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Generally speaking, classical economists broached the study of businessmen and entrepreneurs timidly and, although they focused their analysis on the figure of the capitalist, they set the bases for later developments. Several neoclassical economists have contributed to developing this theory but the figure of the businessman or entrepreneur as a professional was basically born with the appreciations made by Menger. This article synthesizes the main contributions to the entrepreneur theory made by some of the most representative neoclassical economists, among whom we highlight Thünen, Mangoldt, John Bates Clark, Marshall, Knight, and Schumpeter. Each one of the above-mentioned authors analyzed, in his own manner, the entrepreneur's role and defined his or her function within the production process, to enable explaining his or her obtaining a kind of income different from the income generated by traditionally accepted production factors. Thus, this article shows that neoclassical theory did indeed contribute to the study of entrepreneurship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]