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Business owner vs product owner

The differences between business owners and product owners can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 4-6 years to become a business owner, becoming a product owner takes usually requires 8-10 years. Additionally, a product owner has an average salary of $97,070, which is higher than the $50,934 average annual salary of a business owner.

The top three skills for a business owner include customer service, payroll and financial statements. The most important skills for a product owner are user stories, acceptance criteria, and product backlog.

Business owner vs product owner overview

Business OwnerProduct Owner
Yearly salary$50,934$97,070
Hourly rate$24.49$46.67
Growth rate6%10%
Number of jobs107,663129,990
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 52%Bachelor's Degree, 67%
Average age4439
Years of experience610

What does a business owner do?

Business owners, also known as Entrepreneurs, are responsible for their company and brand's success. There are many areas of responsibility when you're a business owner, such as in the aspects of planning and budgeting, arranging finances and legal documentation, and even hiring the workforce essential for the business to grow. However, these responsibilities will vary according to how a business owner will uphold them. Moreover, building a business from the ground up requires dedication and a vision and mission for the brand.

What does a product owner do?

Product owners are at the forefront of an organization's development cycle. They have various duties and responsibilities, which include ensuring that the value of products created by the development team is maximized, creating a vision and defining the goals for development projects, and working closely with all stakeholders. As the product owner, you are responsible for ensuring that the development team maintains a consistent vision and overseeing the product backlog. You are also expected to supervise the actual product development stages and anticipate the needs of clients.

Business owner vs product owner salary

Business owners and product owners have different pay scales, as shown below.

Business OwnerProduct Owner
Average salary$50,934$97,070
Salary rangeBetween $27,000 And $94,000Between $71,000 And $130,000
Highest paying CitySeattle, WASan Francisco, CA
Highest paying stateWashingtonCalifornia
Best paying companyBDORIX USA
Best paying industryRetailManufacturing

Differences between business owner and product owner education

There are a few differences between a business owner and a product owner in terms of educational background:

Business OwnerProduct Owner
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 52%Bachelor's Degree, 67%
Most common majorBusinessBusiness
Most common collegeUniversity of PennsylvaniaUniversity of Georgia

Business owner vs product owner demographics

Here are the differences between business owners' and product owners' demographics:

Business OwnerProduct Owner
Average age4439
Gender ratioMale, 51.4% Female, 48.6%Male, 64.3% Female, 35.7%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 6.3% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 15.5% Asian, 6.4% White, 67.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%Black or African American, 3.0% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 8.7% Asian, 8.2% White, 74.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage10%10%

Differences between business owner and product owner duties and responsibilities

Business owner example responsibilities.

  • Manage the budget and insure operations run smoothly.
  • Create, own and manage a LLC for grind pet transportation.
  • Establish and manage a beading boutique via the Internet by utilizing Photoshop to post designs on a personal website.
  • Manage sales, customer service, billing, A/P, A/R, vendor relations, negotiations, repairs, and maintenance.
  • Manage end to end business operations including hiring, scheduling visits, conducting customer consultations and performing pet visits.
  • Handle all aspects from A/P to A/R, payroll, ordering and dealing with all distributors and city officials.
  • Show more

Product owner example responsibilities.

  • Manage remote teams to port core and legacy components into AWS.
  • Manage a global team to create Java base EDI / XML / XSL mapping suite.
  • Gather and define requirements for the BSS require to operate and manage the SaaS offerings.
  • Serve as technical contact for affiliate partners during API integration and create and manage API documentation.
  • Manage the team to redesign the Java base desktop trading community management product to a web base portal.
  • Used Microsoft TFS to manage project phases, sprints and burn down chart of various stages of SDLC.
  • Show more

Business owner vs product owner skills

Common business owner skills
  • Customer Service, 31%
  • Payroll, 12%
  • Financial Statements, 9%
  • Business Plan, 7%
  • Business Model, 3%
  • Real Estate, 2%
Common product owner skills
  • User Stories, 10%
  • Acceptance Criteria, 7%
  • Product Backlog, 5%
  • Analytics, 5%
  • Product Management, 4%
  • EPICS, 4%

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