Difference between Entrepreneur and Intrapreneur

Entrepreneur and intrapreneur both have a unique idea as well as entrepreneurship skills besides they sound similar too but they are different from each other in many ways. While entrepreneur is like captain of the ship whereas intrapreneur is like a smart crew member of the ship, in order to understand it better let’s look at some of the differences between entrepreneur and intrapreneur –

Entrepreneur and Intrapreneur Differences

Idea

An entrepreneur is one who has an idea and he or she starts his or her own business on the basis of that idea and take all the risks associated with the business while intrapreneur is one who has an idea but he or she does not start the business on the basis of that idea rather he or she gives that idea to the organization in which he or she is working.

Profit and salary

An entrepreneur gets profits from the risk which he or she has undertaken by starting a business while intrapreneur gets salary or incentive for giving a profitable idea to the company in which an individual is working. In simple words, an entrepreneur gets a full share of profits for the idea while an intrapreneur gets only a small portion of profits for the idea.

Independent and dependent

An entrepreneur is independent and the individual is own boss as he or she is the owner of the enterprise while an intrapreneur is dependent and there are many superior over him or her and hence an individual cannot do whatever he or she wants as he or she is the employee and not the owner of the company.

Funds

An entrepreneur has to raise funds in order to start the business whereas intrapreneur does not need to raise any funds as he or she gives only an idea to the company and it is the company which funds that idea and start the enterprise on the basis of that idea.

Motive

The motive of an entrepreneur is to achieve success and satisfaction by becoming successful as well as wealthy from the enterprise which he or she has started while the motive of intrapreneur is to get the promotion or handsome incentive from the company by giving an idea which helps the company in generating more profits. In other words, while entrepreneur has much broader goals and long term vision as compared to intrapreneur which has narrow goals and short term vision.

As one can see from the above that both entrepreneur and intrapreneur are different from each other, while entrepreneur wants to take the ship from troubled waters to its destination so as to achieve the success whereas intrapreneur wants to be safe during troubled waters in the sea and be a spectator of success.