entrepreneur is starting a business while intraprenuer is developing a

new product in an already existing business.

An entrepreneur takes substantial risk in being the owner and operator of

a business with expectations of financial profit and other rewards that
the business may generate. On the contrary, an intrapreneur is an
individual employed by an organization for remuneration, which is
based on the financial success of the unit he is responsible for.
Intrapreneurs share the same traits as entrepreneurs such as conviction,
zeal and insight. As the intrapreneur continues to expresses his ideas
vigorously, it will reveal the gap between the philosophy of the
organization and the employee. If the organization supports him in
pursuing his ideas, he succeeds. If not, he is likely to leave the
organization and set up his own business.
Entrepreneurship involves innovation, the ability to take risk and creativity. An entrepreneur will be
able to look at things in novel ways. He will have the capacity to take calculated risk and to accept
failure as a learning point. An intrapreneur thinks like an entrepreneur looking out for opportunities,
which profit the organization. Intrapreneurship is a novel way of making organizations more profitable
where imaginative employees entertain entrepreneurial thoughts. It is in the interest of an
organization to encourage intrapreneurs. Intrapreneurship is a significant method for companies to
reinvent themselves and improve performance.
Example of intrapreneurship: A classic case of intrapreneurs is that of the founders of Adobe, John
Warnock and Charles Geschke. They both were employees of Xerox. As employees of Xerox, they were
frustrated because their new product ideas were not encouraged. They quit Xerox in the early 1980s to
begin their own business. Currently, Adobe has an annual turnover of over $3 billion.