When listening to Canadian would-be entrepreneurs, it seems that quite often you hear their dream is to start a company, grow it to the point where some other larger American company comes along and buys it, enabling the original founders to walk away with millions of dollars.
What is Innovation anyway
Innovation is a new or better way of doing valued things.
Innovation occurs when an idea, project or new invention is adopted by users at scale.
True Innovators welcome competition
The concept was put forward simply. When what you are developing is so innovative that you are developing something not previously envisioned, having other players do something similar helps build credibility for your product. If you are the only one exposing a novel idea or product, then people may not listen. If there is more than one voice promoting new concepts, then the market may be more willing to embrace and adopt the new ideas.
A Founder’s Path – Success Milestones
Infographic charting key milestones on a startup Founder’s path to success.
Do you think shareholder expectations stifle innovation?
It’s now 5 years since the implosion of the banking industry, fed partly by the short-sighted focus on near term profits and executive bonuses. With this lesson now imprinted in our memory, does it lead us to question if short term shareholder expectations have an impact on a large company’s ability to be innovative and pivot when the market goes off in another direction?
As an executive, do you keep a personal score card?
So often we keep or demand score cards on the performance of our subordinates or delegates. Have we thought of doing the same for ourselves? If we don’t have a board or investors to report to – who measures us? If we have these, do they measure more than tracking bottom line profitability numbers? What are our other measurements of success?
