Entrepreneurial Approaches
Hyper-growth companies must meet a fairly narrow set of criteria to be able to grow fast enough to be successful. A large potential market that is at least national, if not global, needs to be targeted. Once the potential market has been verified to be large enough, the focus on growth begins. Participating in an accelerator and securing backing from investors are typical wages to leverage growth. However, both accelerators and investors are going to be very particular about your team, what type of corporate structure you have, and your exit strategy. Examples of well-known hyper-growth companies include Uber, AirBnB, PayPal, Facebook, and Google. Read more…

Mission-driven companies work to balance people, planet, and profit. This is referred to as the “Triple Pundit” and the entrepreneurs behind these companies are referred to as “Social Entrepreneurs”. Examples of companies that focus on the triple pundit include Tom’s of Maine. Read more…

Lifestyle businesses represent a wide variety of endeavors. Either a team or an individual can helm a lifestyle business, but at least one person needs to be both highly knowledgeable and passionate about the product that the business is built around. Additionally, lifestyle businesses are often life-long businesses. In other words, the owner(s) continue to run the business until they decide to retire or sell the business to someone else. Examples of lifestyle businesses in Bellingham include Kombucha Town, Brambleberry, and Red Rokk. Read more…


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Intrapreneurs

Intrapreneurs have a completely different approach than the hyper-growth, mission-driven, and lifestyle approaches because their situation is unique. These entrepreneurs work within an already established system like a large corporation, a non-profit, or a government agency and they are tasked with being the innovation leaders for their organization. Examples of departments that are entrepreneurial-focused are Lockheed Skunkworks and Google X.