Autonomy is a primary motive for a large majority of small business starters. However, as an explanation of why people want their own (autonomous) business it is largely circular. In this paper, we focus on an explanation of the autonomy motive itself. We provide a theoretical and empirical exposition of autonomy as a startup motive. Specifically, it is questioned why small business starters want autonomy. A distinction is made between proximal and distal reasons for wanting autonomy. Our framework is confirmed studying a sample of 167 nascent entrepreneurs motivated by autonomy. The findings suggest that beneath the surface of small business starters striving for autonomy, they differ in their relative emphasis on the underlying sources of the autonomy motive.