Syllabus: Pearson - A Level Business
Module: 1.5 Entrepreneurs and Leaders
Lesson: 1.5.6 Moving from Entrepreneur to Leader

Introduction

This article supports the delivery of Pearson Edexcel A Level Business – Theme 1, Section 1.5.6: Moving from Entrepreneur to Leader. It’s designed for teachers looking to bring clarity, relevance and assessment alignment to a topic that bridges theory and the reality of business leadership.

The shift from entrepreneur to leader is a key transition that highlights both personal development and organisational scaling. This topic prepares students to critically examine what happens when a business moves beyond a start-up phase and the entrepreneur must adapt to a new leadership role. The content directly links to Edexcel A-level Paper 1 and encourages students to apply knowledge in dynamic, real-world contexts.

Key Concepts

According to the Pearson A Level specification, students need to understand the following:

• Differences between an entrepreneur and a leader
  Entrepreneurs are often hands-on, reactive, and risk-taking. Leaders need to be strategic, people-focused, and system-oriented.

• Challenges in making the transition
  Moving from doing everything yourself to delegating, building teams, and setting long-term direction.

• Why the transition is important
  A business’s growth may be limited unless its founder evolves their mindset and practices.

• Leadership qualities required for scale
  Vision-setting, communication, emotional intelligence, and the ability to motivate and manage others.

These are explored in the context of the broader theme on entrepreneurs and leaders, encouraging cross-topic links such as decision-making, business objectives, and organisational structure.

Real-World Relevance

This concept comes to life through business stories students can relate to:

• Ben Francis (Gymshark): Founded the brand as a teenager, sewing gym wear in his bedroom. As Gymshark scaled, Francis stepped back as CEO to bring in external leadership, later returning with more experience. His journey is a powerful example of evolving from founder to strategic leader.

• Innocent Drinks: The original founders were creatives and marketers. As the business expanded, Coca-Cola acquired a stake, requiring the founders to take on leadership roles with global implications.

• Tech startups like Monzo and Starling Bank: Initially agile, fast-growing, and led by founders with a vision, but later required professionalised leadership and governance structures.

These examples support discussion on the tension between entrepreneurial instinct and the strategic needs of larger organisations.

How It’s Assessed

Assessment at A-level focuses on both analysis and evaluation. For this topic:

• Question types may include:

  • Short explain-style questions (e.g. “Explain two challenges an entrepreneur may face when becoming a leader”).

  • 10- or 12-mark analysis questions (e.g. “Assess the importance of leadership in enabling a small business to scale successfully”).

  • Contextual 20-mark evaluative essays using real business case material.

• Command words:

  • Explain: Demonstrate understanding with examples.

  • Analyse: Explore cause-and-effect chains.

  • Evaluate: Weigh up arguments and make reasoned judgements.

It’s essential students support their points with context and integrate knowledge from other areas such as organisational structure or management styles.

Enterprise Skills Integration

This topic is rich with practical enterprise skill applications:

• Decision-making: Should the founder continue as CEO? When is it time to step back or bring in external leadership?

• Strategic thinking: Aligning the business’s vision with operational reality.

• Emotional intelligence: Recognising the personal identity challenges that come with ‘letting go’ of control.

• Delegation and communication: Building teams and trusting others to deliver.

These are the exact skills developed through Enterprise Skills’ Business Simulations, where students take on leadership roles and experience decision-making consequences in real-time.

Careers Links

Linking directly to Gatsby Benchmarks 4 and 5, this topic encourages students to explore:

• Business leadership careers: Operations manager, CEO, team leader, department head.

• Start-up and growth pathways: What happens after initial launch? What are the realistic roles for young entrepreneurs post start-up?

• Employability skills: Communication, teamwork, initiative – all crucial in leadership development.

Activities that mirror leadership scenarios prepare students for workplace expectations and support post-16 decision making.

Teaching Notes

Here’s what works in real classrooms:

Tips:

• Use case studies (e.g. Gymshark) to illustrate evolving leadership styles.

• Set up debates on “Should founders always stay as leaders?” to encourage evaluative thinking.

• Introduce leadership diagnostic tools or profiles for students to self-assess traits.

Common pitfalls:

• Students often conflate leadership with control – clarify that good leadership often means letting go.

• Over-romanticising entrepreneurship – highlight that leadership requires as much discipline as creativity.

Extension ideas:

• Use Enterprise Skills’ Business Simulations to let students role-play decision-making as a growing business.

• Invite a local entrepreneur or alumni to speak about their leadership journey.

• Connect with careers leads to map this topic to live employer encounters or LinkedIn Learning profiles.