http://venturedig.com/featured-ventures/the-intrapreneur-what-it-is-and-why-your-organization-needs-one/ Capital, Creativity, Culture Sun, 25 Jul 2010 15:45:19 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 http://venturedig.com/featured-ventures/the-intrapreneur-what-it-is-and-why-your-organization-needs-one/comment-page-1/#comment-1001 Brian Romansky Tue, 07 Jul 2009 14:53:07 +0000 http://venturedig.com/?p=1467#comment-1001 Creating new ideas inside of a big corporation is usually not the problem. The bigger challenge is usually getting those ideas beyond the initial high energy "skunk-works" or prototype phase and into a profitable new product. That is where the corporate antibodies really jump in and try to squash new products and services. There are many factors involved, but I agree that ownership and ability, as you have defined them, are critical. As a new idea grows to the point where it might become a new business, it is often necessary or desirable to transfer ownership or add a new champion to get the resources and management talent needed for the business to succeed. This is also the phase where it becomes more difficult to avoid corporate infrastructure. Systems designed to efficiently turn out the current product become a barrier when you try to apply them to a new product or service. There is no simple solution, but one important factor is to put metrics in place, unique to each new business so that as it grows you can maintain a focus on the most important success criteria for that new idea. You also need to make sure that any existing corporate resources that you are using (sales, service, distribution, etc) are the right match for your new business. Many cool new ideas get killed when you try to load them on a sales force or marketing channel that is not a good fit for the new market or the new solution. Even with big incentives, a bad match will still lead to failures. Use only the core competencies of the parent company that really help the new business and look outside to acquire new capabilities where needed. Creating new ideas inside of a big corporation is usually not the problem. The bigger challenge is usually getting those ideas beyond the initial high energy “skunk-works” or prototype phase and into a profitable new product. That is where the corporate antibodies really jump in and try to squash new products and services. There are many factors involved, but I agree that ownership and ability, as you have defined them, are critical. As a new idea grows to the point where it might become a new business, it is often necessary or desirable to transfer ownership or add a new champion to get the resources and management talent needed for the business to succeed. This is also the phase where it becomes more difficult to avoid corporate infrastructure. Systems designed to efficiently turn out the current product become a barrier when you try to apply them to a new product or service. There is no simple solution, but one important factor is to put metrics in place, unique to each new business so that as it grows you can maintain a focus on the most important success criteria for that new idea. You also need to make sure that any existing corporate resources that you are using (sales, service, distribution, etc) are the right match for your new business. Many cool new ideas get killed when you try to load them on a sales force or marketing channel that is not a good fit for the new market or the new solution. Even with big incentives, a bad match will still lead to failures. Use only the core competencies of the parent company that really help the new business and look outside to acquire new capabilities where needed.

]]>