What exactly differentiates between a start-up CEO and an entrepreneur?

 

Google’s CEO, Larry Page got the initial idea of an algorithm to collect data from the world wide web. He used his technical skills to collect data, but there was no business model behind the ‘invention’ yet.

This was the innovation.

The entrepreneurial idea happened when Larry Page noticed that the entire Web was connected by links and envisioned that each of these links could be considered as a “referral.” Web pages with more referrals are more valuable for users than others.[1]

Sergey Brin soon joined Larry Page on the quest to create an algorithm that would identify each webpage and give it a ‘value’ based on these backlinks.

Brin and Page, together, developed the PageRank algorithm. They envisioned that their algorithm could be used to build a far superior search engine compared to the existing ones.

That was the business idea.

They started working using Stanford University’s infrastructure from their dorm-rooms. Eventually, the growth of the project caused Stanford's computer networks to experience problems.

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Now, to answer your question, what exactly differentiates a start-up CEO from an entrepreneur?

Larry Page was the founding CEO of Google from September 1998 to August 2001 when he stepped down in favor of Eric Schmidt.

Larry acted as founder and entrepreneur for those three years.

Larry and Sergey owned the vision to use their innovation to solve a big problem in the world. Identifying and PROVING their business idea was Larry’s main responsibility as founding CEO of Google.

As the business grew exponentially, so did their need of cash. When they accepted about $50 million in investment from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Sequoia Capital, Larry agreed to step down in order to bring on an experienced leader who could build a "world-class management team."

This is when Eric Schmidt took over Google as Startup CEO.

His role was to manage the growth and build a strong team to execute the vision. Larry later called this ‘parental supervision’ in an interview back in 2001.[2]

The entrepreneur is the individual who has the vision and sees an opportunity in the marketplace. The Startup CEO’s main function is to execute and scale such vision.