What kind of entrepreneur are you? One of the great things about being a young entrepreneur is that there are many different paths to success. You don’t have to have one certain type of personality or be in one specific situation to run a great business.

Check out these seven successful types of entrepreneurs. Keep reading to see which one, or combination of, styles works best for you.

  1. Small business entrepreneur

This is the most well-known type of young entrepreneur. This entrepreneur usually creates their business from one or a combination of their interests (the arts, cooking, tech skills, etc.). 

Small business entrepreneurs then build their businesses so they can work for themselves rather than work as an employee for another business. 

  1. Startup entrepreneur

A startup entrepreneur searches for a feature, product or service that is missing in a certain industry and provides solutions for them.  This type of young entrepreneur tends to focus on technology.

Popular examples of bigger startup entrepreneurs are gig economy apps such as Uber and Doordash. These entrepreneurs also try to fund the start of their businesses using loans, crowdsourcing sites (such as Kickstarter), or even funding from venture capitalists looking to invest in new businesses.

  1. Social entrepreneur

A social entrepreneur wants to help solve social problems with their products and services.  This type of young entrepreneur focuses on making the world a better place. They see money as a tool that helps them achieve this goal.

Social entrepreneurs start nonprofits or companies that dedicate themselves to addressing social issues.

  1. Innovative entrepreneur

Most types of entrepreneurship include creativity and innovation. Innovative entrepreneurs regularly come up with new ideas and create inventions. This type of young entrepreneur uses these ideas to start a new business and/or help grow an already existing business.

Like social entrepreneurs, innovative entrepreneurs also want to improve people’s lives. Innovative entrepreneurs believe they’re creating new tools, products, systems to achieve that goal. 

  1. Hustler entrepreneur

What is a hustler?  The word “hustler” can be a good or a bad word, depending on who it’s describing.

“Hustler” can refer to someone who would mislead or “con” people in order to make money. But another definition of hustler — when applied to entrepreneurs — is someone who legitimately works hard.

Being any kind of entrepreneur requires at least some hard work. Hustler entrepreneurs are usually people who have more time than money to spend on starting a business. 

This type of young entreprenuer depends on working harder than their competition to be successful. They don’t easily give up when faced with challenges and rejection.

There has been some recent pushback, especially on social media against “hustler culture.” Some people are concerned about people working too hard to achieve their dreams, which can lead to exhaustion and burnout. 

To avoid this, hustler entrepreneurs should use their business experiences to learn the best ways to focus their natural energy for hard work on just a few projects or issues at a time. 

  1. Imitator entrepreneur

What happens when you combine an innovator with a hustler? You get an imitator entrepreneur.

Imitators are entrepreneurs who look at other business ideas for inspiration and work to improve them.  This type of young entrepreneur considers new ideas like an innovator, but they start by copying similar businesses. 

Imitator entrepreneurs also work hard, like hustler entrepreneurs, to make those ideas more successful than their competitors. A major example of imitator entrepreneurship is Google, which was not the first online search site. But Google beat its more established competitors by being more user-friendly site that provided more relevant website links and answers to questions. 

In other words, Google made it easier and quicker to find information about almost any topic. 

  1. Research entrepreneur

The researcher is not trying to become an overnight business success. Instead, this type of young entrepreneur takes some time learning about their industry and observing similar industries before getting started.

No business comes with guaranteed success. Researchers handle this fact by using other facts, data and logic to create business plans to improve their chances of being successful. 

They continue learning about their niche and business in general to overcome challenges, adapt to industry changes, and grow their businesses.

Final thoughts on 7 successful types of young entrepreneurs

Many entrepreneurs fit into one category or a combination of the several types of young entrepreneurs. The small business entrepreneur is the most popular among the different types of young entrepreneurship.

Entrepreneurs who tend to focus on big ideas and/or big issues include social entrepreneurs and innovators. Other types of young entrepreneurs focus on specific tools and/or strategies to start and build their businesses. These entrepreneurs include:

  • startups who use investments
  • hustlers who trust their hard-work ethic
  • imitators inspired by existing companies
  • researchers using data to help their businesses succeed.

Knowing your own entrepreneurial style and recognizing other types of young entrepreneurs will help you better understand your own business and how to succeed in your industry.

Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash