According to the definition in the course material, entrepreneurship is “the process of planning, organizing, operating, and assuming the risk of a business venture”. In the US, a small business is usually a business that has less than 250 employees.
I don’t really think one should dissociate both ideas because usually as an entrepreneur, when you start a new venture, it tends to have less than 250 employees.
However, being an entrepreneur nowadays also means investing in businesses, which sometimes are already well established businesses. It is possible for an entrepreneur to buy or invest in a business that has more than 250 employees. In this sense, entrepreneurship would be different than owning a small business.
If I start a business, I think I will share control with others and make all the participants wealthier because today, as the owner of a business, you do not necessary have all the skills or resources. For example, if I were to launch a project and I didn’t have all the financial means, I would try to find investors or business partners.
Secondly, I may not have skills in accounting/finance or in marketing, or even to recruit new employees, therefore I would find a manager in those fields. Because he has better skills and knowledge and would do the job better than I would.
The growth issues entrepreneurial companies face in my opinion would be finding the financial resources to grow or/and convincing potential investors about the project so they put their money in it.
Very rigorous angle — starting from the definition. I can see an academic potential. 🙂 But besides the size of company, what do you think about entrepreneurship VS owning a business?
For the control issue, what do you think are some drawbacks of sharing it with others and do you have any corresponding plans?
Funding is indeed a growth challenge, what can be some other challenges after the company gets funding?
Besides the size of the company, I think both require a lot of courage, hardwork and dedication but to me, owning a business is still less risky than entrepreneurship.
Entrepreneurship is I believe about innovating (either bringing something completely new or improving by far an idea/product/company already existing) whereas owning a business to me would be more like just trying to be profitable but without any big will to change the game.
As an entrepreneur you don’t just want to start you activity/company. You make sure everything is ready before. On the other hand, owning a business is more a day-to-day situation. Entrepreneurship focuses more on the long-run.
Some drawbacks of sharing control with others would be for example having someone in the company who doesn’t know the culture of the country where the business operates and/or the culture of your company therefore, making things a little difficult. Always work with people that are conscious of their environment/the people surrounding them. Or organize learning/information seminars.
Something that occurs often is someone working in your business but who doesn’t have the same drive/motivation/vision as you. If he doesn’t have valuable incentives in his eyes, to give his best, he will not help the business flourish. In this situation, depending on the person’s personality/character, give them something to compensate. For some that could mean money or shares, others would be just appreciation/feedback and encouragement, or it can be a mix of various things.
Or putting two people with completely different management styles to work together. Always test their teamwork on less important projects to see how things work out. This way you know if it is fine to leave them together or not.
After the company gets funding, I think a challenge would be meeting the sales numbers/profits they had forecasted.
Second challenge in my opinion would be making a name for the company, creating awareness. Which would translate into sales.
A very interesting opinion! I liked your take on why you would share the control of the company. Expanding the amount of owners also expands the knowledge and important attributes that can help the business succeed.