuals.
• For educators and support organizations, there is a need to prepare entrepreneurs to operate under conditions of institutional instability and algorithmic uncertainty.
• For digital platforms, there is a growing responsibility to reflect on how visibility systems shape economic participation and inequality.

More broadly, this research challenges us to rethink what we mean by “opportunity” in contemporary entrepreneurship.

It offers a grounded perspective on how institutional withdrawal and algorithmic mediation reshape entrepreneurial pathways—and why entrepreneurship should not be romanticized as a universal solution to exclusion.

📖 Read the full paper here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2352673426000284

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Author bio

Marcos A. Rodríguez-Negrón is a faculty member in marketing and business with research interests in entrepreneurship, digital platforms, and consumer behavior. His work examines how institutional and algorithmic systems shape market access, legitimacy, and economic participation in contemporary economies.