Recently I met a gentleman that said he was an entrepreneur. After talking for a bit he said he joined a startup as the fifth employee and hadn’t started a company. Does that make him an entrepreneur or an entrepreneurially-minded employee?
Here are some ways I think of the difference between an entrepreneur and entrepreneurially-minded team member:
- Low or no salary vs a salary slightly below market rate
- Personal guarantees on the business loan and office space vs no personal guarantees
- Sweated a payroll period vs not having the stress
- Co-founder of the business vs an early employee
Of course, entrepreneurs can be early employees in a startup they didn’t co-found. Differentiating between the two doesn’t matter nearly as much as being a valuable team member and helping make the startup a success.
What else? Is the fifth employee of a startup an entrepreneur?
David Cummings on Startups 
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