The use of plain old “entrepreneur” as an all-encompassing term for adventurous business owners is so last century. Why accept existing, mostly functional words when we can invent new ones? So comes the parade of alternate “-preneur” words that, frankly, save characters for denizens of the Internet. If you have more -preneur words to share, post them as comments at www.b2btribe.com/preneur-glossary.
artpreneur: a visual artist (painter or sculptor) who is also an entrepreneur handling the business side of marketing and selling his or her own work.
authorpreneur: a writer who is also an entrepreneur handling the business side of marketing and selling his or her own work.
coentrepreneur: joint venturer (French).1
copreneur: an entrepreneur in a business partnership with his or her spouse, domestic partner, or significant other.
edupreneur: a person within the public schools who takes hands-on responsibility in creating and developing a program, product, service, and/or technology for the enhancement of learning consistent with the stated goals of and supported by that organization;2 an entrepreneur who operates a business that addresses educational issues.
enviropreneurTM: term trademarked by the Property and Environment Research Center (PERC) in Bozeman, Montana, referring to entreprenuers who “enhance environmental assets.”
greenpreneur: an un-trademarked alternative to enviropreneurTM.
intrapreneur: a corporate executive who develops new enterprises within the corporation: first known use,1978.3
micropreneur: an entrepreneur who operates a very small business typically with five or fewer employees.
musicpreneur: an independent, polymath musician who takes care of both the artistic and entrepreneurial aspect of his or her music career.4
solopreneur: an entrepreneur who operates a small business with no employees, sometimes in addition to holding a full-time job in a separate field.
socialpreneur: a social entrepreneur; one who creates a business to remedy some of society’s problems while still making a profit; a socially conscious individual who generates social value from his or her efforts.4
technopreneur: an entrepreneur involved with high technology; first known use, 1987.3
1. Source: http://dictionary.reverso.net/
2. Source: Donald E. Leisey and Charles Lavaroni, The Educational Entrepreneur: Making a Difference (San Rafael, California: Edupreneur Press, 2001).
3. Source: www.merriam-webster.com. These have actually made it into the dictionary!
4. Source: www.urbandictionary.com. A listing on Urban Dictionary doesn’t really qualify as making it into the dictionary,
but it’s a step up from random Internet references.
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