My E̶n̶t̶r̶e̶ Intrapreneurial Journey: Research
In the 2nd week of NTUitive Venture Builder Program, our assignment was to do desktop research on the idea that we were assigned to. The overarching concept of our idea is to identify, train and enable entrepreneurs regionally.
While I was doing my desktop research, I got to learn more about two terms: “Entrepreneurs” and “Intrapreneurs”. Before, my definition of them were very simplistic.
Entrepreneur — An innovative individual who works for himself/herself.
Intrapreneur — An innovative individual who works for someone else.
In a virtual sharing by our Chairman, Professor Inderjit Singh, he broke down the similarities and differences between an Entrepreneur and an Intrapreneur. I thought it was succinct and straight to the point.
The similarities between Entrepreneurs and Intrapreneurs are:
- Solving a pain point, a problem or an identified opportunity gap.
- Have a business plan or project plan.
- Know how to use limited resources innovatively for a new outcome
- Evaluate risk/return to determine budget for execution
- Pitch (Entrepreneurs to investors, Intrapreneurs to management)
The differences between Entrepreneurs and Intrapreneurs are:
From the above mentioned comparison, I noticed that both have the entrepreneurial mindset and resilience to navigate through unchartered waters and the capabilities to overcome challenges. Both have to put in equal amount of hard work and time to succeed. However, the gains differ greatly because of the risks that one took. One was betting with their own future, while the other may just change careers if the venture fails.
It made me question what is the definition of “risks”? Is risk unforeseen pitfalls and just failures that have not been realized. Is it possible to take calculated risks to reduce my probability of failure? In his sharing, he also shared what are the top 10 reasons start-ups fail identified by Quake Capital, a Venture Capitalist Firm.
- Lack of Market Need (42%)
- Lack of Cash (29%)
- Wrong Team (23%)
- Too Much Competition (19%)
- Pricing Issues (18%)
- Poor Product (17%)
- Lack of Sound Business Model (17%)
- Ineffective Marketing (14%)
- Not Customer-Centric (14%)
- Poor Timing (13%)
I thought points 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 & 10 were mostly a result of the lack of knowledge. The lack of knowledge about the market, about the product potential and capabilities, about the customer needs, about business know-hows and marketing know-hows. While points 2 & 3 are most likely because of the lack of network: network of investors, network of capable people.
With the above findings and understanding, I come to a preliminary conclusion that with knowledge and network/resource, I can probably increase my odds of success by multiple folds. This is probably why people who are successful are knowledgeable and resourceful. They know why, how and where to get what they want.
