intrapreneur (intrapreneurship)

An intrapreneur is an employee who is given the authority and support to create a new product without having to be concerned about whether or not the product will actually become a source of revenue for the company. Unlike an entrepreneur, who faces personal risk when a product fails to produce revenue, an intrepreneur will continue to receive a salary even if the product fails to make it to production.

A large organization can be challenged to identify and encourage employees whose business skills and creative abilities make them good candidates to take on entrepreneurial roles within the company, yet still be content to remain employees. Some companies have dedicated research and development (R&D) departments, whose intrapreneurial staff is tasked with exploring ideas that will help the company stay competitive. Other businesses embrace the idea of continuous improvement, a concept borrowed from manufacturing that encourages employees in research, design, sales and production to work as a team to identify new revenue opportunities. Many successful IT startups foster a culture of intrapreneurship informally by allowing employees to pursue their own technical interests during work hours or by sponsoring events such as hackathons or other social coding get-togethers.