key elements of transitioning from intrapreneur to entrepreneur

Key elements of transitioning from intrapreneur to entrepreneurEvery forward-thinking firm seeks to nurture its employees, and most will say they already do, but intrapreneurship goes further. It’s about embracing creativity and innovation, and enabling employees to turn ideas into something of real value to the business.

What is an intrapreneur?

An Intrapreneur could be compared to old fashioned “change agents” but with a specific focus: to make or save the company money while tackling a pressing societal issue. Intrapreneurship motivates staffs to be in-house entrepreneurs. The trend has been slow to take off in

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professional services but this is set to change as firms seek agile new ways to drive growth.

Who can become a successful intrapreneur?

Intrapreneurs can come from practically anywhere in the organisation: marketing, supply chain, operations, finance, and more. And they don’t have to be at the very top (C-suite) to be effective. Infact, some of the most effective intrapreneurs come from upper/middle management.

Companies Promoting Intrapreneurship

Apple, Facebook and Google are leading examples of intrapreneurship, otherwise known as corporate entrepreneurship. These companies positively encourage employees to develop radical ideas for business growth. Facebook’s ‘like’ button, one of the company’s most important innovations, was the product of encouraging engineering teams to collaborate on software projects. Companies can introduce these two things:


Reward Creative Thinking

Companies should nurture employee aspirations describing it as “an opportunity to ‘create’ clients with potentially innovative and sustainable business models.

Investing in Ideas

Any successful company must have a number of intrapreneurs to see future trends and meet them before their competitors do. Intrapreneurs can become the driving force that moves a company forward and have the potential to rise to the top as they understand the company from all levels.”

How can someone turn their ideas into entrepreneurial ventures within large organisations?

First, it takes recognition by the company’s management that any such experiment needs to be protected within the large organisation. There needs to be a protected environment where new ideas can be experimented with. There will be failures along the way before an idea is able to stand up on its feet. That requires a much disciplined effort to protect it, separate it, and allow it to grow on its own timeline.

Second, it requires that you don’t use the same measurement tools that you would use for a large business. The beauty of startups is that they can


experiment and pivot. No one holds them up to an existing blueprint to follow. You want to be in an entrepreneurial environment within a large company where you feel and act as though your survival depends on the success of the project you have, not on following a strict business plan.

Transitioning From an Intrapreneur to Entrepreneur

1) The number one mistake Intrapreneurs usually make is quitting their job the second they decide that they want to run a business for themselves. Before you even think of quitting your day job you should put a plan in place;

-Build your minimum viable product (MVP)

– Spend time understanding the market


– Get a business plan together

– Secure your domain name

– Register your business name

2) The second biggest mistake is choosing the wrong business for the wrong reasons.

The best businesses ‘start with why’. They have deep, values based reasons on why they are doing what they are doing – a deep purpose.

3) Third biggest mistake is not validating the hypothesis with real data.

Many a times, only little actual ‘hard data’ research goes into identifying the entire possible market or the current competition of a targeted market.

So now that you know what not to do, here are a few tips to consider as you transition from Intrapreneurship to Entrepreneurship

Get a Mentor- You want to make sure you are receiving advice from someone who has learned lessons; you can avoid costly mistakes and be guided to a faster path to success.

Manage Your Expectations- Being an Entrepreneur is exciting as well as challenging. Yes it’s flexible and


autonomous but you will work longer and harder than you did in your corporate. Also, don’t under-estimate the challenge of financial insecurity.

Make a Decision- It’s the brave and courageous few who take ‘action’ and do something about it. This all starts with a decision to say ‘the time is now, I’m doing it’.

Find Your Tribe- The hardest transition you will face by going from an Intrapreneur to steering your own ship is the community of people you lose around you. As fast as possible go out and build a tribe of like-minded people around you, if you don’t have a network join a co-working space.

Conclusion

Intrapreneurs can become the building blocks of a company’s executive teams and leaders. A transition from intrapreneurship to entrepreneurship should be well calibrated with defined aims.


key elements of transitioning from intrapreneur to entrepreneur

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