Learn the key differences between inventor, entrepreneur, and innovator.
How we define ourselves, to our colleagues, mentors, potential investors, and even ourselves matters. As you shape your startup business, helping to define your role can help steer your direction. You have goals; you have an idea; you have preliminary research; and still, you may be questioning if you're an inventor, entrepreneur, or innovator.
While these terms are similar to one another, there are key differences between each of these roles. Understanding the responsibilities and characteristics of each can help you make the right business decisions when creating your startup.
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Before you begin a startup, it's critical to fully understand the difference between these three terms. Knowing the differences will allow you to determine which role you want to take. For example, if you have fantastic ideas for new products but have yet to even consider the market viability of these products, you might want to consider yourself an inventor. An inventor is likely the most creative individual of the three. Someone who invents a product is simply looking to create a wholly new product and,in most cases, isn't trying to place their invention on the market.
On the other hand, entrepreneurs focus almost exclusively on trying to take a product to market where it can sell to customers or clients. Often, entrepreneurs create companies based on the product they want to place on the market, which is why most individuals who create startups are considered entrepreneurs.
As for innovators, these individuals want to create new ideas and new ways of doing things. An innovator will attempt to improve on an existing product that may already be in the market. For instance, every iteration of the iPhone is considered to be an innovation over the previous iPhone model. Similarly, innovators may take existing businesses or technology and change the way they’re delivered or used by customers and clients.
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An inventor is likely the most creative individual of the three. Someone who invents a product is simply looking to create a new product that has never before been made. In most cases, an inventor isn't trying to place this invention on the market.
On the other hand, an entrepreneur is someone who focuses almost exclusively on trying to take a product and fit it into a market wherein it can sell to customers or clients. Entrepreneurs usually create companies surrounding the product that they want to place on the market, which is why most individuals who create startups are considered to be entrepreneurs.
As for innovators, these are individuals who want to create new ideas and new ways of doing things. An innovator will attempt to improve on a product that may already be in the market. For instance, every iteration of the iPhone is considered to be an innovation over the previous iPhone model.
Before you begin a startup, it's critical that you fully understand the difference between these three terms. Knowing what the differences are will allow you to determine which role you want to take. For example, if you have fantastic ideas for new products but have yet to even consider the market viability of these products, you might want to consider yourself an inventor. The follows offers a comprehensive guide that should help you comprehend the different characteristics and features of inventors, entrepreneurs, and innovators.
As mentioned, inventors focus almost exclusively on creating and building a product, process, or service to solve problems. While the product or service is meant to solve an issue and should conceivably be able to fit onto the market, inventors don't usually focus their attention on assessing the market viability of the product or service they've invented. An inventor strives to perform cutting edge research that's, essentially, never been done before.
When creating a product or service, an inventor establishes a proof of concept for the product, which means they conduct numerous tests to determine if their idea can be transformed into a feasible product or service. If your main goal is to create a product or service that's never been done before, you would likely classify as an inventor.
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While many inventors are considered to be visionaries, they can also be singularly focused and tunnel-visioned. They don't spend their time thinking about what comes after the invention has been created. They’re often remarkably patient, as there is a lot of trial and error.In order for an inventor to be successful, they rely upon their technical expertise and knowledge which enables them to solve problems. Similarly, they need to be both passionate and courageous, the latter of which is necessary because of the failure-rate attached to turning ideas into inventions. It is not easy to fail and come back to try again, and again, and sometimes even again.
Finally, most inventors will tell you it’s absolutely imperative to not fall in love with any of your ideas. Most ideas can't be properly turned into products, and so there is, often, in the process, a lot of discarding ideas, prototypes, designs and more. It’s much harder to move on to the next iteration of an idea if you are married to the first.
To help understand what an inventor is, we can take a look at some of the most popular inventors throughout history, like Thomas Edison. He’s known for many successful inventions throughout though none was more influential than the invention of electric light via the light bulb, which he invented in 1879.
A couple of other inventors you've likely heard of include the Wright Brothers and Nikola Tesla. Nikola Tesla was responsible for the creation of the AC motor in the late 19th century and the Wright Brothers are credited for inventing the airplane at the turn of the 20th century. Some other inventors you may be familiar with include:
The list is endless. Simply looking around your room, your home, the lab, or any business you visit, you’re looking at the work of countless inventors who’ve come before us.If you're creative and have a thirst for developing new and untested products, you might think about using your talents to be an inventor.
In contrast, entrepreneurs are focused primarily on creating a business and increasing shareholder value. While the business may be centered around a specific product or service, entrepreneurs want to be able to take the startup they've created and form it into a successful business that can stand beside the leaders of the industry. As such, entrepreneurs usually know more about marketing a product to investors and prospective customers than they do about creating and developing a product.
An entrepreneur will also work to identify and develop customer networks to be effectively monetized. Since entrepreneurs typically create startups, it's important to understand that the very first stages of a startup are centered around determining what market can be reached with the product or service in question. This, of course, requires considerable knowledge of the product as well as the problem it solves or value it creates for a customer. With this knowledge, successful entrepreneurs are able to reach a wide market through the establishment of various market channels and teams to carry out delivery of the product or service.
An entrepreneur will also work to identify and develop customer networks that can be effectively monetized. Since entrepreneurs are the ones who typically create startups, it's important to understand that the very first stages of a startup are centered around determining what market can be reached with the product or service in question. Successful entrepreneurs are able to reach a wide market through the establishment of various market channels and teams to carry out delivery of the product or service.
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In order for an entrepreneur to be successful, they need to be passionate, hard-working, flexible, and forward-thinking. Entrepreneurs need to be able to adapt to changes in the market and think on the fly, repositioning their product to meet those changes. There are some fairly prominent businesses that have adapted their product to meet market demands and changing consumer opinions. While both inventors and innovators like to be in an autonomous environment, entrepreneurs are leaders who love collaboration and often look for advice and input from more successful entrepreneurs.
Some of the most popular entrepreneurs in recent history include Richard Branson for Virgin Group (airlines and more), Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw for biopharmaceuticals, Jeff Bezos for Amazon, Bill Gates with Microsoft, and Mark Zuckerberg with Facebook. Each of these entrepreneurs created businesses that filled a gap in the market and effectively answered the needs of customers even before the customers knew what they wanted.
For example, Bezos was able to create an online bookstore in the early days of the internet. Through an effective business plan and fantastic marketing techniques, Amazon became the largest online store on the internet, selling products well beyond what he imagined. Again, this is an example of how entrepreneurs are able to shift and evolve business plans based on the market and consumer demand. If you want to become an entrepreneur, you’ll need equal parts passion, creating a business you are passionate about, as well as business acumen and a concrete business plan demonstrating knowledge of the market, your budget, and more.
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An innovator creates new ideas, methods, or products. These individuals might also develop new iterations on existing products. While the product or service may have already been invented, an innovator will be able to see it through new eyes, making improvements or significant changes to the invention.
Examples of innovations include the development of portable devices like the laptop and cell phone. Even though computers and phones existed, innovators allowed them to be transformed into portable devices. If you believe you can improve on a product already on the market and make it more appealing to prospective customers, you would classify as an innovator.
The mark of a great innovator is being able to anticipate a need the market will have in the future or the way an existing product could be changed to improve its functionality. Innovations are typically created by taking advantage of emerging technologies and capturing trends at the moment they start. For example, the smartphone is a perfect example. We had mobile technology and wifi; we had laptops; we had cell phones. An innovator asked why not all in one?
Innovators are inquisitive, highly productive individuals who are creative thinkers, passionate, willing to take risks, and want to push the envelope.
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Two examples of successful innovators are Steve Jobs and Sergey Brin. While Steve Jobs helped to create Apple, it's important to understand that not all of his innovations panned out. However, the ones that did went on to be among the most popular products in the world. From devices to packaging, Jobs was seen as a visionary and innovator.
As for Sergey Brin, he is the mind behind such innovations as Google Glass and Google's self-driving car. These innovations push technology forward. If you want to become an innovator, it's important to set difficult challenges that will stretch your mind and capabilities. Innovators typically partner with entrepreneurs to deliver their products.
While there are distinct differences between inventors, entrepreneurs, and innovators, you may have already noticed that the three roles are often intertwined and closely related to one another.
Though these three roles are somewhat different from one another, they do have several characteristics in common. For instance, inventors, entrepreneurs, and innovators must always be self-motivated, passionate, and creative. Whether you're an entrepreneur who's attempting to create a successful startup or an inventor who is trying to convert an idea into a product, you won't be able to reach your goals if you don't have the passion and perseverance to get past the inevitable hurdles.
While entrepreneurs share some characteristics with inventors and innovators, an entrepreneur is typically more focused on the business side of things than innovators or inventors. They tend to be a front person, willing to engage with investors, customers, potential partners, and anyone who can help the business grow.
In many situations, the products or services developed by inventors or innovators will be positioned on the market by entrepreneurs. Even though Steve Jobs was a well known innovator who was instrumental for the creation and success of Apple, other entrepreneurs were needed to steer the business side of things in the right direction.
If you're trying to determine which of these roles best fits you and your goals, you simply need to spend some time thinking about what you like to do. If generating new ideas for products and services comes easily, you might be an inventor. On the other hand, you could be an entrepreneur if you're just as interested in making a product work on the market, strategizing for its sales and growth, and leading a team to create similar or ancillary products.
It's possible that you're an innovator if you regularly think outside of the box and are interested in improving products that might already exist. As noted, the transition from standard cell phones to smartphones wouldn't have been possible without innovators. No matter which of these roles applies to you, the most important thing is that you're driven to succeed.
Regardless of the type of role you want to take, becoming an inventor, entrepreneur, or innovator requires a substantial amount of money, time, and hard work, which means you need to be wholly dedicated to seeing it through. If you want to bring your invention, product idea, or innovation to the market, you may need to create a startup to do so. Once you've developed this startup, you might find it easier to reach your intended goals.
One area always in need of these skills is the life sciences. From discovering new treatments to improving the performance of ones in use, bioscience and medtech are a great place to stretch the skills of all three roles.
If the startup you're creating is centered around the fields of medtech and bioscience, University Lab Partners is a wet-lab incubator that can provide you with the space and resources necessary to make sure your new startup is a success.
From shared resources like a freezer farm to a private lab suite that can accommodate 4-6 team members, ULP offers everything that you would need to develop a new product or conduct necessary research. Contact University Lab Partners today or apply now to become a member of the ULP incubator.
Do you have a great company in the bioscience or medtech industry? Do you need wet-lab and/or fabrication space to develop and test your product?
