In this opinion piece, VistaPrint VP APAC Marcus Marchant argues that entrepreneurial experience can be a stronger foundation for becoming a CEO than years spent climbing the corporate ladder.
We have built a romanticised image of the path to the C-suite. The steady climb through blue-chip companies, punctuated by executive MBAs and boardroom presentations, is a proven route that provides essential rigour and scale. We often assume the best preparation for leading a multi-million-dollar enterprise is to spend decades inside one.
In my experience, some of the most useful leadership lessons come from being close to the work. Building my own small business meant making decisions quickly, owning the outcome, and staying anchored to what customers actually needed. It sharpened my judgement early, and it still influences how I lead today.
In a small business, there is very little distance between decisions and outcomes. A pricing call moves the needle quickly; a hiring mistake shows up in the customer experience almost immediately. Reputation is built or lost in direct conversation, not just brand tracking. That pressure builds a kind of practical judgement that is a powerful asset in any larger system.
Leadership without a safety net
Small businesses make up around 97 per cent of all Australian businesses. Most are run directly by owner-managers who are responsible for every major decision, from business development and hiring to regulatory requirements and daily finances. This is leadership at its most personal, with priorities moving quickly and decisions often needing to be made with limited time and resources.
In large organisations, decision-making is naturally buffered by layers of approval, specialist teams, and structured processes. This improves rigour, but it can sometimes slow decision-making. In a SMB, an entrepreneurial environment requires quick decisions, often with limited information. The impact is felt immediately in the bottom line, customer trust, and team morale.
That environment sharpens an “entrepreneurial mindset”, and it teaches a leader to prioritise hard, focus on what matters most, and accept that clarity usually beats perfection. In today’s fast-moving market, knowing how to act when you don’t have complete certainty is a trait that serves every CEO well.
The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman’s latest Small Business Pulse reports confidence rising for three consecutive quarters. Owners are navigating cost pressures and skills shortages with a mix of optimism and constraint, this is where practical leadership is formed.
The discipline of the dollar
Cash flow is a remarkably effective teacher. While larger organisations have the scale to absorb certain mistakes, small businesses usually operate with much tighter margins.
Leading in that environment forces a clear understanding of timing and trade-offs. It instills a discipline that translates directly to leadership at scale. CEOs who carry this “small business” lens are often more resilient in uncertain conditions, ensuring that growth is sustainable and grounded in financial reality.
The Small Business Pulse also points to a strong interest in technology and AI: not driven by hype, but by the need for practical gains. At VistaPrint, this is the lens we bring. We focus on reducing friction for owners, making design accessible, and helping bring ideas to life – ideas you can print, wear, or share.
In corporate environments, culture is often defined in values statements or confusing employee value propositions. In a small business, culture is visible in daily behaviour.
It is shaped by how leaders act under pressure and how people are consistently treated day-to-day. With small teams, every action sets the tone. You learn to build trust through transparency in order to motivate your people without relying solely on hierarchy.
Leaders who have worked this close to customers tend to carry that mindset with them, and they ask better questions, push for practical solutions, and stay grounded in reality rather than theory.
The kind of leadership we need more of
This is not to say every CEO must start their career as a small business owner, plenty of exceptional leaders don’t follow this path. However, in my experience, leaders who have spent time operating under small business constraints have found it beneficial and it’s given me a unique and valuable perspective that I’ve been able to bring to larger organisations.
I’ve experienced that myself, building my own small business, Bondi Joe, alongside my role at VistaPrint. It sharpens your thinking and builds a deep respect for the reality behind the numbers.
Australia wants higher productivity and more innovation. If that’s true, we should pay more attention to the lessons small business teaches. Whether you’ve run a shop or a multinational, embracing entrepreneurial traits such as judgement, discipline, customer closeness, and accountability is what makes for truly resilient leadership.
Boardrooms are where authority is exercised, but the frontlines of business are where many of our most practical leadership lessons are learned.
Keep up to date with our stories on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
