Entrepreneur
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An entrepreneur -derived from the French words 'entre' (ie: enter) and 'prendre'(ie: take)- is, in its most general sense, a person who creates or starts a new project, opportunity, or venture.
Most commonly, the term entrepreneur applies to someone who establishes a new entity to offer a new or existing product or service into a new or existing market, whether for a profit or not-for-profit venture, a business entrepreneur. Business entrepreneurs often have strong beliefs about a market opportunity and are willing to accept a high level of personal, professional or financial risk to pursue that opportunity.
Research has demonstrated that there is such thing as an "entrepreneurial type," with certain characteristics (such as having a father or a mother who was an entrepreneur) linked to the probability of someone being an entrepreneur themselves. There is little good evidence, however, that entrepreneurial type is linked to ultimate success of an entrepeneurial venture.
Business entrepreneurs are often highly regarded in US culture as being a critical component of its capitalistic society. Famous entrepreneurs include: Henry Ford (automobiles), J. Pierpont Morgan (banking), Thomas Edison (electricity/light bulbs), Bill Gates (computer operating systems and applications) and others. The leftist economist Joseph Schumpeter also held the entrepreneur in high regard.
Some distinguish business entrepreneurs as either "political entrepreneurs" or "market entrepreneurs."
See also
External links
- Kauffman Center for Entrepreneurship (http://research.kauffman.org/cwp/appmanager/research/researchDesktop)
- Entrepreneur Magazine (http://www.entrepreneur.com/), focused on starting and running small businesses
- YoungBiz Media (http://www.youngbiz.com/), focused on providing resources for young entrepreneurs
- About Listing of Famous Entrepreneurs (http://entrepreneurs.about.com/od/famousentrepreneurs/)
- Frontiers of Entrepreneurial Research (http://www.babson.edu/entrep/fer/), index of research in entrepreneurship
- Teen Capitalist (http://www.gnextinc.com/capitalist/index.html) Teen entrepreneur's articles, resources, including top teen tycoons.no:Gründer