Busting the Myths of Corporate Innovation

Conventional wisdom is that corporations should not even try to lead disruptive innovation, that slow, established organizations cannot hope to compete with the speed and ingenuity of startups, despite having greater financial and technological assets. There is no question that large companies struggle with radical innovation and startups often win.

We believe corporations can beat start-ups at the innovation game, building successful, new ventures using the assets of the existing company to accelerate their work. Standing in their way is a set of myths about corporate innovation that sound like common sense. In reality, they obscure the path to success, making the work of the corporation much harder than it needs to be.

This ebook explores the most common and significant myths, presenting evidence for why they are flawed, and describing the implications that can help make corporate explorers more successful.

Corporate innovation myths:

• Startups alone can be disruptors
• Corporations need to hire entrepreneurs to lead new ventures
• CEO support for an innovation project is all you need
• Idea volume is the secret to success
• Innovation ends at product-market-fit