what is intrapreneurship 
intrapreneurship refers to a system within a company or organization that allows employees to act like entrepreneurs intrapreneurs are self motivated proactive and action oriented individuals who take the initiative to develop innovative products or services unlike entrepreneurs intrapreneurs operate within a company s safety net absorbing any failures or losses this support encourages creativity and risk taking allowing intrapreneurs to innovate without fearing personal financial loss by leveraging their creativity and ingenuity intrapreneurs can drive significant innovation and transform their workplaces similar to entrepreneurs 1companies can leverage their employees entrepreneurial spirit by fostering intrapreneurship leading to greater innovation agility and competitive advantage understanding intrapreneurshipsintrapreneurship creates an entrepreneurial environment by allowing employees to apply their entrepreneurial skills to benefit the company and themselves it provides employees with the freedom to experiment and the potential for growth within the organization intrapreneurship aims to foster autonomy and independence as employees seek the best solutions for example an intrapreneur might be tasked with researching and recommending a more efficient workflow for a company s brand within a target group or implementing initiatives to improve company culture employers must recognize and promote intrapreneurs as failing to do so can harm a company s success encouraging intrapreneurship leads to departmental and overall growth driven by innovation and improvement on the other hand companies that don t support intrapreneurs risk losing them to competitors or having them start their own businesses examples of successful intrapreneurship include the post it note gmail from google s 20 time and facebook s like button which were developed during a hackathon 2 intrapreneurs use the company s existing resources and aren t building from scratch or risking their own money but still create innovative products or solutions intrapreneurs leverage company resources to innovate and drive new ventures within the organization while entrepreneurs rely on their own resources to build businesses from the ground up this allows intrapreneurs to focus on creativity and innovation without the financial risks facing entrepreneurs special considerationsintrapreneurship is a valuable step toward entrepreneurship by working as a team intrapreneurs can use their creativity to improve existing products and services within the company without bearing the financial risk of being entrepreneurs they can also test theories and identify the most effective problem solving methods the experience gained as an intrapreneur can eventually be used to start their own business allowing them to reap the benefits of their hard work and innovative ideas rather than having another organization profit from them types of intrapreneursincluding employees from every age group in problem solving processes leads to a wider range of solutions and more efficient resolutions benefiting the entire organization most millennials are particularly drawn to the intrapreneurial work style as they value meaning creativity and autonomy in their roles they re eager to develop their own projects while simultaneously contributing to their company s growth 3characteristics of intrapreneursintrapreneurs tackle specific challenges such as increasing productivity and cutting costs requiring a high level of skill including leadership and innovative thinking they take risks and drive innovation within the business to improve its goods and services better serving the market a successful intrapreneur is comfortable with uncertainty persistently testing their ideas until they achieve the desired results they can interpret market trends and envision how the company needs to evolve to stay competitive intrapreneurs are integral to the company s backbone serving as the driving force that maps out the organization s future examples of intrapreneurshipramzi haidamus the president of nokia technologies is often considered an intrapreneur because of his initiatives with the company within three months of starting his job in 2014 he eliminated individual offices he believed an open office led to more idea sharing and added greater value to the organization haidamus interviewed more than 100 engineers individually to determine which technologies had the greatest chance of being successful in the marketplace at the time 4jeff bezos aimed to speed up amazon s shipping making purchases effortless for customers after principal engineer charlie ward suggested a faster shipping process bezos formed a secret team to develop it in just six weeks amazon s top engineers created what became amazon prime initially code named futurama despite concerns about the logistics and costs of two day free shipping bezos pushed forward resulting in a program revolutionizing amazon and setting a new standard for retailers 5identifying potential intrapreneurs within your organization is often straightforward look for employees who consistently suggest new ideas ask questions about company operations and seek to learn from their colleagues 