One quarter of Germans could imagine becoming self-employed but a good third of them lack the business ideas to do so. The KfW Start-up Monitor 2014 sheds light on how new entrepreneurs come by their ideas. It is most common to see business ideas develop from identified niches on the market, from the career choice of the entrepreneur or based on suggestions from others. The last two seem to be particularly motivating – if the business idea is "typical of the profession" or comes from third parties, then the start-up plans are realised more frequently.

Sought, found, rejected – how new entrepreneurs come up with their ideas(PDF, 117 KB, non-accessible)