We’ve been thinking a lot about the words we use for what we’re building — and it turns out the etymology backs up something we already felt in our bones.
Business comes from Old English bisig (busy, careful, anxious) + -ness. Literally busy-ness. It didn’t originally mean “commercial activity” at all — it meant a state of being occupied, even anxious. The commercial sense came later, a narrowing of a word whose root is just busy.
Company comes from Old French compagnie, from Latin com- (together) + panis (bread). Literally those who share bread together — fellowship, before it was ever a commercial word.
Enterprise comes from Old French entreprise, from entreprendre (entre- “between” + prendre “to take”) — literally to undertake. And here’s the one that matters most: entrepreneur is the exact same root, just the agent noun — “one who undertakes.” Entrepreneur and enterprise aren’t just related words, they’re the same word twice.
So: business is the state of being busy. Company is people sharing purpose together. Enterprise is a bold thing undertaken — the natural object of what an entrepreneur does.
Here’s why this isn’t just wordplay for us. Almost everyone running something — a company, a practice, a project — is busy. That’s not the problem to solve; it’s the starting condition to move through. The goal isn’t more hustle. It’s turning that busyness into impact and wealth — leverage instead of labor, undertaking instead of occupying time. That’s the path of the entrepreneur, and the enterprise is what they build along the way.
Curious how this lands for you — where in your own work do you feel like you’re still being busy, versus undertaking something?