The 'Entrepreneurial Mindset' Scam: Work Like a Founder, Get Paid Like an Intern
Once upon a time, jobs were straightforward. You showed up, did what was asked, and in return, you got a paycheck, maybe a sad little birthday cupcake from HR, and the relief of not thinking about work until the next shift. Your employer didn’t expect you to treat their bottom line like your life’s purpose, they just needed you to do the thing you were hired for.
But now? Now, every job, from flipping burgers to alphabetizing spreadsheets, demands an entrepreneurial mindset. Simply working at a company is no longer enough. You must think, act, and grind like you own the place. Except, you don’t. The only “stake” you get is the one corporate shoves through your work-life balance.
If people wanted to be entrepreneurs, they would just… be entrepreneurs. Nobody applies for a 9-to-5 gig because they dream of pitching VCs or disrupting industries. They do it because they want a job. But companies have decided that a paycheck isn’t enough anymore; you must hustle, innovate, and sacrifice. You’re the CEO now! Just without the salary, the power, or the ability to fire your own boss.
The Evolution of the Job: From “Show Up” to “Sell Your Soul”
There was a time when a job was just that: a job. You worked, you got paid, and then you went home to your actual life. Employers didn’t expect you to gaze longingly at the company logo like it was a lost lover or chant the corporate mission statement like a religious mantra. You were a worker, they were the boss, and the relationship was transactional, not cult-like.
But somewhere along the way, society lost the plot. A normal job wasn’t enough anymore. You now had to be passionate. You had to hustle. You had to make an impact. You were enlisted to be a visionary. The workplace stopped being a place where people simply earned a living and became an ideological proving ground.
Now, merely being good at your job is suspicious. If you’re not “obsessed”, if you’re not “willing to do whatever it takes” (translation: working nights and weekends for free), then clearly you don’t have what it takes to be part of the future of work.
Want to simply clock in and clock out? Well, you must lack ambition. Need a work-life balance? Sounds like someone isn’t a team player. Hoping for fair compensation for your efforts? Oh, so you’re not here for the passion?
At this point, companies should just cut to the chase and start advertising jobs with: “We prefer candidates willing to sign their souls over to the company in perpetuity.” Or, better yet, start taking applications from AI models that will never ask for PTO.
The Entrepreneurial Mindset Scam: Work Like a Founder, Get Paid Like a Peasant
The entrepreneurial mindset: is best described as, “do all the work of a CEO, but for the salary of a junior associate.” Today, simply doing your job isn’t enough. You must act like an owner while owning nothing.
Entrepreneurs take enormous risks because they have the chance to reap enormous rewards. That’s the deal. They sacrifice, they grind, and if they’re lucky, they cash out in millions. If they fail, they lose it all. That’s the trade-off.
But the corporate world has figured out how to extract all of the effort with none of the reward. They want you to work like an entrepreneur, but without the potential for upside.
The job listings make it clear:
“We’re looking for a self-starter!” (Translation: No one will train you, and we will dump five jobs on you for the price of one.)
“Must be comfortable in a fast-paced environment!” (Translation: We are understaffed, and you will be in a state of constant panic.)
“Willing to wear many hats!” (Translation: We cannot afford three employees, so you will do their work instead.)
And for all your dedication? Your big reward for “thinking like an owner”? Maybe a $20 Starbucks gift card and a company-wide email saying “we couldn’t have done it without you!” Meanwhile, the actual owners will be cashing out stock options and brainstorming ways to cut next year’s bonuses.
So the next time a company tells you to “act like an owner,” ask one simple question: “Cool. So where’s my equity?” If they can’t answer that, they don’t want you to act like an owner. They want you to work like a mule.
Who Loses in This System?
Not everyone wakes up in the morning with an insatiable thirst to optimize corporate synergy or revolutionize the paperclip industry. Some people just want a stable, decently paid job that allows them to live a normal, balanced life.
Mad, right?
But in 2025, these people are treated like medieval heretics. Hiring managers peer at them suspiciously, as if merely wanting a job means they lack ambition. Corporate culture ridicules them. Every job listing is a euphemism-riddled plea for “high-energy, self-starting rockstars” when all they really need is someone who knows how to use Excel.
And what happens when everyone is forced into this “hustle-or-die” model?
More burnout – Employees are stretched too thin, doing the work of multiple people, constantly afraid that simply “doing their job” isn’t enough.
More layoffs – Because hey, why keep five workers when you can guilt-trip two into working like five?
More people saying, “Screw this, I’m becoming an actual entrepreneur” – And not in the way companies want. People are leaving traditional employment because if they’re going to grind, they might as well grind for themselves.
The harder companies push for the “entrepreneurial mindset,” the more actual entrepreneurs they create. Workers are realizing they’d rather start their own business than die on the hill of unpaid corporate loyalty.
So congratulations, employers. You wanted everyone to think like an entrepreneur, and turns out, they did. And now they’re leaving.
The Rebellion: Bring Back the Job Mindset!
Enough is enough. It’s time to stage a full-scale rebellion by demanding the radical, revolutionary right to have a normal job.
Not a lifestyle, not a mission, not a soul-consuming hustle. A job. A thing you do in exchange for money, so you can afford to do things that actually matter, like existing as a human outside of work.
The corporate powers that be have spent the last decade convincing us that working like a startup founder (without the stock options) is the highest form of fulfillment. But when layoffs roll around, when budgets get slashed, when profits mysteriously “don’t trickle down,” guess what? You’re not a “partner,” you’re not a “key stakeholder,” you’re just another cost on a spreadsheet.
So let’s stop pretending. Let’s normalize the worker mindset again. Showing up, doing your job well, and then going home without guilt should not be seen as a moral failure.
The “entrepreneurial mindset” scam has always been a cost-cutting strategy disguised as empowerment, designed to extract free labor while making you feel like you’re part of something bigger. You’re not.
Workers of the world, unite! Not to launch businesses, not to grind ourselves into dust, but to reclaim the simple dignity of having a job without being expected to sell our souls for it.
If it’s not your company, why the hell should you act like it is.
Not everyone is trying to be the next tech visionary, grindset guru, or LinkedIn influencer preaching the gospel of hustle. Some people just want to work, get paid, and go home. And yet, today, that mindset is treated as a sign of mediocrity, or worse... laziness.
The only people who truly benefit from turning every job into a founder-level grind are the actual founders. The ones who own the company, make the decisions, and collect the profits while you “act like an owner” with none of the benefits.
So the next time a job description says they’re looking for an “entrepreneurial self-starter”, pause for a moment and remember:
You are not the CEO.
You are not the founder.
You do not have stock options.
And guess what? That’s fine. Let the entrepreneurs take the risks, stress, and sleepless nights. The rest of us? We just want a job. A real job, with real pay, that doesn’t require us to pretend we’re building someone else’s empire for free.