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10 Different Types of Entrepreneurship

Thinking of starting your own business? Learn about 10 different types of entrepreneurship and their pros and cons.

Entrepreneurship is a way of approaching your career that involves starting your own business rather than becoming an employee of other businesses. As an entrepreneur, you have the freedom to choose between different types of entrepreneurship as well as different business avenues. You can even start a small business online to get started and reduce your overhead but still be your own boss.

One thing to keep in mind is that there are different types of entrepreneurship. Being an entrepreneur doesn’t necessarily mean starting a small business, but it doesn’t always mean starting a corporation either. There are scalable startups, social entrepreneurs, innovative entrepreneurs, and more. It’s important for various types of entrepreneurs to choose the right types of entrepreneurship.

Of course, being an entrepreneur is about more than just knowing what type of business you want to start. As an entrepreneur, you have to dedicate a lot of time and effort to your businesses if you want to succeed. When you start a business, you need to go in with a thorough plan that you can use to launch your business and grow it over time. If you succeed, the end result is one of the most potentially rewarding careers.

Want to know more about the different types of entrepreneurship and which type is right for you? Here’s a quick breakdown of the 10 types of entrepreneurship.

The different types of entrepreneurship

There are different types of entrepreneurship and different types of entrepreneurs. Some people may want to start a small business or two, while others may want to start with a larger company. Here are some of the different types of entrepreneurship and their pros and cons.

Small business entrepreneurship

If you want to create a business idea that resonates with you without a ton of financing or experience, small business entrepreneurship may be the right option for you. You can start a small business with significantly less capital compared to a large company or corporation, and you may not even need to hire anyone for a while. At a certain point, you’ll want to hire some employees to help your company grow.

One thing to keep in mind with small business entrepreneurship is that your success is entirely dependent on your profit. If your business isn’t turning a profit, you’re not going to make any money as an entrepreneur. What this means is that you have to invest a lot of time and resources into growing your business.

Large business entrepreneurship

If you’re more interested in acquiring a larger company, large business entrepreneurship might be the better choice. Running a large company is a lot different because large companies typically have a core lineup of products and services that you must constantly innovate around. Large business entrepreneurs don’t start their own companies; instead, they acquire established companies and create new products or subsidiaries within those companies.

A potential downside to large business entrepreneurship is that it requires a lot of resources. Other types of entrepreneurship work with a smaller amount of capital, but you need significant money to invest in other companies and grow those companies.

Scalable startup entrepreneurship

Scalable startup entrepreneurship is a balance between small business entrepreneurship and large business entrepreneurship. By starting a company whose business model is scalable and repeatable, you can start off small with the intent to scale up your business as it grows. That way, you don’t have to make any major changes to sell more products or provide more services when demand grows.

When you start a scalable startup, you should have some idea of how the company is going to grow and how business operations will scale with that growth in the future.

Intrapreneurship

Intrapreneurship is when you work as an entrepreneur within a company, which means you don’t have to come up with the capital or worry about running an entire business yourself. So, what exactly does an intrapreneur do? The idea is that you can work as an employee while providing innovative solutions and suggestions to your employer.

Some of the biggest web companies hold annual events where employees are free to showcase their innovative side—this is another form of intrapreneurship. If you don’t have the resources to start a business, this can be another great way to contribute.

Social entrepreneurship

Social entrepreneurship is done with the goal of improving upon a social issue, such as the environment or poverty. The goal of a social entrepreneur is to make a career out of working to solve these social issues, that way you can make money while doing something you’re truly passionate about.

You don’t have to run a nonprofit to be a social entrepreneur. As long as your company’s mission is to improve the world, you’re a social entrepreneur. Some examples of social entrepreneurship include TOMS shoes and Firehouse Subs.

Innovative entrepreneurship

As an innovative entrepreneur, you’ll spend your time trying to come up with the next great idea in the field you’re interested in. You might have a different idea of how a business should run, or maybe you’ve got a one-of-a-kind product you want to show the world. As an innovative entrepreneur, coming up with great ideas is the name of the game.

Keep in mind that innovative entrepreneurship can require a lot of time, effort, and market research. You want to create a product or service that people are going to use, but your product or service has to be unique in some way. Expect to do a lot of testing, reworking, and retesting.

Hustler entrepreneurship

Hustler entrepreneurship is a more general term that refers to an entrepreneur who has a strong work ethic. By simply working harder than many other entrepreneurs, you can succeed even if you don’t have the most capital or the next big idea for a product.

If you’re a confident person with a strong work ethic, hustler entrepreneurship might be right for you. Whether you’re looking for the next big market to invest in or the next opportunity to make a big sale, putting some hustle behind your entrepreneurship can go a long way.

Researcher entrepreneurship

With researcher entrepreneurship, your success is based on your willingness to research deeply into topics to prepare yourself for entrepreneurship. You don’t just need to have a great business idea—you need to have research that backs that idea and allows you to make the most out of what you’ve got.

Researcher entrepreneurship isn’t for everybody, but it can be a good avenue if the other types of entrepreneurship don’t sound all that appealing.

Imitative entrepreneurship

You won’t always be the first person to have a great idea, but you don’t always have to be. With imitative entrepreneurship, you can take an idea that another entrepreneur has had success with and apply it to yourself. The big benefit here is that you don’t have to assume the same risks that the innovative entrepreneur dealt with.

It’s important to remember that imitative entrepreneurship isn’t as simple as copying another person’s idea. You also need to improve on this idea to make sure you’re offering something a little bit different—and better. Look at where others have gone wrong and correct those mistakes when you copy that idea.

Buyer entrepreneurship

If you have a lot of capital to invest, buyer entrepreneurship can be an easy way to get your start as an entrepreneur. The idea here is that you buy a developing or established company instead of starting your own, then you can act in a leadership role and earn money on your investment.

As a buyer entrepreneur, you don’t have to be hands-on throughout the duration of owning a business. At a certain point, you may choose to hand off your leadership role to another individual, especially if you’re considering investing in another company. Because of this, buyer entrepreneurship can be a bit less stressful.

Starting your business

If you want to dive in as an entrepreneur, you have your choice between several types of entrepreneurship. Keep in mind that being an entrepreneur requires a lot of time and other resources, so you can’t expect success overnight. Work hard and do things the right way to build a successful career over time.

With Mailchimp, starting your business is easy. From website builders to our email marketing guide and email marketing tools, we have everything you need to launch your business and make sure it succeeds.

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