This book addresses the different kinds of businesses launched by entrepreneurs and explains why their differences are so critical for our understanding of entrepreneurship. While entrepreneurs create a wide variety of businesses, overwhelming emphasis has been placed on explosive growth firms such as Facebook, Google, Amazon, Uber and Airbnb. Although important, these businesses represent less than one percent of start-ups.

The book distinguishes four types of new ventures: survival, lifestyle, managed growth and aggressive growth. Underlying characteristics of each type are investigated, together with the resources, skills and capabilities necessary for their success. Issues that arise based on this typology are explored, including reasons why ventures of one type rarely change to become another, and how entrepreneurs determine which they should pursue. In addition, the authors introduce the 'portfolio' concept, where the need to develop a balanced mix of venture types is emphasized.

The principal audiences for What Do Entrepreneurs Create? include entrepreneurship educators, scholarly researchers, public policy developers, economic development professionals, and community organizations striving to foster entrepreneurial activity.