Entrepreneurship vs. Intrapreneurship
Entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship are two closely related concepts that are seen expressed by individuals that are comfortable with some degree of risk whether it be financial or social. The main differences between the two are that for the most part entrepreneurs have a greater appetite for risk, and they are willing to have a more personal investment in their ventures (whether it be financial, time, or otherwise).
Anything an intrapreneur can do, an entrepreneur can do as well, and more likely cheaper and leaner, but the benefit of being an intrapreneur is stability. If a Inc. 500 company has a business unit of intrapreneurs developing business ideas, they already have a budget set to develop the idea, pay engineers to develop a prototype, have their marketing department do product tests, and most other items needed to bring the product to market. An entrepreneur would have to do much of that work him or herself while bootstrapping and gaining financing in order to bring other people on their team or outsourcing the development.
The entrepreneur is inherently taking on more risk because no matter how good their forecasts are, there is a chance that it will fail for whatever reason. A large organization will be able to absorb/write off losses as a one time expense and still be able to be supported by it’s other business units. The only way for an entrepreneur to do this is to have multiple ventures at once to diversify the risk, but then the person runs the risk of being stretched too thin and the quality of the ventures diminishing.
At this point in my life I would choose to be an intrapreneur. I’m relatively young, don’t have a business track record to show investors, and I enjoy my assets/credit more than I would enjoy trading them for a venture. Working in an environment where I can be an intrapreneur would also afford me the luxury to work with other individuals/CEO/CFO’s that can provide me with unparalleled experience so that when I do spread my wings on my first venture, I’ll be more prepared.
In writing this, it strikes me that the smaller an organization is that involves intrapreneurs, the more the intrapreneur is like an entrepreneur. This is because of the limited financial and workforce resources and a small organization’s ability to be agile and react quickly like an entrepreneur must be.
