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12 Examples of Successful Intrapreneurs

Imagine a world where the status quo is never challenged, and innovation is left to chance. Luckily, we don't live in that world today, thanks to a group of individuals known as intrapreneurs.

These bold thinkers disrupt the norm, challenge the system, and bring new and great ideas to life within their organizations.

In this article, we'll shine a light on 12 remarkable intrapreneurship examples and the innovations they brought to the world.

What is Intrapreneurship?

You've heard widely about entrepreneurship. But what is intrapreneurship that we're talking about? It's like entrepreneurship, but instead of starting your own business, you innovate and drive change from within an existing organization.

But what exactly is the difference between an intrapreneur and an entrepreneur ? Intrapreneurs and entrepreneurs are all rebels, disruptors, and dreamers who refuse to settle for the status quo. They are the ones who think outside the box and are not afraid to take risks.

The main difference lies in whether they become an employee or an employer. But who exactly prefers a job or business ? Intrapreneurs go for a job, while entrepreneurs settle for their own businesses.

Intrapreneurship is about embracing a culture of innovation and empowering employees to bring new ideas to the table. It's about creating a workplace where creativity and entrepreneurship can thrive.

Let's now explore our examples of intrapreneurship in the workplace of individuals who improved our world.

Examples of Successful Intrapreneurs

Spencer silver’s & art fry's post-it-note.

The Innovator

In the late 1960s, Spencer Silver worked as a scientist at 3M, trying to develop a strong adhesive for aircraft construction. However, he stumbled upon a low-tack, reusable adhesive that stuck to surfaces but could be easily removed without leaving a residue.

The Innovation

Despite his colleagues' skepticism, Spencer recognized his discovery's potential and began experimenting with different applications. He even tried to market it as a super-strong bookmark but didn't have much success. It wasn't until several years later, when Spencer's colleague, Art Fry, had an idea for a new type of bookmark, that he realized the true potential of the adhesive.

The result was the Post-it Note, which has become one of the most ubiquitous office supplies in the world. This intrapreneurial example of Post-it Notes highlights the value of being open to experimentation and iteration. It also emphasizes the potential benefits of collaboration between individuals with different skill sets and perspectives.

Ken Kutaragi's Sony Playstation

In the early 1990s, Ken Kutaragi, an engineer at Sony Computer Entertainment, worked on developing sound chips for the company's electronic products. He devised a game-changing idea: a dedicated video game console that could rival the Nintendo game console and Sega.

Ken Kutaragi proposed creating a gaming console that could play high-quality 3D games. At the time, video games were primarily played on computers or low-quality consoles with limited graphics. Sony executives resisted his idea, but he persisted and eventually convinced them to fund the project.

The Sony PlayStation was launched in 1994 and became an instant success. It revolutionized the gaming industry by introducing 3D graphics and immersive gameplay, setting a new standard for consoles, and exhibiting true corporate innovation. It also helped Sony become a major player in the electronics industry, paving the way for future innovations like the PlayStation 2, 3, and 4.

Kutaragi's success with the Playstation demonstrated that an intrapreneur requires creativity, innovation, and the ability to identify and seize opportunities outside the company's traditional areas of expertise.

Paul Buchheit’s Gmail

Paul Buchheit was an engineer at Google who had previously worked at Intel and Compaq. In 2001, he was assigned to work on a new email service, which was initially intended to be a competitor to Hotmail.

Buchheit came up with the idea of providing users with massive storage, which was unheard of then. He also introduced the concept of threading emails, which made it easier for users to keep track of conversations. In addition, he implemented a powerful search function that allowed users to easily find specific emails.

Gmail was released to the public in 2004 and quickly became one of the successful launches of Google. Gmail's innovative features and user-friendly interface made it a popular choice among email users, and it helped cement Google's reputation as a company focused on user experience. Gmail’s success underscores the importance of being willing to take calculated risks and invest in promising project ideas, even if there is no immediate profit.

Richard Montañez’s Flamin' Hot Cheetos

In the 1980s, Richard Montañez was a janitor at Frito-Lay, a subsidiary of PepsiCo, in Rancho Cucamonga, California. His humble background did not deter him from showing his entrepreneurial mindset . He noticed that the company had no spicy snack options for the Latino market, a significant segment of the population in Southern California. He pitched his idea to the CEO.

Montañez's idea for Flamin' Hot Cheetos significantly departed from the company's usual products. He added a homemade spice mix as a flavoring to the Cheetos and did its community promotions as a snack that would appeal to Latino consumers. He also developed a unique packaging design featuring flames, which helped the product stand out on store shelves.

Flamin' Hot Cheetos quickly became Frito-Lay's best seller in multicultural sales, and Montañez was eventually promoted to a position in the company's executive team. The success of Flamin' Hot highlights the importance of taking risks and being persistent in pursuing your innovative ideas. Montañez's idea was unconventional and went against the company's usual processes, but his consistent efforts turned Flamin' Hot Cheetos into a cultural phenomenon.

Bob Bernstein's McDonald's Happy Meal

Bob Bernstein was a marketing executive at McDonald's in the 1970s, where he was tasked with finding a way to make the fast-food chain more appealing to families with children. At the time, McDonald's was primarily a destination for adults, but it lacked a menu item that catered specifically to children.

Bob came up with the ingenious idea of the Happy Meal, a small meal for kids that would include a burger or chicken nuggets, fries, and a toy. The toy was the game-changer. It transformed the Happy Meal from just another meal option to a fun, interactive experience that kids looked forward to. The toys often tie in with popular movies or TV shows, creating a sense of excitement and anticipation for children.

Introduced in 1979, the Happy Meal quickly became a massive success. It is a perfect example of how intrapreneurship can drive business success by identifying customer needs, taking risks, and constantly innovating to stay ahead of the competition.

Kelly Johnson's Skunk Works

Kelly Johnson was an aeronautical engineer who worked at Lockheed Martin during the Cold War. In 1943, Johnson established a small, secret research and development team called “Skunk Works” that was tasked with creating advanced aircraft designs ahead of their time.

Under Johnson's leadership, the Skunk Works team created some of the most advanced and groundbreaking aircraft of the 20th century, including the U-2 spy plane and the SR-71 Blackbird. These planes were designed to fly higher and faster than any other planes then, and they revolutionized the fields of intelligence gathering and surveillance.

The Skunk Works approach demonstrates the importance of empowering and trusting talented employees to work independently without fear of failure or micromanagement. This allows for more agile decision-making and encourages innovative thinking and risk-taking. Today, “Skunk Works” has become synonymous with innovative and secret projects in various industries.

Mark Zuckerberg's Like Button

Mark Zuckerberg, the co-founder and CEO of Facebook, and his team introduced the “Awesome Button” on Facebook in 2009. The Awesome Button, now known as the “Like” button, was designed to increase user engagement on the platform and make it more user-friendly by allowing users to appreciate a post or comment without leaving a written response.

The Awesome Button was groundbreaking because it innovated the traditional way of interacting on social media platforms. Before its introduction, users were limited to commenting or reading posts. The Like button gave users a quick and easy way to show their support or approval for a post without leaving a comment.

Zuckerberg's vision for the Like button was to enhance the platform's user experience, collect data, and increase engagement. Furthermore, this shows us that intrapreneurs must understand and identify gaps in the consumer market and address them through innovative solutions, ultimately leading to the company's success. Different platforms also copied the concept, but all the credit goes to Facebook.

Davide Costello's Fast & Green

Fast & Green is a project led by Davide Costello at Nestle. Davide noticed that many customers needed more Nespresso pods before they could restock, leaving them without coffee at home. He had an idea to deliver pods to customers quickly while also considering the environmental impact.

To make the service more sustainable, Davide proposed making deliveries via bicycle. With the help of Nestlé's resources and infrastructure, Davide's idea was brought to life within just eight weeks. Fast & Green offers customers a faster and more eco-friendly delivery option today.

David's idea was not only innovative but also had a focus on sustainability. This shows that intrapreneurial thinking can lead to solutions that not only benefit the company but also have a positive impact on society and the environment. The success of Fast & Green also demonstrates that intrapreneurship can bring a competitive advantage to a company by staying ahead of the curve with innovative projects and encouraging personal creative projects of employees.

Stéphanie Daru’s Soothe ‘N' Chew

Stéphanie Daru is one of the most recent intrapreneurs who impacted the world. She worked as a product development expert at Nestle. When her seven-month-old daughter began teething and biting on everything around the house, she had a brilliant idea. She realized that creating an all-natural and edible teething treat would be an excellent solution for babies to chew on and alleviate pain during the teething process.

Stéphanie submitted her concept, and within no time, it was produced as “Soothe ‘N' Chew.” The soft banana-flavored treat is a natural product that soothes babies' gums and satisfies the urge to chew without causing harm or pain. Despite the pandemic, Soothe ‘N' Chew was a great addition to Nestle's product line.

One key takeaway from Stephanie Daru's story is the importance of identifying a problem or need and creating a solution that fills that gap in the consumer market. Stephanie noticed a problem in her own life as a parent. She used her knowledge and experience to create a new product that not only helped her own family but also had the potential to benefit others.

Steve Jobs’ Macintosh

Steve Jobs is synonymous with innovation, and the Apple Macintosh exemplifies his intrapreneurial spirit within his company. Jobs co-founded Apple in 1976 and was ousted from the company in 1985. However, he returned to the organization in 1996 and started work on a new computer, the Macintosh.

The Macintosh was a game-changer for the personal computer industry. It featured a graphical user interface, a mouse, and a range of software programs, making it easier to use and understand than other computers on the market.

An important takeaway is the value of investing in research and development to stay ahead of the competition. The Macintosh was a game-changing product in the personal computer industry, and Apple's investment in research and development helped them to achieve this breakthrough. This investment allowed the company to develop new technologies, set market trends, and innovate in ways competitors could not match.

Jeff Bezos’ Amazon Prime

Jeff Bezos is one of the most innovative entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs. After Jeff Bezos founded Amazon in 1994 as an online bookstore, he kept expanding it into different horizons. Amazon VP Greg Greeley and Bezos saw an opportunity to create a loyalty program that would retain existing customers and attract new ones.

With the launch of Amazon Prime in 2005, Bezos altered the traditional retail model by offering customers the convenience of fast, free shipping and access to exclusive content. In addition, the streaming of movies, TV shows, and music has also become a major draw for customers. This also helped Amazon become a major player in the entertainment industry.

The success of Amazon Prime highlights the importance of customer loyalty and the value of offering added benefits to retain and attract customers. Amazon has increased customer loyalty and set a new standard for e-commerce and entertainment by focusing on customer needs and investing in research and development.

Larry Hornbeck’s Digital Micromirror Device

Larry Hornbeck, a researcher at Texas Instruments, was tinkering with technology using tiny mirrors to redirect photons for almost a decade. In 1987, the tinkering paid, and Hornbeck and his team developed the Digital Micromirror Device (DMD). These micromirrors were initially used for printing airline tickets.

Hornbeck realized that the technology could significantly decrease the size and cost of a digital projector which was very costly. Soon after, TI launched an internal venture called the Digital Imaging Venture Project to expand on the efforts, paving the way for video projectors. The DMD became an industry standard, and Hornbeck received an Emmy Award for outstanding achievement in engineering development.

This story is a great example of a successful intrapreneurship showing that intrapreneurs can leverage their knowledge and expertise to develop disruptive technologies and improve existing products through creative ideas. In this case, Hornbeck's experimentation with mirrors using company resources led to a digital projector technology breakthrough, revolutionizing the industry.

Conclusion: What You Can Learn From These Intrapreneur Examples

Intrapreneurship is all about harnessing the entrepreneurial spirit within an established organization. The examples of intrapreneurs we have explored demonstrate that innovation and creativity can come from anyone, regardless of their position or title within a company.

It's all about having the right mindset, being willing to take risks, and having the courage to pursue new ideas. Companies that embrace intrapreneurship can tap into the collective talent of their workforce and create a dynamic environment where innovation and growth are encouraged.

Intrapreneurs show us there are no limits to what can be achieved when creativity is given free rein. These examples are a testament to the power of innovative thinking, and they inspire anyone looking to steer change and make a positive impact within their organization. So, let's celebrate the intrapreneurs of the world and continue to support their endeavors!

Explore Further

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Anastasia has been a professional blogger and researcher since 2014. She loves to perform in-depth software reviews to help software buyers make informed decisions when choosing project management software, CRM tools, website builders, and everything around growing a startup business.

Anastasia worked in management consulting and tech startups, so she has lots of experience in helping professionals choosing the right business software.

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Why You Should Become an “Intrapreneur”

• Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic

You’ll be more engaged, and more productive.

Most organizations — especially large corporations — are awash in creative ideas that never get executed. Entrepreneurship is the process that turns those ideas into actual innovations, and when it occurs in large corporations we tend to refer to it as intra preneurship or corporate innovation. In essence, this means acting like an innovative entrepreneur, but within the ecosystem of a larger, more traditional, organization. Research shows that being intrapreneurial tends to elevate both employee engagement and productivity scores, and that short redesigns — and even a simple reframing — of your role can make your work more intrapreneurial and meaningful.

Do you try to learn new things at work?

• Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic is the Chief Innovation Officer at ManpowerGroup, a professor of business psychology at University College London and at Columbia University, co-founder of  deepersignals.com , and an associate at Harvard’s Entrepreneurial Finance Lab. He is the author of  Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders? (and How to Fix It ) , upon which his  TEDx talk  was based. His latest book is I, Human: AI, Automation, and the Quest to Reclaim What Makes Us Unique.   Find him at  www.drtomas.com . drtcp

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How to launch a successful intrapreneurship program in your organization.

Innovation doesn’t have to start and end with small businesses and startups. In fact, an entrepreneurial spirit is just as important in larger organizations in order to keep up with industry changes.

Large companies have an asset that startups don’t: the size and scale of its workforce. If an organization is able to foster innovation and an entrepreneurial mindset with its internal talent, it can position itself to stay competitive amid a constantly changing landscape. Since great ideas can come from all levels of an organization, let’s discuss how fostering intrapreneurship in your company can help bring those new ideas to life.

Intrapreneurship: A gateway to innovation

Intrapreneurship is a form of entrepreneurship that takes place within a company. This means that intrapreneurs are not trying to start their own businesses and write up their own business plans — instead, their goal is to improve the company that they are currently working for.

Because they are not starting their own firms, intrapreneurs innovate from within, bringing new ideas to light for the good of the organization. If adopted, these plans are implemented by the organization, which assumes the financial obligations of an intrapreneur's ideas. Intrapreneurship is a great way to encourage  employees to think about problems differently, to practice leadership skills, and work with teams to improve results. 

Why your business needs to promote intrapreneurship

Anyone with a great idea and the proper motivation can be an intrapreneur. But 

fostering a culture where intrapreneurs can feel free to step up and initiate can be tough. Here are a few tips for building a welcoming work culture.

Spot potential intrapreneurial spirit

Much like an entrepreneur, the intrapreneurial mindset thrives on innovation. How do you know who fits that description?

They’re the ones who suggest alternative approaches to improve the way a company runs, thinking outside of the box. Intrapreneurs are risk takers, optimists and responsible leaders — always looking to shake things up with their bright new ideas while understanding the ins and outs of their organization. The intrapreneurial spirit can come from anywhere, and many employees are intrapreneurs in the making.

Identifying potential intrapreneurs not only helps your company but also gives these burgeoning change-makers the tools to grow in their careers.

Give employees a chance to shine

Who knows the nature of the job better than the ones who are actually getting it done?

Promoting intrapreneurship among your current employees can be a great motivator, especially because it comes with the promise of change. Allow employees to suggest new ideas or projects, lend an ear to their suggestions, and give them the tools to act on these concepts. Creating an open forum for employees to share ideas can improve morale.

Remove common barriers to innovation

Often when new ideas are suggested, there can be some hesitancy from the top to implement change. There may be doubt that a problem exists, questions about the proposed solution, or a hierarchy that doesn’t value voices from across the organization.

The reality is that innovative solutions often spring up a world away from decision-makers. This happens so often that experts have even coined a term for it: “ submarine disruption .” Due to its bottom-up impact, innovative solutions to common problems usually don’t reach the top of the chain until they’ve already been implemented everywhere else. And late adoption of new ideas can cost businesses as they struggle to keep up.

That’s why creating an environment conducive to intrapreneurship can be helpful. Employees are often in tune with common trends within their field of expertise. If asked, they can often come up with accurate solutions to problems they see in their line of work. The more intrapreneurs you have throughout your company, the more likely your company will stay on top of its game.

Implementing an intrapreneurship program: Key features

Perhaps one of the most straightforward ways to foster intrapreneurship is the introduction of an intrapreneurship program in your company.

By starting initiatives that wholeheartedly welcome innovation and cutting-edge ideas, the intrapreneurial spirit will quickly follow. If you’re interested in starting your own intrapreneurial program within your company, make sure that it has these key features:

Nominate potential intrapreneurs

Not sure if you have employees who will stand up to the challenge? One of the easiest ways to identify potential intrapreneurs is to talk to your employees. Ask them to nominate any co-workers whom they see as leaders and invite the nominees to participate in your intrapreneurship program.

Once you have identified a few candidates, it’s time to give them the tools to further their skills.

Open workshops that can develop soft skills

Natural-born leaders are few and far between. It takes time to develop soft skills like project management, proper communication and problem-solving abilities. Sometimes a person can have a great idea but lack the proper tools to make it a reality.

Open up workshops that can help develop and incubate these skills.

Give workers space and time to brainstorm ideas

Great ideas always require time and patience. When you put together an intrapreneurship program, don’t expect your attendees to strike gold on the spot. Instead, allow them time to chat and brainstorm ideas. 

Encourage your employees by giving them the tools they need to succeed 

When your intrapreneurs have come up with an idea that you think is worth implementing, it’s important to give them the right tools to make these plans a reality. Start by trying to manifest their ideas on a small scale.

Once you have achieved satisfactory results through tests and trials, you can then give intrapreneurs more funding which allows them to work on a much larger scale.

Motivate and incentivize progress

While financial incentives are always nice and can definitely motivate goal-driven intrapreneurs, different motivators can prove useful for other types of individuals. Recognition from a respected manager, for example, is one such incentive that can have widespread appeal.

Let your intrapreneurs know that they’re not just another face in the crowd — acknowledge the work they’ve done out loud. 

Organizations driving innovation with intrapreneurship programs

One of the most famous examples of an intrapreneurship initiative is Google’s “ 20% program .” Employees at Google are given 20% of their work time each week to work on side projects unrelated to their primary workload, giving them the freedom to implement their own ideas on company time. This initiative has produced amazing results, forming the foundations of integral applications like Gmail and AdSense, among other projects.

Other successful intrapreneurs include the inventors of Post-its , Lockheed Martin’s award-winning Skunk Works division and PlayStation — all started out as intrapreneurship projects that soon branched out and became household names.

Fostering a culture of intrapreneurship not only helps the company, but it also helps employees grow.

Interested in learning more about how you can bring these initiatives to your workplace? Learn how to cultivate intrapreneurship and develop your innovative workplace ideas in the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program.

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20 Tips To Succeed As A Successful Intrapreneur

Do you have an idea, want to scale it but lack the resources or confidence to go for it with…

• Author towardsbusiness
• Published March 23, 2022
• 0 comments Join the Conversation

Do you have an idea, want to scale it but lack the resources or confidence to go for it with your own money on the line? Do you have an entrepreneurial mindset and want to lead a company’s team whose vision motivates you? If “Yes,” intrapreneurship may be your way to go.

Intrapreneur can be a crucial element to success for a business. The creative freedom provided to intrapreneurs motivates them to take experimental initiative and propel the industry with new innovations and ideas.

An intrapreneur fits somewhere between an employee and an entrepreneur where they have the mindset of an entrepreneur and take the initiative and responsibility as an entrepreneur but work on salary.

Simply put, an intrapreneur is someone who works as an entrepreneur in an already established company that they do not own . They are given the freedom to build the company or develop a project and lead the team. 

Confident, committed, passionate, and responsible are the qualities that describe an intrapreneur and set them apart from an employee.

How to Succeed as an Intrapreneur?

Here is the highly-curated list of 20 tips to help you grow and succeed as an intrapreneur:

1. Know Your Stuff

“Knowledge is love and light and vision.” Helen Keller

Intrapreneurs should be well aware of the goings-on and have a firm knowledge about the project or company they are working for. In addition, you should know your idea and vision front and back. Remember, a research-backed idea is always taken more solemnly than a vague idea.

2. Know What Is Going On In The Company

Knowing the company better can help you become a thriving intrapreneur. The projects that are going on, the company’s goals, and marketing strategy. Having this knowledge will help you better formulate your plans and strategies.

3. Create A Plan

A properly written plan shows the clarity of your thoughts. Planning enables you to avoid future uncertainties and has steady progress. A proper program helps Intrapreneurs achieve short-term and long-term goals and communicate their ideas with owners. 

4. Align Your Of Ideas

Your ideas must align with the company’s strategic goals and vision. For example, say you are an intrapreneur at a cake shop, but you have a great idea about creating custom shoes for players. Does the objective of the company align with your vision? Unfortunately, no. The shop owner will probably not back you up for the idea. Instead, coming up with a creative marketing campaign that targets the young demographic and executing it would bring value to the business. Hence your thesis should go hand in hand with the company’s objectives.

5. Stay Passionate

“You have to be burning with an idea, or a problem, or a wrong that you want to right. If you’re not passionate enough from the start, you’ll never stick it out.” Steve Jobs

The small hurdles come up, and working on the same thing becomes monotonous. The fire that you started with begins to dwindle. Ask yourself, why did you start this in the first place? What problem were you trying to solve?

Stay passionate and hungry. This way, you can motivate and lead your team and make your ideas come to life.

6. Develop Your Entrepreneurial Leadership Skill

“Becoming a leader is synonymous with becoming yourself. It is precisely that simple and it is also that difficult.” Warren Bennis

An intrapreneur has the power to bring exponential growth to a company. But only if they have the skills to influence and motivate their team towards a common purpose. 

Entrepreneurial leadership skill enables an intrapreneur to manage a group of people behind them and achieve the business objectives through innovation and creativity.

7. Share your idea

Make your idea spread like a virus. The more people you reach out to and discuss your opinion, the more feedback you get to refine your idea and build a more substantial supporter base for your idea. 

Present your ideas confidently and boldly. This grabs people’s attention and gets them excited about your idea. 

8. Be Open To Changes

The feedback and suggestion from people are valuable. Openness to change will help you improve your idea and, over time get a filtered idea that is more likely to succeed.

9. Be Confident

“Confidence is contagious. So is lack of confidence” Vince Lominbardi

If you believe in your idea, everyone will. With confidence in yourself and your idea, you can cut through the stormy seas. Light is at the end of the tunnel but sometimes the tunnel can be longer and confidence will help you survive through it.

10. Don’t Work For A Salary, Work To Add Value

With your skillset and unique ideas, you can bring real value to the company. Employees are those who work for a salary. An intrapreneur works to bring value to the company and its customers. Bringing impact on people’s lives is the purpose of an intrapreneur

11. Prepare A Killer Presentation

The way you present your ideas is sometimes more important than the idea itself. For example, although you have a million-dollar idea without a powerful presentation that resonates with people, no one will trust you. 

If you cannot hook your audience within 10 minutes of your presentation, most likely, they will not listen to the rest of it. On the other hand, your presentation can make people as excited about the idea as you are or make you throw your idea into a trash can. So, be prepared with a killer presentation ahead of time. 

12. Surround Yourself With Like-Minded Individuals

You are the product of the environment and culture you grew up with. Being around people with an entrepreneurial mindset helps you develop a similar thought process. Rather than sitting folks at a coffee shop and criticizing the government, spend your time with self-motivated, enthusiastic individuals who strive to achieve higher standards.

13. Be Responsible

Avoiding responsibility for the failure of ideas is the most common mistake entrepreneur and intrapreneurs make. It is always easy to blame someone. Successful intrapreneurs have a sense of ownership of the company even though they do not own the company.

14. Go Beyond What You Are Expected

Doing what you are expected to do is the job of an employee. As an intrapreneur, you have to go beyond what is expected from you. Generate new ideas, execute them and add value to the company. Be the reason for the success of the company and let your presence matter.

15. Master The Art Of Execution

“People may doubt what you say, but they will believe what you do.” Lewis Cass

Firstly, have a crystal clear image of your plan in your mind and then execute the plan but it is way easier said than done.

Rather than getting stuck on developing new strategies, executing existing strategies should be prioritized. Learn to proactively plan and execute strategy and get the business to new heights.

16. Build Trust

An organization can only foster if the workers and leader trust each other. Trust is pivotal for the free flow of ideas and creativity. It is burdensome to communicated and coordinate with untrustworthy individuals. Building trust is important in any relationship. So, be honest, admit your mistakes, be helpful and build a trustworthy community at work.

17. Ask For Help

Seek help from the experts in other departments like the marketing department, IT department and ask for advice from the entrepreneur. Often, they will be delighted to help you out. With their help, you can develop and execute strategies in a structured and systematic manner to skyrocket the business.

18. Practice Delayed Gratification

It takes years to make an overnight success. Eddie Cantor

The marshmallow test perfectly demonstrates the connection between delayed gratification and success in life. Delayed gratification is overcoming the temptation of instant rewards to get more valuable and precious rewards in the future. The instant gratification we get from social media is addictive. Patience and consistency is the key to a company’s success and you can excel in intrapreneurship and life by practicing delayed gratification.

19. Be Proactive, Not Reactive

Great leaders are proactive. Being reactive is reacting to the problems as they occur whereas proactive is being prepared to solve a problem before it occurs. Aim high, think long-term, pre-plan, and develop problem-solving skills to have a smooth sailing journey as an intrapreneur.

20. Expedite The Process

All businesses desire to save money, save time and get the work done effectually and if you can help them do that, you will bring value to the company. Identify the customers’ problems and find a better way to solve them and help the company stay ahead of its competitors.

Bottom Line

There is no such thing as overnight success. It takes time, persistence, and dedication. We hope these 20 tips will help you harness your skills and provide you with the guidance to grow your company and reach new heights.

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Entrepreneurship

Intrapreneurship, explained

Meredith Somers

Jun 21, 2018

What is intrapreneurship

Intrapreneurship is acting like an entrepreneur within an established company. It’s creating a new business or venture within an organization. Sometimes that business becomes a new section, or department, or even a subsidiary spinoff.

Chances are there’s a handy example of intrapreneurship stuck to your desk: the Post-it note.

Also likely on — or accessible — at your desk is Gmail, which grew out of Google’s " 20% time ," while the Facebook “like” button was built during one of the company’s hackathons. And some of the military’s most well-known aircraft [the SR-71 Blackbird, and the F-22 Raptor] were engineered at Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works .

Entrepreneurship doesn’t equal “small,” it equals value creation, said Bill Aulet, managing director of the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship .

“A lot of times people believe that entrepreneurship is strictly associated with startups; that’s not how we look at it,” Aulet said. “We believe that entrepreneurship is a way of creating value with new products, new ways of running businesses, and with a number of assets that you control. But also assets that you don’t control. So entrepreneurs can exist in corporations, and corporations need them more and more.”

Unlike entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs work with an existing company’s resources, said MIT Sloan professor Michael Cusumano, an expert in strategy, product development, and entrepreneurship.

They’re not building something entirely from scratch, nor are they risking their own money. “They’re creating something that hasn’t been done before or done quite the same way,” Cusumano said. “You need to think about how big is the market, how many resources do they need to create something, what could the payoff be. Many of the same criteria that we would use to evaluate a new venture by an entrepreneur is really the same.”

The history of the term “intrapreneurship” remains a debate. In 1978, Gifford Pinchot III and Elizabeth Pinchot used the word in their paper “ Intra-Corporate Entrepreneurship ,” and again in their 1985 book “Intrapreneuring.”

Stanford University professor Robert Burgelman has written on the topic multiple times in the last 30 years, as has MIT Sloan’s Edward Roberts .

“I think the word has been around for a while,” Aulet said. “People said ‘that’s an oxymoron. The mere fact that you’re in a big company means that you can’t be an entrepreneur; you’ve decided you don’t want to be an entrepreneur.’ I know there’s a lot of obstacles to being an entrepreneur in a big organization, but we can’t accept that just because it’s hard it can’t be done.” 

Why you should care

MIT professor Eric von Hippel justifies intrapreneurship like this: Imagine you’re a mechanical watchmaker. You’ve been assembling mechanical watches and their tiny mechanical pieces for decades. Then along comes an electronic watch company that’s shiny, new, and doesn’t rely on any of those mechanical pieces or processes.

It’s tough to admit that mechanical watches are becoming obsolete, especially when the company is currently selling millions of watches. But leadership might also see disaster coming, so the firm stands up a small internal venture to start making electronic watches.

If things start to get desperate for the company as a whole, that little hive of workers manufacturing electrical watches can be scaled up. “It’s the innovator’s dilemma ,” von Hippel said. “The idea is that firms get caught up in doing what they’re doing, and even if something brand new comes up, if it’s outside their existing business model, they won’t necessarily do something about it.”

Introducing intrapreneurship into your company

Understand that intrapreneurship isn’t for everybody. There are many industries that can’t be revolutionized by an internal startup. The aircraft industry can’t just get some venture capital and whip up a company that goes public and can be sold in the next five or 10 years. The same goes for a power company, Aulet said, because of the price of power, and having to work with an existing grid rather than creating a new one.

Even if corporate entrepreneurship is the right choice to invest in at your business, remember that it is different from a traditional startup because the latter is based on a blank canvas.

“[In a startup] you really don’t have to worry about anything else; there’s nothing there,” Aulet said. “When you’re in a larger company, there’s already a lot of paint on the canvas. There might even be a rip on the campus — somebody else might claim to own this canvas.”

That’s good and bad news, Aulet said. An existing business has products, revenue, employees, cash, organizational structure, and processes — all the things a startup is trying to obtain.

“But the dilemma is once you get those things, it creates inertia in the system, it creates rigidity, which makes it hard to be totally flexible,” Aulet said. “An entrepreneur has nothing to lose because they have nothing. However, when you’re in a big company you don’t have freedom because you do have a lot to lose. So you have to balance things that you do with the fact that they could be threatening to your existing business .”

What happens in most firms, von Hippel said, is that there are “antibodies” against a new model of work.

“If you’re sitting there and you see a guy in the corner working on an automated system that will make your skills obsolete, you’re going to try to cut off his funding,” von Hippel said. “That’s why it’s really hard in a big, established organization, to do new things.”

Encouraging and incentivizing intrapreneurship

One way to make doing new things easier is through incentive programs.

Incentive programs can come in a variety of forms. Some companies take an approach like holding a university-style idea fair, while others ask for a more formal proposal or business plan.

“Some companies have a sandbox fund where they can allocate certain money to employees where they could maybe buy off time from their other work, or get a special assignment but then be able to hire some people to help them build a prototype or a business plan or do some market research,” Cusumano said.

It’s important to give employees opportunity for ownership — that means control of costs and profits. That’s what gets people excited and motivated, Cusumano said.

Words of warning

A company looking to build on something that already exists tends to favor incremental over disruptive innovation — if you already have a product, you want to take advantage of that product because it’s an asset.

The more incremental your product introduction is, the more likely you are to succeed. That may seem opposite of logic, but it’s not. If you know there’s an existing demand or customer base for a particular type of product, and you have something similar, you’re likely going to be able to sell it.

“Frosted flakes with blueberries is probably going to sell to people who like frosted flakes,” Cusumano said. “But to introduce a totally new type of breakfast, like breakfast in a pill, is much more disruptive, much more likely to fail.”Managers that oversee corporate venturing don’t always understand that internal venturing has just as many risks as the entrepreneurial world. It’s important to remember that most new ventures fail, just like most new product introductions fail.  

The playstation, ipod, post-it note, and gmail are all products of intrapreneurship.

Remember when Pepsi introduced Crystal Pepsi? Or Coca Cola’s New Coke? Even companies that have had success with intrapreneurship also have failed attempts on their records: Facebook Home, Microsoft Zune, Google Lively, Apple Newton PDA.“In the broader world, companies need to have a relatively large portfolio because they have to expect they’re going to get a lot of failures or non-successes in some ways,” Cusumano said. “All it takes is one big success to pay for dozens of failures.”

Avoiding traps and Origin of Species

Don’t think your company is immune to competition and outmodedness. One of the biggest mistakes is falling victim to being a “one-trick pony,” Cusumano said.

Google’s revenue in 2015 was $74 billion, which came largely from advertisements, while only $448 million came from other sources.

Ninety percent of Google’s revenue comes from searches, and the company knows it, Cusumano said. That’s why it’s been investing in new businesses for the past decade. While they lose lots of money on those new businesses, Google structures the investments in a way so the company can see where the money is going and pinpoint losses.

“Most companies never really get beyond their original business,” Cusumano said. “That’s also why corporate entrepreneurship is important. That one business, that one focus, is eventually going to be under attack and the profits are going to eventually erode.”

Xerox’s PARC [Palo Alto Research Center], and AT&T’s Bell Laboratories [now Nokia Bell Labs] successfully embraced corporate entrepreneurship. PARC was the birthplace of laser printing, the computer mouse, and Ethernet, while Bell Labs researchers are responsible for transistors and some programming languages.

But companies like Lehman Brothers and Kodak, which were once on top of their industries, don’t exist anymore, Aulet said. In a recent op-ed in The Boston Globe , Aulet warned that GE looks ready to “wave the white flag” as the company considers breaking itself up after its stock declined through 2017 and into 2018.

“[Intrapreneurship] is not easy, but if you don’t do it, you’re going to die,” Aulet said. “Your company is going to die. We can see that over and over again. You might think it but tomorrow’s promised to nobody. Darwin said it’s not the strongest that survives, it’s not the most intelligent that survives, it’s the one that adapts to change that survives.”

Ready to go deeper?

Apply for “ Innovation Ecosystems: A New Approach to Accelerating Corporate Innovation and Entreprenuership ,” an MIT Sloan Executive Education course.

Watch Aulet's  Understanding and Unlocking the Potential of Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Intrapreneurship .

Read Michael Cusumano’s The Puzzle of Japanese Innovation and Entrepreneurship .

Read Entrepreneurship and Innovation at MIT: Continuing Global Growth and Impact , by Ed Roberts, Fiona Murray, and J. Daniel Kim.

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Read next: Who owns digital innovation? Who cares? 

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What Is an Intrapreneur and Why Does Everyone Want to Hire Them Right Now?

Sure, there’s plenty of talk nowadays about entrepreneurs and freelancers—people who work for themselves, set their own days, and run their own businesses. But there’s another crew in town that’s becoming increasingly popular: intrapreneurs.

If you’re not familiar with this term, you’re not alone.

The first time I heard it was from William Arruda , a global personal branding expert whose clients include many Fortune 100 companies and the author of Career Distinction: Stand Out By Building Your Brand . In it, he describes an intrapreneur as “a person who demonstrates an entrepreneurial spirit within an organization.”

This concept shows just how much the employee-employer relationship has evolved. And when you think about it, it makes a lot of sense in today’s working world. Employees are demanding more freedom and autonomy in order to grow. And employers are understanding the need to create a strong company culture that retains top talent and fosters innovation.

The result? Companies are eager to welcome and embrace people who are creative, proactive, and flexible—in other words, intrapreneurs. I’ll explain what it means to be one and the benefits they bring to employers—and how you can be an intrapreneur, too.

What Is an Intrapreneur?

In many ways, an intrapreneur could be considered an in-house entrepreneur. If we go back to Arruda’s definition, this group of people is classified as having an “entrepreneurial spirit.”

So, what does that mean, exactly?

Well, entrepreneurs are driven by the desire to create new services or products. In doing so, they develop original ideas, think beyond what’s already been done, and are always looking to provide valuable solutions to common problems. They’re personally invested in achieving a successful outcome.

The same thing can be said about intrapreneurs. They’re creative freethinkers who are passionate about sharing new ways to get things done. The difference is, they operate within a company rather than solo. While no one’s job title is likely to be “intrapreneur,” you can adopt the mindset in pretty much any role.

What Are the Characteristics of an Intrapreneur?

You can instantly spot an intrapreneur within a company because they treat their job as if it were their own business. Also, an intrapreneur’s ingenuity makes them a star employee —they’re always coming up with resourceful ways to approach challenging situations.

Here are some more characteristics that make them truly special.

They’re Authentic

An intrapreneur’s greatest trait is being consistently humble and sincere—whether it’s in an email, meeting, or passing conversation. This makes them experts at establishing trust and highly respected and liked throughout a company.

They’re Savvy Collaborators

Ever known someone who can pick up the phone to ask for a favor or information and get an immediate response? Well, that’s a classic intrapreneur move. As masters of building relationships, they never run out of people to contact who are willing to help—because they’d do the same in return.

They’re Highly Confident

It takes a certain level of confidence to express creative ideas and proactively start a project. Intrapreneurs are risk-takers, so they trust their actions and aren’t afraid to try something different or learn from trial and error.

They’re Uber Resilient

Whether it’s about finding an answer to an ongoing problem or hammering out the details of a new plan, an intrapreneur won’t give up. An intrapreneur is not easily deterred and hasn’t met a challenge they’re not willing to tackle head-on.

They Have Strong Personal Brands

Intrapreneurs are highly aware of how they communicate their unique strengths and work hard to maintain a positive external reputation in order to promote their expertise and services. Because their professional image is important to them, they also have just as strong of a presence online as they do in person.

Why Are Intrapreneurs So Valuable to a Company?

You may think, “Hmmm… Wouldn’t these kinds of people be perceived as a threat to a company’s success? And wouldn’t they just take off the second something better came along?”

But it’s actually to a company’s advantage to have employees who take ownership of their work. Employees who feel like their talent and contributions matter (for real) will work smarter, feel more satisfied, and bring forth their best ideas—which will ultimately become the company’s ideas and products.

Some may fear that allowing employees to be too innovative will lead to folks using what they do at work to benefit their own side hustle. However, even if that’s the case, there’s nothing wrong with it, as long as there’s no conflict of interest (for example, working on outside projects during work hours or working on something that’s a direct competitor to the company).

Why Should You Be an Intrapreneur, and How Can You Be One at Any Company?

So as you’re thinking of ways to grow your career , consider how the mindset of an intrapreneur is also an asset to your own brand and success. Sure, your ideas are going toward a company’s vision, but you know where else they’re going? Into your resume and LinkedIn profile—your own portfolio !

Every successful initiative you’re a part of gives you concrete examples of scenarios when you took action and delivered results. This increases your potential to make more money and access more growth opportunities down the road (for example, a promotion, a new role you get to define, or a completely new start somewhere else). Plus, being an intrapreneur allows you to pursue a passion project with the added benefit of having a company’s resources and budget—as opposed to having to start from scratch and launch it all on your own.

As an intrapreneur, your experience is tied to in-demand skills that are transferable anywhere you go, instead of a specific job title.

Here’s how you can start to think and act like an intrapreneur at your company—no matter how formal or traditional it may be:

Be Proactive

Instead of waiting for directions (or for a problem to arise), get the ball rolling to spark the necessary actions to be taken. This can mean sending an email, following up on a discussion, or suggesting a meeting when an idea pops into your head.

Read More: 2 Easy Ways to Expand Your Role (Without Overstepping Your Boundaries)

Adjust to Change (Quickly)

Sometimes unplanned situations come up and you have to immediately drop what you’re working on and switch gears. Be flexible and open to change so that you’re always ready to roll up your sleeves and re-focus your priorities as needed.

Read More: Everything Changes—Here’s How You Can Get Better at Accepting That Fact

Rely on Probing Questions

Gather as many details as possible before making decisions by asking open-ended, probing questions—think questions that begin with “what,” “why,” or “how.” This will instantly help you make smarter and faster choices.

Read More: 4 Questions Smart People Always Ask When They’re Put in Charge of a Project

Challenge the Status Quo

If you think there’s a way to make a process better, don’t be afraid to do something about it if it’s within your control. Start by testing your idea within your own role, and then share your improved process (and results!) with your team.

Read More: 5 Steps for Initiating Change in a “We’ve Always Done it This Way” Office

Track Your Accomplishments

Remember when we talked about how intrapreneurs are always adding experience to their portfolios? Do the same by keeping track of your own accomplishments throughout the year so that you can show exactly what projects you spearheaded, should you ever need to.

Read More: The 10-Minute Weekly Activity That Helps You Get Ahead (Worksheet Included!)

Intrapreneurs are in demand simply because they make companies run better. Employees stay in their roles long-term because they’re challenged and fulfilled by the work they’re doing, and companies thrive because they retain the best people and best ideas—it’s a win-win for everyone.

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Intrapreneurship Vs Entrepreneurship - What's The Difference?

Entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship are two buzzwords that have been used interchangeably, but in reality, they have very distinct differences.

An entrepreneur is someone who creates a new business from scratch, whereas an intrapreneur is an individual who works within an established company and brings innovative ideas to the table.

In this article, we will dive into the differences between entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship, explore their benefits, and provide some examples of successful entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs.

Difference Between Entrepreneur and Intrapreneur

In short, entrepreneurship is the act of creating a new business or enterprise from scratch. It involves identifying a problem or need in the market and coming up with a solution that can be turned into a profitable venture.

On the other hand, intrapreneurship involves the act of bringing innovative ideas to an existing organization. Intrapreneurs work within an established company, and their focus is on creating new products, services or processes that can help the company grow and gain a competitive advantage.

What Is An Intrapreneur - Definition

An intrapreneur is an employee within an established company who takes on the role of an entrepreneur. They are tasked with coming up with new ideas, developing new products or services, and implementing innovative processes within the company. Intrapreneurs work within an existing organization, and their focus is on creating new revenue streams and helping the company stay ahead of its competitors.

The Benefits of Intrapreneurship

Intrapreneurship can provide several benefits to both the individual and the company. For the individual, it allows them to showcase their entrepreneurial skills within an established company. They have the opportunity to develop new ideas, take risks and innovate without having to worry about starting a new business from scratch. For the company, intrapreneurship can lead to new products, services or processes that can help the company gain a competitive advantage. It can also lead to increased employee engagement and retention, as employees who are given the opportunity to be intrapreneurs are more likely to be satisfied with their jobs and remain with the company long-term.

Intrapreneurship Examples

One example of successful intrapreneurship is the creation of the PlayStation gaming console by Ken Kutaragi, who was a Sony employee at the time. Kutaragi came up with the idea for the console and convinced the company to invest in its development. The PlayStation went on to become a hugely successful product for Sony and helped the company diversify its revenue streams.

Another example of intrapreneurship is Google's 20% time policy , which allows employees to spend one day a week working on their own projects. This policy has led to several successful products, including Google News and Gmail, which were developed by employees who were given the freedom to pursue their own innovative ideas.

Inspirational Intrapreneurs

Gifford Pinchot III , the father of intrapreneurship, is an inspirational figure in this field. He coined the term "intrapreneur" and has spent his career advocating for entrepreneurship within established companies. He has written several books on the topic, including "Intrapreneuring: Why You Don't Have to Leave the Corporation to Become an Entrepreneur," and has helped companies like IBM and DuPont develop successful intrapreneurship programs.

Another inspirational intrapreneur is Steve Jobs , who started as an employee at Apple before eventually becoming the company's CEO. Jobs was known for his innovative thinking and his ability to take risks and push the boundaries of what was possible within the technology industry.

What Is An Entrepreneur - Definition

An entrepreneur is someone who takes on the risks and responsibilities of starting a new business from scratch. They identify a need in the market, develop a business plan, secure funding, and work to turn their idea into a successful venture.

The Benefits of Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship provides individuals with the opportunity to be their own boss and create something from scratch. It allows for complete freedom and control over the direction of the business, and can lead to financial independence and success. Entrepreneurship also provides benefits to the wider economy, including job creation and innovation.

Entrepreneurship Examples

Firstly, there are different types of entreprenurship which exist, from small business' through to large-scale corporations.

One example of successful entrepreneurship is Amazon , which was started by Jeff Bezos in his garage in 1994. Bezos identified the need for an online bookstore and worked tirelessly to turn his idea into a reality. Today, Amazon is one of the largest companies in the world and has revolutionized the way we shop and consume goods.

Another example of successful entrepreneurship is Airbnb, which was started by Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia in 2008 . They came up with the idea of renting out air mattresses in their apartment to attendees of a design conference in San Francisco. From there, they grew the idea into a platform for renting out spare rooms and eventually whole apartments and houses. Today, Airbnb is valued at over $100 billion and has disrupted the hospitality industry.

Do you have the skills to be a successful entrepreneur?

Take our free quiz to measure your entrepreneurial skills and see if you have what it takes to run your own successful business.

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Inspirational Entrepreneurs

There are many inspirational entrepreneurs, but one standout figure is Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX. Musk has started several successful companies, including PayPal, and has a reputation for taking on ambitious projects that push the boundaries of what is possible. He is known for his innovative thinking, his focus on sustainability and his willingness to take on risks.

Another inspirational entrepreneur is Sara Blakely, the founder of Spanx. Blakely started her company with just $5,000 and went on to create a multi-billion dollar business that has revolutionized the fashion industry. She is known for her determination, her ability to think outside the box, and her commitment to empowering women through her products.

In conclusion, whether you are interested in pursuing entrepreneurship or intrapreneurship, it is important to understand the key differences between the two. Both paths require different skill sets, mindsets, and levels of risk-taking. Entrepreneurs are typically known for their independence, creativity, and willingness to take risks to build something from the ground up, while intrapreneurs focus on innovating and creating new ideas within an existing organization.

However, regardless of the path you choose, both offer unique benefits and can lead to fulfilling and successful careers. It's essential to evaluate your personal strengths and goals to determine which path is the best fit for you.

At Nexford University , we provide a comprehensive education that prepares students for both entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship. Our programs offer courses on innovation, creativity, business administration, and leadership skills to help you succeed in either career path. With our focus on experiential learning, you'll develop the practical skills and knowledge you need to launch your own startup or become an innovative leader within an established company.

If you're interested in pursuing a degree in entrepreneurship or intrapreneurship, Nexford University offers a range of undergraduate and graduate programs that can help you achieve your goals, with specializations in fields like entrepreneurship, ecommerce, and sustainable business. If you'd like to take the first step toward an entrepreneurial career, or are already on the journey and need the skills to take your business to the next level, a great place to start is with Nexford's BBA in Entrepreneurship and our MS in Entrepreneurship .

Download our brand new free report on how you can acquire the most important skills for creating a widely successful business.

Remember , with the right mindset, skillset, and education, anyone can make their mark in the exciting world of business.

Shared Traits Between Entrepreneur and Intrapreneur

Entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs share several key traits, including creativity, risk-taking, and a willingness to innovate. Both types of individuals are passionate about their work and are driven by a desire to succeed. They also possess strong leadership skills and are capable of inspiring and motivating others to achieve their goals.

While entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs share many similarities, there are also several key differences between the two. Entrepreneurs typically work independently and have complete freedom to pursue their vision. They are responsible for developing their business plan and securing funding, and they have full control over the direction of their venture.

Intrapreneurs, on the other hand, work within an existing organization or company. While they are free to develop new ideas and products, they must also work within the established framework of the company. Intrapreneurs must navigate company politics and adhere to corporate policies, which can limit their autonomy and freedom.

Should I Be an Entrepreneur or Intrapreneur?

Deciding whether to pursue a career as an entrepreneur or intrapreneur depends on your goals, personality, and skillset. If you are a self-starter who thrives on independence and risk-taking, then entrepreneurship may be the right choice for you. On the other hand, if you enjoy working within a team and are passionate about developing innovative ideas within an established company, then intrapreneurship may be the better option.

What Steps to Take to Become a Successful Intrapreneur?

If you are interested in pursuing a career as an intrapreneur, there are several steps you can take to increase your chances of success. First, develop your entrepreneurial skills, such as creativity, problem-solving, and innovation. Second, build strong relationships with key stakeholders within your company to gain support for your ideas. Finally, demonstrate your ability to execute on your ideas by successfully launching new products or initiatives.

What Steps to Take to Become a Successful Entrepreneur?

If you are interested in pursuing a career as an entrepreneur, there are several steps you can take to increase your chances of success. First, identify a new idea or opportunity that aligns with your passions and strengths. Second, develop a solid business plan that outlines your vision, goals, and strategies for success. Finally, secure funding and build a team of talented individuals who can help you bring your idea to fruition.

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Getting Started as an Entrepreneur/Plan/Business Plans

Business plans and why you need one.

What is a business plan? A business plan is a twenty- to forty-page document that serves the dual role of being an internal road map for your team and an external sales tool for potential investors, customers, and partners. Your business plan describes the entirety of your venture: the problem you’re solving, your solution, the technology behind it, the size of your target market, the customers, the competition, your business model, team, financial needs, and exit strategy.

A business plan forces you to think things through early; it ensures you have well-defined venture goals. Clear goals help generate a clear path for you and your team to follow as you begin to implement your venture.

The elements of a business plan Business plans vary widely, but most consist of:

• The executive summary
• The problem you’re solving or the need you’re filling
• Your solution
• Technology and IP
• Size of opportunity/market
• Customers and how you will reach them
• Competition
• Business model
• Financial needs
• Exit strategy

The executive summary is a 2- to 5-page section that summarizes the plan’s main points. In a few pages, the executive summary conveys the essence of the venture. It should contain only the key points from the important sections of the full plan.

The problem you’re solving or the need you’re filling is stated in an introductory section. Don’t shy away from aggressive terms and phrases in this section—you want to grab the reader’s attention.

Your solution , or how you will alleviate the pain, is stated in general terms.

Your technology and IP are described in more detail in the next section. Explain specifically how the technology works, but don’t overdo it; the explanation should be comprehensible to an intelligent layperson with some knowledge of the field. State whether the technology is yours or licensed, and, if so, from whom and under what conditions. Describe the status of your IP protection. What patents have been granted, applied for, will be applied for? Supply the patent numbers or the application numbers if you have them. State if you’re protected by other forms of IP.

Size of opportunity/market If you’re creating a new market it can be difficult to gauge its potential size, whereas if you’re introducing a better technology into an existing market, the estimate can be more accurate. Regardless, you and your potential investors need to feel comfortable that the potential market is large enough to sustain a profitable business.

Customers and how you will reach them Points to discuss include who your target customers are, your strategy for selling to them, what channels you will use, and when. Demonstrate an understanding of your target customers.

Competition Demonstrate knowledge of your competitors. Who are they? Are they selling the same or different technology? Who are the likely new entrants? Are they both domestic and foreign? What are their strengths and weaknesses?

Business model is a general outline of the way your company will make a profit. We go into more detail on business models later in this section.

Team This section should convince potential investors that they can trust your team with their money. Does your team:

• Have the knowledge, experience, diverse skill sets, integrity, drive, persistence, and passion required to make it happen, in spite of the adversity and obstacles that are likely to arise along the way?
• Understand its limitations? Are you willing to seek help and listen?
• Work with solid, experienced directors and advisors?

Although important, this section of the plan is only the first step in the convincing process. Personal interactions with investors and the due diligence process also play an important role.

Financial needs including the amount of money the venture is seeking and over what time frame; how the money will be used; the major assumptions involved; and when you will achieve cash flow break-even and profitability.

Exit strategy details how investors will get their money back (hopefully with a healthy return) and exit your company. Some exit strategies are Initial Public Offering (IPO), merger/acquisition, and buyout by a strategic partner

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6 Steps for Turning Your Employees Into Intrapreneurs If you want employees who think like entrepreneurs, follow these 6 tips for creating a culture where ideas and action are valued.

By Jill Schiefelbein Jun 14, 2017

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

The following excerpt is from Jill Schiefelbein's book Dynamic Communication . Buy it now from Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes

In creating a culture of innovation within an organization, you want to make sure you have the ability to not only highlight people and bring their ideas to the surface, but also have a process in place so you can escalate those ideas up the chain to get action taken. Creating systems for intrapreneurship is a key success factor in many of today's successful companies.

Related: Using a 5-Step Model for Any Public Speech

An intrapreneur is someone who thinks like an entrepreneur but is an employee within an organization. They get that steady paycheck, but they want to bring ideas to the surface and know they can impact decisions and the trajectory of the business. Your intrapreneurs are entrepreneurial thinkers who drive organizational change and are motivated by creation.

Squashing attempts at innovation is an easy way to kill employee morale and experience high-talent turnover. To avoid this, develop an internal process that all employees can use to bring ideas to the table and communicate them to the right people within your organization. This will encourage your intrapreneurs to contribute and think about ways to make the business better.

Here is a six-step blueprint you can use to help your employees develop their ideas. Not only will ideas come to you in a more actionable format, but you'll be professionally developing your employees and giving them skills that will live on long beyond their current role -- creating a great employee experience. (And if you're a solopreneur, don't stop reading! You can use these six steps to help create better pitches to potential clients. Just reframe the language a little, and you'll be well on your way to more sophisticated proposals.)

Step one: identify -- know your audience

Your employees should know to whom they can bring ideas. Do you have a hierarchy, or can they go straight to the top? Define this process and determine who are the people in the organization they should pitch their idea to, who has the power to make their idea come to fruition and who has the power to assign resources to help them make their idea a reality.

Step two: match -- is this the right fit/place/time?

The following criteria will help your employees evaluate if their idea is the right fit for your organization:

• Does their idea fit the mission, vision, values or purpose of the organization?
• Does their idea fit a need the company has?
• Does their idea fit a need the customers have?
• Does their idea fit a need the organization has internally?

If an idea isn't an obvious fit with one of the four items above, then suggest that they rethink it so it does fit. You want to make sure there's some connection between the two.

Step three: evaluate -- ideas, ideas and more ideas

Once someone has an idea, knows the audience who'll consider the idea and believes the idea is the right match for an organization, it's time to evaluate the idea further and see if it can be even better. Before coming forward with an idea, your employees should consider running it through a handful of questions to help evaluate and strengthen it:

Related: Creating Sales Presentations That Convince Prospects to Buy

• If you had implemented this idea six months ago, what would the organization look like now?
• If you asked five other people in the company how to solve the problem your idea fixes, what would they have to say?
• If you were evaluating this idea from the perspective of [insert person, business or other entity], how might it change? (For example, Disney, Google, Steve Jobs, Shaq, ET, Frank Underwood, etc.)
• If you break your idea into three micro ideas and pick the most important one, what would it be?
• If you had to explain your idea to a kindergartener, how would you do it? (This helps someone see whether their idea is more complex than it needs to be.)

Step four: gather -- get buy-in and support

Now it's time to look at the idea from the perspective of the people who'll actually benefit from, use or implement the idea. They might have the most brilliant idea in the world, but if the people who are going to be enacting or implementing the idea don't do it well, that idea is going to fall flat, your employee is going to be judged for it and they won't see the fruits of your labor. Getting buy-in on multiple levels is really important.

Let's look at an example. Say you own a software development company. One of your engineers realizes that consumer feedback isn't getting to the engineering team accurately all the time because the customer service reps aren't documenting well enough. The engineer has an idea to get the customer service team iPads so they can take notes more efficiently and immediately upload them into the company cloud. But if they take this idea to the top without getting buy-in from the customer service reps, they may not get great implementation. So it's important that your engineer talk to the people who'll actually be using, implementing or acting on their idea, because if they don't have their buy-in, success may not happen.

Step five: analyze -- know your position, situation and attributes

A lot of people have heard of a SWOT analysis -- strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats -- for analyzing ideas. But when it comes to bringing ideas forward in an organization, your employees should be doing a SWOT analysis not just on the idea but on themselves.

I call this a P-SWOT, or a Positioning SWOT. Your employees will use it to evaluate their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats when it comes to being in a position to spearhead this idea or present it in the first place. Here are some questions they can ask for each part.

• Why should you be the one to make this idea happen?
• What skills do you bring to the table that will ensure its success?
• What is your personal investment in the success of this idea?
• Do you have the necessary time to complete this idea?
• Do you have the necessary resources to bring the idea to life?
• What skills are you lacking that would help increase the rate of success?
• What experiences in the past would prohibit you from succeed­ing in the present?

Opportunities

• What opportunities beyond this idea exist if it's implemented successfully?
• What can you learn from others who have implemented similar ideas?
• What are some opportunities to expand this idea?
• What personal opportunities might come if you execute well?
• What is standing in the way of you making this idea work?
• Are there others in the organization who would oppose this idea?
• Do any of your weaknesses leave you vulnerable to threats?
• What internal and external factors to your business exist that may threaten success?
• What internal and external factors to yourself exist that may threaten success?

Step six: craft and deliver -- message, channel, pitch

Now that your employees have a killer idea ready to bring to you for consideration, have a way for them to design and deliver their ideas that makes sense for you and your business. Here are some considerations for you to think about when designing this step.

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• How should the pitch be delivered?
• Through what channel(s) do you want it communicated?
• What documentation do you want to accompany the idea?
• Who should be included in the conversation?

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Will Intrapreneurship And Entrepreneurial Thinking Change The Future Of Business?

Leading recruitment firm Micheal Page ranked 'intrapreneurship' the No 1. 'in demand' skill of 2020 but what is it really and how can it help businesses to expand?

Having experienced life as a professional career person, as an entrepreneur and as a consultant for plethora of FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 brands, I have seen first hand the positive impact that intrapreneurship can have on a business. I would even go as far as to suggest that during/post crisis this key skill will be more important than ever! The point of difference for many employees will be how they add value to the business. A person makes themselves indispensable if they are able to add value and demonstrate added value for the employer. This value proposition comes from seeking out problems and providing solutions i.e. having that entrepreneurial mindset. It also comes from them treating their job, duties and responsibilities with the care and tenacity as if it were their own business. This topic caters to the needs of the organisation and is a much needed skill set across the career life cycle. I love delivering sessions on this topic because it helps individuals to understands the importance of their brand story, innovation, mindset and brand equity - in addition to how this could improve the brands they work for. It is what I call a perfect union.

What are Intrapreneurs?

Intrapreneurs are employees who act like entrepreneurs, however whilst working within a company. What makes an intrapreneur stand out is that they are innovative, usually coming up with new ideas and taking the role of a leader. Intrapreneurs are able to utilise existing resources and foundations available in their company to create new ideas that may be implemented into the company which could lead to company growth.

The idea of intrapreneurship is interesting to many as it provides people with the stability of a job with the freedom of an entrepreneurial experience, at the same time. Let’s compare it to entrepreneurship: entrepreneurs are faced with uncertainty as the founder manages many aspects, if not all, for their business to grow. This can become overwhelming as individuals have the pressure of managing their business successfully, especially if it is the only source of income they rely on. Further uncertainty is created if the entrepreneur does not have access to the tools and resources needed to expand on their business, which leads to them falling behind and could have a huge impact on them financially.

So, this is where intrapreneurship comes in and could be argued as the perfect blended opportunity.

Why is that?

Well an intrapreneur can be comfortable in their position as they are employed in a company, therefore they are guaranteed to be paid. Also, intrapreneurs are able to have access to the tools and resources provided by their company, allowing them to completely focus on their vision and ideas and work towards bringing them to life with far less perceived risk.

Does intrapreneurship sound interesting now?

Intrapreneurs are also seen as the future of business as they create change . This is because as intrapreneurs are comfortable in their working position, they can be more innovative and act as change agents which can have a huge impact on the business as the business may advance to new levels. As well as actively creating change in their business, they can also become a model for change which will inspire other collegues or companies to follow in the similar footsteps.

For change to occur, there also has to be an element of risk involved. Risk is a factor that many companies are afraid to adopt as they are unaware of the consequences and the risks posed if they were to try something new. This is where intrapreneurs come in and are changing the future of businesses, as they create a culture that is not afraid to take 'considered' risk, as this provides the company with the ability to grow.

So, overall intrapreneurs are leaders . By being able to take risk and enforce change, they can successfully encourage other, thus improving the organisational culture and bottom line. However, they differ as they think and act differently by adopting different motivations and aspirations which then leads to them wanting to work in different working environments. They understand what it takes to adapt to a working environment that is constantly changing. They go against the traditional organisational set up of a workplace and bring innovation, growth, leadership and the unknown to the table.  

With these ideas in mind, now think about a workplace that has thriving, innovative intrapreneurs, can you see it working? The combination of their ideas, inputs and decisions could lead to the company becoming one of the most powerful. The company would continuously grow as there would be innovative ideas coming forward to ensure the company keeps growing and coming up with the next ‘big’ thing. So, are intrapreneurs the future of business? Will we see more companies hire intrapreneurs to lead and change the working world? Will you adopt your inner entrepreneur and become an intrapreneur in your field?

• Intrapreneurship Mastery

Why Intrapreneurs Don’t Need a Business Plan (And What You Should Use Instead)

Business Model

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Business plans are usually thought of as crucial to any project that aims to bring a new product or service to market. They’re seen as the “roadmap to success”. But in reality, they are actually detrimental to innovation projects and a LONG way from being the best tool for intrapreneurship.

In this article we’ll look at why they fail and provide you with a better alternative to use instead.

The Problem with Business Plans

If you’ve ever worked on a project, led a business unit, or proposed any new piece of work at your company, then you’ll likely have created an outline planning document to set out the costs, the intended benefits and a plan of action.

Depending on your company processes and the size of the project you are proposing, this planning document might have been called a Business Plan , a Business Case , or possibly a PID (Project Initiation Document).

You might even have called it something else in your company, but regardless of the name, it will likely include the same basic content:

• An explanation of the scope of the work
• An estimate of costs, effort and resources
• A timeline, possibly including a Gantt Chart
• Some milestones along the way
• An estimate of the benefits / results expected
• A revenue forecast for the next 2-3 years
• A justification of the costs of the project based on the expected benefits.

That’s a heck of a lot of planning effort. And a heck of a lot of GUESSWORK.

Yes, guesswork! Let’s be honest about what’s happening here. When we work on innovation projects, we genuinely don’t know whether our innovation will be successful.

We don’t know if people want it, we don’t know if they’ll buy it, and we don’t know if they’ll use it. We can’t even be confident that the solution we end up with will resemble the same one we started out with! In a project where there are so many uncertainties and ANYTHING could change, any plan we create at the start is no more than a work of fiction. In other words, everything about an innovation project plan is guesswork. It’s a plan based on what we HOPE will happen, rather than a plan based on any kind of EVIDENCE of what will happen.

Eric Reis put it well when he wrote “Planning and forecasting are only accurate when based on a long, stable operating history and a relatively static environment.”

Innovation projects have neither.

And yet companies cling to the business plan, because they lack any kind of credible alternative.

The Challenge of Planning Innovation Projects

Unlike a plan for an existing business unit, innovation projects have no operating history; we are often striving to enter a new market where we have little experience; and (because companies are seeking to manage the financial risk) we usually have modest funding.

Putting it all together we have:

• An incomplete Business plan,
• Untested Market Demand, and
• Inadequate Funding.

When we put it like that the challenge for intrapreneurs and companies alike is clear.

Instead of a “fantasy plan”, what we need is a way for us to document our strategy, and a process through which to evolve it: A new kind of plan that can adapt and change as we learn more about the market, about our own capabilities, and about what really brings us success.

The Tools to Use Instead

Okay, we’re all agreed. Business Plans are useless for intrapreneurs. But the learning we get from the act planning is essential.

How can we do some planning and document our learnings without the onerous and ineffective process of writing a business plan?

As intrapreneurs we do two things instead:

• Create a “best-guess” Business Model to use as a starting point for our exploration
• Use a structured and systematic process to help us decide exactly what to do next, as events unfold

Let’s look at both of those in a bit more detail.

The Business Model

For early stage exploration, we love using the Lean Canvas . It’s our tool of choice and we teach it in all our courses .

If you’re familiar with the Business Model Canvas and it’s companion, the Value Proposition Canvas, you’ll find that that the Lean Canvas omits some of the boxes that aren’t so important for early-stage innovation projects. By doing so it provides wonderfully succinct one-page summary of all the key things you need to think about on a day-to-day basis.

When we use the Lean Canvas, instead of spending days or weeks researching and writing a business plan, we can often brainstorm a business model in a few hours. The business model captures all our assumptions about the customer, our offering, how we will enter the market, how we will make money… and much more.

Then it’s time to move rapidly on to testing our ideas in the real world. That’s when we need a process…

Running Growth Experiments

Launching a new product or service is an iterative journey. At the heart of that journey are Growth Experiments. These are experiments that are performed by intrapreneurs who want to test out parts of their business model and validate (or invalidate) their assumptions.

Growth Experiments provide the structure through which intrapreneurs can deliver new value to customers and drive growth.

Growth Experiments work like this:

• Review your business model and identify the assumptions
• Prioritize the risks
• Formulate a hypothesis. Like a scientist, make a prediction about what will happen if you perform a specific, repeatable action
• Plan an experiment to test your hypothesis
• Build your experiment and collect the data
• Analyse, learn and make a decision about what to do next

To learn more about how to develop a business model for your internal startup, and how to plan, build and learn from growth experiments, the best place to start is our Intrapreneurship Mastery Programme . Or, if you want to read some more first, we’ve got a free intrapreneurship guide that goes into more detail too.

We hope this article has provided some insight into why business plans should be avoided by intrapreneurs. If you have any questions about business plans, business models or growth experiments feel free to message us .

You may also like

The vital role of a vision statement in innovation projects, the subtle art of crafting a vision statement: 3 big mistakes and how to avoid them, 30 best intrapreneurship books to read in 2024, how to read and evaluate a business model using the lean canvas, join the intrapreneur nation global community of intrapreneurs.

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