The Meaning of an Entrepreneurial Pilgrimage

A quick search of the internet indicates that many entrepreneurs often refer to their entrepreneurial experiences as a sort of pilgrimage, a deep and somewhat mysterious adventure. As entrepreneur and blogger, Skip Walker, notes, “all of us who become entrepreneurs are joining the long tradition of the entrepreneurial pilgrimage.” The British consulting group, N2 Accountancy correlates the entrepreneurial experience with walking the Camino de Santiago de Compostela (the Way of St. James) in France and Spain. They note that the Camino de Santiago de Compostela is “an ancient pilgrimage that draws on the same entrepreneurial skills of the modern businessperson and demonstrates entrepreneurial success in action.” While perhaps attempting to be somewhat poetic in description, the use of the term “pilgrimage” to describe the entrepreneurial experience actually underlines something much deeper about the nature of entrepreneurship. It separates in several important ways the entrepreneurial experience from other career choices and economic activity.