10 Types of Entrepreneurship Explained For 2025
Updated Jan 24, 2025 | Published Jan 23, 2025 | 11 min read
The concept of entrepreneurship is broad, covering all industries and ranging from small businesses to large enterprises that connect with an international customer base.
Understanding the different types of entrepreneurship is vital for launching a new company and crafting a business model that will keep you on the right track.
Whether you’re breaking into the tech sector or establishing an organization to address social concerns, this guide to the types of entrepreneurship is an essential starting point.
Entrepreneurship is the approach to creating a new business offering an innovative solution for clients and customers in various industries and markets.
The concept of entrepreneurship is loosely defined and can take on many forms, but this approach to unique problem-solving and cutting-edge products and services lies at its core.
While some entrepreneurs work to improve existing products or services, others adopt a radical new approach that brings new ideas to the market.
The entrepreneurial mindset is consistent throughout, with entrepreneurs known for their risk-taking approach to solutions and ability to draw on a broad talent stack.
They’re also up to date on the latest entrepreneur trends and how existing businesses function, allowing them to develop fully optimized new ideas and concepts.
While entrepreneurs shoulder more significant risks for their innovative approach, success typically leads to high personal and financial rewards and more opportunities.
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While the core definition of entrepreneurship applies to all businesses, several different types of entrepreneurship depend on the business model and operations needed to succeed.
Here’s an overview of the ten main types of entrepreneurship, from small-scale enterprises to fully fledged companies operating worldwide.
The word “hustler” sometimes has a negative connotation, but hustler entrepreneurship can be viewed apart from any association with unscrupulous influencers.
Hustler entrepreneurship offers a range of approaches to business, from launching a side hustle for paying off debt to a range of other small business concepts.
The concept embodies the entrepreneurial mindset, with hustlers typically hard-working and goal-oriented, taking risks while identifying unique and promising opportunities.
In contrast to other types of entrepreneurship, hustler entrepreneurship often emphasizes short-term gains, capitalizing on trends in their infancy.
Working in various fields, the hustler entrepreneur approach covers everything from selling products online to dropshipping and pet sitting.
For those with a background in academic research or with specific technical expertise, the researcher entrepreneur model can help them use their skills to generate revenue.
Transitioning from researcher to entrepreneur is relatively straightforward, with many professional researchers often collaborating with industry leaders.
This allows them to use these networks to gain funding, apply their research background to a new or existing business model, and make significant improvements.
By blending their knowledge and skills from research with business acumen, marketing skills, and financial literacy, they can ensure business success.
This background also gives them a clear competitive advantage in innovation, as research is frequently associated with new ways of thinking.
While becoming a research entrepreneur can be challenging, dedicating time to identifying projects with commercial potential can help streamline the process and acquire investment.
As the name suggests, imitative entrepreneurship is centered on adopting and improving existing products or services that have already proven profitable.
This approach applies to many business ventures, such as launching a new mobile business idea and researching competitors to see what can be enhanced.
For example, if you’re considering starting a food truck business, competitor research will help you to identify cuisine and drinks that other companies don’t offer their customers.
Likewise, any impediments to business operations identified in competitor research can be effectively tackled to ensure your business avoids the same mistakes.
The imitative entrepreneurship model is relatively low risk compared to other types of entrepreneurship, allowing business ventures to launch in proven markets.
It also allows for new businesses to be launched on an affordable budget, attracting investors who are keen to partner with companies that minimize risk.
If you’re already working for a large company and want to implement the principles of entrepreneurship in your current position, intrapreneurship is your best option.
Intrapreneurship involves working within the structure of established companies that offer the necessary leeway for employees to make innovative solutions.
This setup allows intrapreneurs to work within an existing framework capable of absorbing losses and failures with approval from higher-ups.
By removing the possibility of personal financial loss and other associated risks with launching a new business, intrapreneurs are free to leverage their creativity.
If you’re eager to showcase ideas but want to avoid the risks associated with other types of entrepreneurship, becoming an intrapreneur is well worth considering.
Once you’ve succeeded in the intrapreneurship role and brought economic value to your company, you can use this experience to launch your own business.
Not everyone who wants to become an entrepreneur has what it takes to hire and manage large teams of employees, which is required for certain business concepts.
If this applies to you, setting up a solopreneurship business is a viable option, working alone to build, run, and expand a company independently of others.
Solopreneurs take on full responsibility for all business processes and outcomes, with many launching automated businesses that can be managed with a relatively hands-off approach.
One example of how solopreneurs operate is setting up an online store to sell products through a dropshipping model and starting small to allow for organic growth.
They also tend to launch businesses that facilitate hobbies and interests they’re enthusiastic about since this base of knowledge means it will require little research.
This built-in knowledge base can be especially useful if you’re setting up a business selling online courses and coaching opportunities, which can be easily managed alone.
Related: The difference between a solopreneur and an entrepreneur explained.
Another self-explanatory type of entrepreneurship is innovative entrepreneurship, which exists at the cutting edge of a given industry and focuses on the next big idea.
Innovative entrepreneurs have a keen sense of what’s trending in their specialist area, often with a deep understanding of markets and what consumers expect.
They work to create sought-after products and services that competitors aren’t offering, disrupting conventional business approaches and changing the status quo.
Innovative entrepreneurs are also typically knowledgeable about the latest marketing practices and adept at using their social media presence to engage with their target audience.
Strategic thinking lies at the core of innovative entrepreneurs’ mindsets, allowing them to establish a clear vision and precise plan of action for achieving goals.
Innovative entrepreneurship also extends to how business ventures are operated, implementing new processes capable of streamlining production and other functions.
Not all small business entrepreneurs are interested in profits, and some prefer to engage in social entrepreneurship to provide solutions that benefit disenfranchised communities.
There are many social entrepreneurship business ideas to explore, with non-profit and charitable organizations clear examples of how this model can be implemented.
While the approach to social entrepreneurship varies between enterprises, economic development, education, and poverty alleviation are common motivations.
Unlike traditional businesses, social entrepreneurship businesses prioritize social changes over rapid growth without sacrificing the innovative ethos underpinning the entrepreneurial mindset.
One of the most challenging but potentially rewarding models is the scalable startup entrepreneurship model, which emphasizes expansion and rapid economic growth.
There are scalable business ideas covering all industries, from selling products or courses online to offering rental properties and developing applications.
Scalable startup entrepreneurship often requires careful planning before launching business ventures, ensuring that scalability can be achieved with minimal friction.
As such, business owners in this area often have prior experience that allows them to implement the processes and tools to facilitate scaling promptly.
They also have a clear view of the available funds and understand how to allocate investment and other resources where they are most needed.
This is one reason why online businesses often fall under the scalable startup entrepreneurship definition since digital assets are easy to replicate without additional expenses.
Multinational corporations and other companies that operate from various locations fall under the large company entrepreneurship model.
These large companies have extensive resources and employees to draw from, allowing them to scale up their operations when innovative solutions are discovered rapidly.
Some companies in this model acquire existing businesses, such as Meta’s acquisition of Instagram and other related applications that can be incorporated into their business model.
They also have extensive internal resources and large budgets that allow them to branch out into new territories, becoming international businesses with a global reach.
Of all the different types of entrepreneurship, small business entrepreneurship is perhaps the most widespread thanks to its relatively low barrier to entry.
Small business entrepreneurship covers any small company in all industries, from local stores run by family members to independent photography services.
Many popular e-commerce business ideas are also classified under the small business entrepreneurship umbrella since they can be set up quickly without extensive funding.
Small business entrepreneurship doesn’t require a large workforce to operate, with many companies of this type employing staff from their local area.
They also use a range of AI tools for small business entrepreneurs that can optimize workflows, allowing business owners to focus on engaging with customers.
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If you’re new to entrepreneurship or looking for more information, here are some answers to commonly asked questions about this topic.
Whether engaging in large-company entrepreneurship or acting as social entrepreneurs, core skills and abilities reflect the entrepreneurial mindset.
Some of these skills include:
Entrepreneurs have various options for financing their own businesses and partnering with investors who share their vision.
Start-up companies with the potential for high growth can seek venture capital and angel investors to get their projects up and running.
Alternatively, small business owners can take out traditional bank loans or apply for government grants at low or zero interest rates.
Different types of entrepreneurship approach business development with different goals, and these motivations distinguish them.
While small business entrepreneurship focuses on profits, social entrepreneurship is often concerned with serving underserved communities or addressing environmental conservation.
These goals and priorities, and how they feed into developing new and innovative products, are reflected in the different types of entrepreneurship.
There are countless examples of famous entrepreneurs from all industries, all reflecting the essence of the entrepreneurial mindset and how to achieve success.
In the tech sector, entrepreneurs such as Elon Musk, Bill Gates, and Steve Jobs are all outstanding examples of successful entrepreneurs worthy of emulation.
Spend time researching successful business leaders in your area of interest and examine the processes they used to achieve entrepreneurial success.
Innovative entrepreneurs provide game-changing solutions to perennial problems businesses and consumers face, bringing revolutionary products and services to new markets.
Whatever your business idea, this guide to the different types of entrepreneurship will help you create a comprehensive and robust plan of action that will deliver the best results.
By outlining your concept in detail, you can explore various funding opportunities and learn from other entrepreneurs to launch your business on the right foot.