創業 and 起業: a business's beginnings and starting one
Compare founding history with launching a translation service, and distinguish the company's starting point from research done before a business begins.
創業: the business's starting point
創業 (そうぎょう) means founding or start of a business. 「祖父は若い頃にこの店を創業した。」 means “My grandfather founded this shop when he was young.” The grandfather founded this shop when he was young. 創業 presents a past event in the shop's history; it does not identify who runs the shop now.
「会社は創業時から使っている古い机を保存している。」 means “The company preserves an old desk used since its founding.” The company preserves a desk used since its founding. 創業時 makes the start of the business a time reference, rather than saying that the desk was newly purchased.
起業: the action of starting a business
起業 (きぎょう) means start a business or entrepreneurship. 「彼女は留学経験を生かして起業し、翻訳サービスを始めた。」 means “She used her study-abroad experience to launch a translation service.” She used her study-abroad experience to start a translation service. 起業 focuses on starting a business, and this sentence explicitly includes the service's launch.
「起業する前に、必要な資金と顧客層を調べた。」 means “Before starting the business, she researched the funding and customer base needed.” The completed action in this example is research into required funding and the customer base. 起業する前に places that research before starting the business; the research alone does not confirm a later launch.
Keep founding history and prior research separate
Both words can refer to starting a business. Look at whether the example recalls a shop's founding or uses the company's beginnings as a time reference, or focuses on the action of starting a new business.
The grandfather's shop, the company preserving a desk, the service launch, and the prior research are separate examples. Do not borrow the completed launch from one example to supply an outcome for the research example.
How do a desk used since 創業時 and research done 起業する前に use the business's beginning as a reference?
Show the answer and why
The desk's history is measured from the company's founding. The research takes place before starting a business. Unlike the separate example that explicitly launches a translation service, the research sentence alone does not establish a completed launch.