Entrepreneurs are people who come up with an innovative idea which they are willing to work upon and expand. One of the major qualities of an entrepreneur is risk-taking. However, there are certain people with a similar skill set who can manage and build a business but don’t want to undertake the financial risk. However, the people who are willing to become entrepreneurs minus the risk can become intrapreneurs; a concept which has been gaining popularity over the years.
Over the years, intrapreneurs have been put down by the general public because it is a commonly held belief that entrepreneurs are people who embrace their freedom and like to be the boss. However, with changing times, this theory is slowly fading away. While starting your own business might seem challenging and exciting, working for other people holds great value too. It is just outdated and short sighted to not consider people with entrepreneurial skills working under an entrepreneur as futile.
If you are still confused whether you want to become an entrepreneur or an intrapreneur, you could ask yourself the following questions and decide based on these answers:
1. Are you ready to take financial risk?
The biggest risk about starting your venture is probably the financial risk you as an entrepreneur have to bear. All ventures need to have start-up costs settled and later seek out for venture capitalists to invest in the business.
Even if your revenue is negative, you need to keep bearing fixed costs.
Losses and absence of liquidation are two major reasons businesses shut down. Many a times, venture capitalists pull out because they stop believing in your idea and believe they have found a better idea to invest in. After a great sale period, your profits can start dwindling because of competition. These are a few financial risks every entrepreneur needs to bear at some point or other.
If these risks seem appealing to you, go ahead and own your business like a boss. If not, you still have the option of embracing entrepreneurship by becoming an intrapreneur.
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2. What do you hope to achieve from it?
A lot of entrepreneurs do not just seek just money. Some want recognition, some want success and some want to genuinely help the society through their innovations. Some entrepreneurs also seek freedom. You need to figure out what you really want and work towards achieving it. In a regular 9-5 job you might not really have the option of getting what you want.
Once you have your motivation sorted, you are now ready to approach the employer or an existing entrepreneur who can actually help you get what you want. Without any financial burden, you can utilise your skills by becoming a great intrapreneur.
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3. Do you want to work on an already developed project?
Working for a new start-up means starting from scratch. You need to do everything from developing a product to the marketing to the launch of the final product. However, if you believe that you do not want all that additional burden of working on a newbie, you could always look for a start-up which is a little more established.
With existing businesses being relatively sorted, all you need to do is keep steering forward and continue with their plans. You could devise some new strategies as well.
If this seems appealing to you, you need to find a corporate partner who allows you to work for “square two”. It isn’t a very difficult task to find one in India considering the number of start-ups which are established and require intrapreneurs to handle logistics and marketing.
