Spain is leading a profound transformation in how work, business, and technology are understood: Spanish founders trust more in the security of running their own business than in a traditional job, while embracing artificial intelligence as a lever to undertake with greater autonomy and digital competitiveness. This is revealed by the new Shopify Global Business Pulse Survey, conducted by The Harris Poll among online-active small business owners and executives in Spain.
Globally, Shopify has also analyzed why entrepreneurship is becoming one of the most “future-proof” jobs, but in the case of Spain these data suffice to explain why the country is taking center stage in that story.
Far from being just another interesting market, the data position Spain as the country most committed to entrepreneurship and most optimistic about using AI to create companies among the five markets analyzed in the study. This combination makes Spain the centerpiece of Shopify’s global story about the future of work, the economy, and innovation.
Entrepreneurship as the New “Job Security”
The report shows that in Spain the classic narrative of the “stable job” as the only safe option is breaking down. Forty percent of surveyed business owners and decision-makers consider that owning a business is today financially safer than having a traditional job, compared with only 25% who see employed work as more secure.
This commitment to entrepreneurship isn’t a leap into the void, but a deliberate decision:
- The 88% say concerns about job stability influenced their decision to start a business, the highest share of any country analyzed.
- However, 69% say that, in starting their business, they felt they were moving toward something they truly wanted, not just escaping instability.
- The main motivation to embark on entrepreneurship is having more control over decisions (33%), also the highest in the study.
The commitment to the chosen path is equally strong: 87% of Spanish founders would start their company again in 2026 knowing what they know today, and 60% would set it up exactly the same way, the highest figure among the five markets. Nearly all—93%—consider leading or building their business one of the achievements they are most proud of.
AI: From automating to empowering the founder
The second major finding of the study is the differential role of artificial intelligence in the Spanish entrepreneurial ecosystem. Seventy-eight percent of entrepreneurs in Spain say AI today makes it easier to launch a business, the highest figure of all analyzed countries and clearly above markets like the United States (67%).
Rather than using AI only to automate tasks, Spanish founders view it as a tool that makes it possible to run a business on their own terms, with more control, flexibility, and decision-making power. This approach aligns with the main driver that pushes entrepreneurship in Spain: the desire for greater autonomy in decision-making.
In addition to AI, Spanish SMEs highlight the impact of e-commerce platforms, social networks, online training resources, and remote-work infrastructure in lowering barriers to entrepreneurship. Although many perceive that starting a business today is harder than ten years ago, the combination of technology and personal determination is redefining what “security” means in the labor market and in the digital economy.
“What we’re seeing in Spain is something unique: founders no longer view entrepreneurship as a plan B, but as the safest and most promising option for their professional lives,” says Deann Evans, Managing Director, EMEA of Shopify. “The study data show that Spanish entrepreneurs are using artificial intelligence not to replace people, but to gain autonomy, make better decisions and build more resilient businesses with digital reach from day one. At Shopify, we want to be the technology partner that turns that ambition and optimism into real growth, both for each SME and for the Spanish economy and its innovation ecosystem.”
In a context of concerns about youth employment and the precarious job debate and digital competitiveness in Southern Europe, Shopify’s results offer a different face of the Spanish economy: that of thousands of founders who choose entrepreneurship not only as a response to instability, but as a path toward greater purpose, autonomy, and economic potential, supported by digital tools and AI.
The Business Pulse data position these SMEs and small online businesses as a real driver of growth, employment, and innovation in Spain. The perception that owning a business can offer more security, more control, and a more strategic relationship with technology is redrawing the role of entrepreneurship in the Spanish economy and its innovation ecosystem.
