Introduction
At EC we know that the journey of founder to entrepreneur is always filled with challenges. Whether you are an entrepreneur, or a founder, you must be ready to face the many challenges that will come. If you lack discipline and the ability to work hard, you can find yourself struggling to succeed. Even though many of us would think of a startup founder and entrepreneur as one and the same, they are not!.
The fact that both individuals are investing in a company and need to have a strong personal drive to become successful, make them very similar. However, they both still are two sides of the same coin and one will have more responsibility from another. While both, a startup founder and an entrepreneur, start a new business, the main difference is in the venture itself.
Founder Vs Entrepreneur Definitions
An entrepreneur is an individual that looks for business opportunities and creates ways to make those businesses become profitable. Entrepreneurs often invest without the major responsibilities of running the companies as they focus more on earning money from them. They are leaders with good leadership, team-work and decision-making skills
On the other hand, a founder creates a business from scratch that will someday become successful. They don’t have a major financial motive. Founders create a product or a service to change the world. They are brave to face challenges in finding resources, money, customers, employees and marketing ideas.
Differences in goals
With entrepreneurship, it is vital to create a product and be paid for it. In other words, they pursue business opportunities with the goal of turning an idea into a profit-generating business. They can either be part of the founding team or simply invest in other founders that execute on new ideas.
Startup founders often do not worry about the selling process at first, as they want to generate larger profits in the future. Their primary incentive is to build a product or service that can change the world for the better. They get support from investors, employees and many marketing strategies that can help them to become popular and more valuable.
Differences in risks
An entrepreneur wants to be their own boss, while a startup founder wants to take over the world. Founders of successful startups are treated like superstars and are without a doubt some of the most powerful people in the world. Anyone can launch a startup. However, building a startup into a scalable and impactful venture is really hard. Startups are, without a doubt, extremely risky. On the other hand, being an entrepreneur will also be risky in its own way. Entrepreneurs who, for example, open a small brick and mortar business, can get out-competed if their market is not booming and if their competitors are doing a better job. Nonetheless, as a startup founder, you can fail because of the same reasons, but on top of that, you can fail simply because the market doesn’t need what you’re building in the first place.
In conclusion when considering founder vs entrepreneur, if you want to be ambitious and be your own boss, but at the same time you don’t want to fail over and over again until you’re able to get rewarded for your efforts, traditional entrepreneurship might be a better path than innovative startups. However, if your goal is to be one of the movers and shakers of society, and you are obsessed with the business you want to build, and the problems you want to solve, then startups are your best choice.
Differences in finance
For both work and stability is their priority in life. However, entrepreneurs may find themselves out of money quickly if the sales are not coming in. They need to have financial backing for the first year or longer as they need to invest money into equipment, employees, and others to start generating products to sell. On the contrary, a startup founder usually doesn’t need to deal with all the financial day-to-day ongoing of the business. However, they tie themselves to the company putting their reputation at a stake, as they approach others and start marketing the business. If the business fails, the startup founder can lose everything.
There you have it; those are the main differences in the founder Vs entrepreneur journey!
Your Journey from Founder to Entrepreneur
Built on the principals of founders helping founders The Entrepreneurs Collective offers a wide range of support for you wherever you are in your startup journey. From regular pitch competitions, socials and workshops to investor reports, deck reviews and startup credits! Speak to our team about ways we can help you to grow and scale as quickly as possible.