How to Avoid Common Failures for Corporations Working with Startups
Since 2013 the number of corporate investments in startups has nearly tripled, yet, results from these innovations have shown low success rates. Journalists from the Harvard Business Review spoke to more than 120 CINOs in 22 sectors in order to discover how they overcame the challenges which threatened to derail the success of their projects. Three strategies proved to be effective in tackling most issues. Wide Strategy summarizes these findings for you below.
1. Gain broad internal endorsement: Boost the value of venturing to the rest of the business.
In order to avoid internal politics, it is important to not only have the buy-in of the CEO, but also the involvement of the rest of the leadership team which oversees business profit and metrics.
2. Look outside the conventional startup business industry.
Companies may turn to alternative startup sources such as universities and research institutions in order to find new and previously undiscovered collaboration potentials.
3. Eliminate conflicts of interest between the corporate unit and the startup.
Conflicts of interest (often rooted in the differences in the way performance is measured) may arise between a corporation that wants to buy and a startup founder that is on the market to sell. These conflicts must be anticipated and addressed in order to ensure a sustainable and mutually-beneficial relationship between the two parties.
