To start or not to start? An exploratory study of work meaningfulness among start-up co-founders
Deniz Dirik, Burak Özdoğan · 2025
Read To start or not to start? An exploratory study of work meaningfulness among start-up co-founders by Deniz Dirik, Burak Özdoğan (2025) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-11821600.txt.
Description
Deniz Dirik and Burak Özdoğan explore in a study published in 2024 what makes work feel meaningful to start-up co-founders in Türkiye. Research on new firms usually tracks growth and profit, while the inner experience of founders gets less attention. The pair interview twelve co-founders in depth about drive, strain, and purpose in uncertain early years.
Founders tied meaning to the worth of the work, freedom to choose, identity, challenge, support, and balance with life. Inner drive and outside praise worked together to build well-being and grit. The authors shape the findings into a three-part model covering job life, inner life, and wider social good, and argue that new firms can feed personal growth, not just income.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Deniz Dirik, Burak Özdoğan |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2025 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 103 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |