Some people start a business out of necessity, trying to find a way to make a living through self-employment. Others start one because of vision and opportunity. And some go straight in because of pure, raw calling. But the truth is that today, between one motivation and another, starting a business is more on-trend than ever. There are many types of entrepreneurs and quite often the profiles overlap. Want to know what kind of entrepreneur you are?

To get a closer look at them, let’s run through a quick classification by profile, along with their main strength and main weakness.

Which types of entrepreneurs are we covering?

Today we’re breaking down the eight most common types of entrepreneurs, with their traits and their main strengths and weaknesses. From the serial entrepreneur to the co-pilot entrepreneur, the capitalist entrepreneur or the opportunity-hunter. Up for figuring out which kind of entrepreneur you are or might become?

The vocational entrepreneur

What do you want to be when you grow up? An entrepreneur. The vocational entrepreneur is crystal clear about it. Their thing is starting new projects, taking on challenges and diving in head first. Pretty much every type of entrepreneur has a bit of this profile in them.

• Strength: they believe in what they’re doing and pour their whole soul and energy into it.

• Weakness: idealism can sometimes blind them at a crucial moment.

The serial entrepreneur

The serial entrepreneur takes the vocational one a step further. Restless by nature, they wear their calling for entrepreneurship as a badge of honour and they’re always thinking about possible new business models. Their drive knows no limits.

• Strength: they really know what starting a business takes and they understand every step of the process.

• Weakness: their mind can be on a thousand things at once, which can make them lose focus and drop projects along the way to start new ones.

The necessity entrepreneur

The necessity entrepreneur has decided to go for it purely for practical and survival reasons. Their goal is to find a work and income solution through self-employment because no other kind of opportunity has shown up. Of all the types of entrepreneur, this is one of the most common in recent years, ever since the recession turned the traditional job market on its head.

• Strength: the need to survive moves mountains, and their biggest strength is the determination to start something of their own to push their finances forward.

• Weakness: this profile has ended up entrepreneuring almost by chance, and their real goal is more about generating a basic income than about building a business.

The family-tradition entrepreneur

This entrepreneur has soaked up what starting a business means since they were in nappies, because they come from a long line of entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship runs in the family, and you could say they carry the entrepreneurial gene in their DNA.

• Strength: they know the entrepreneurial world inside out, with its pros and cons, and they move through it like a fish in water. They’re not short on idealism, but they’re also realistic.

• Weakness: they can lose focus if they get caught up in the pressure to outdo themselves at all costs and put distance between their projects and the ones their predecessors built, just to prove to themselves and to others that they’re an entrepreneur in their own right and that nothing was handed to them.

The co-pilot entrepreneur

The entrepreneur we’ve labelled the co-pilot has always had the bug, but they’re more drawn to starting a business as part of a team and they “resist” taking on challenges solo or stepping into too much leadership.

• Strength: they’re responsible, they get things done and they’re a great teammate to have in the trenches.

• Weakness: they can end up too dependent on their partners in certain situations that come with the territory of starting a business and taking on challenges.

The opportunity-hunter entrepreneur

Very observant, analytical and quick to spot new business opportunities on the fly.

• Strength: they know their target market inside out and tend to stay focused on it.

• Weakness: once they feel they’ve squeezed an opportunity dry, they’re usually already hunting for the next one — much like the serial entrepreneur, except in this case driven more by money than by calling.

The visionary entrepreneur

Has a strong vision of the future. They get ahead of the trends of the moment and put their effort into novel projects they firmly believe will be key down the line.

• Strength: they’re vocational, they don’t shy away from diving in and they passionately believe in the project they’re starting as long as it lines up with their particular take on entrepreneurship.

• Weakness: they can lose interest if at some point they sense the project isn’t as innovative as they first thought, and pour themselves into a new one instead.

The capitalist entrepreneur

Entrepreneurship doesn’t run on idealism and new challenges alone. The capitalist entrepreneur isn’t usually the one who came up with the idea, but they like to keep an eye on what’s brewing so they can jump in when they spot an interesting financial opportunity. Their involvement is more like that of a partner who brings advice and capital to the table.

• Strength: they’re grounded, pragmatic, they know what they want and they have the means to get it. They’re not driven by idealism and only back projects they believe will give them a return on investment.

• Weakness: their involvement is mainly financial, which can lead them to focus only on the numbers without giving the project room to develop.

And now that we’ve looked at the most common types of entrepreneurs, do you already know which kind of entrepreneur you are or have inside you? Tell us in the comments and let’s chat about it.