While being an entrepreneur is not for the fainthearted, it is not for the few either.
Entrepreneurialism & innovation can be learned, taught, measured, improved upon and shared.
While preparing for a college assignment to build a business, I captured my thoughts as I went along. I've edited my reflections here for context and added some references as recommended reading for anyone interested or going deep in this space! These notes and reflections included everything from a disagreement with my ‘co-founder’, to how I felt about a chapter I had read, someone I spoke to, or a slide we covered. When I finally found some time to think–a common thread emerged: that entrepreneurialism & innovation can be learned, taught, measured, improved upon and shared. So while being an entrepreneur is not for the faint-hearted, it is not for the few either.
How people create and deliver new and improved solutions can benefit a much wider audience. This is valuable because the world seems more unpredictable than it was one hundred years ago, even ten years ago. Or perhaps innovation and entrepreneurship has never been studied as closely or needed as urgently. In the last few years we have been exposed to numerous shocks that were not in most business plans. “The assumptions that supported years of stable, predictable growth may no longer be valid.” (Bar Am, J. et al, 2020)
In the past, industrial entrepreneurs like Ford and P&G built large organisations around the drive of their innovative founders. Founders are scaling companies far quicker today but immense and rapid commercial gain that was not an option before seems to be more attractive to many of today’s founders than the usefulness of their product or service.
The term “unicorn club” was only coined in the last decade and now it is being used by world leaders and their governments as part of their national strategies to generate more economic wealth.
“Unicorns apparently don’t exist, and these companies do – but we like the term because to us, it means something extremely rare, and magical.” (Lee, 2013)
Perhaps the allure of being part of a rare 'breed', and making a quick return contributed to the proliferation of entrepreneurs who chose the startup route to become unicorns. Kuckertz et al (2022) argue that “the perception of the unicorn as an entrepreneurial goal comes at a cost”. Digitally enabled organisations and products have accelerated product development and market entry - giving startups a much quicker MVP to pitch to investors. Without the time to build on customer feedback or realise economies of scale, some entrepreneurs receive significant funding which accelerates their growth and commercial valuation while their value creation and viability has yet to be proven.
In the last 6 years or so, I have worked with entrepreneurs and startups. I started in what Eric Ries refers to as the “‘Just Do It’ school of startups. This school believes that if management is the problem, chaos is the answer.” (Ries, 2011). I saw how a startup works, or doesn’t work as the case often was. On reflection, I was frustrated with the lack of process in some areas and excited by the freedom of it in others. I was attracted to the challenge of building a function and marketing a new company without the resources of a large organisation. I didn’t realise at the time that in a startup, you also get pulled into every department as you build a new business, making many important decisions for the first time every week.
The course and the supporting material helped me make sense of this as the company went from scrappy, inexperienced startup, to a better functioning scaleup with experienced managers who brought process and know-how. Could this shift happen sooner and benefit the business and its (early adopter) customers at an earlier stage? I wanted to find out.
My current role in an incubator places me between startups and ‘the outside world’ - helping government, industry, education and community engage. As I learned more about entrepreneurship and innovation globally, I realised that method can be added to the madness!
Venturing and Validating
After being exposed to cases and methodologies across a range of areas, in this module, we had the chance to pull together what we learned, combine it with our diverse backgrounds and skillets - and build a new venture. We worked with some of the tools and processes to address each stage of new venture planning. Could I find a suitable ‘co-founder’ to collaborate with? And could I manage this alongside a young family and a very busy new job?
I naively thought it would be easier to go it alone than having to work with a random stranger. Then each time I tried to start it was daunting!
“While the entrepreneur as a lone hero is a common narrative, a close reading of the research tells a different story. Teams start companies. Importantly, a bigger team actually adds to the odds of success. More founders = better odds of success.” (Aulet, 2013)
I contacted another student who was going it alone. She was excited by the idea of collaborating. Having struggled with the ideation phase despite the prompts and tools, suddenly the experience was transformed - I had perhaps uncovered and outed what Kegan & Lahey (2001) refer to as “a hidden assumption”. Over a number of calls and meetings, I eventually found a business partner and ‘co-founder’ with a shared understanding of what we wanted to do and how to take it on. We were aligned and it was exciting to be building our own startup - something Ries defines as:
A startup = “a human institution designed to create a new product or service under conditions of extreme uncertainty.” (Ries, 2011)
I faced uncertainty at every turn as we worked on turning an idea into a commercial success. Working through business model development, even in simulation, kept me awake at night! We grappled with how our business would work and then land in the market. We were forced to evaluate what we were planning to do and whether it would be different or compelling enough to attract partners, customers and potentially investors.
Leveraging tools within the simulation and resources like Osterwalder & Pigneur’s Business Model Canvas, helped us work through various scenarios, test our hypotheses and keep refining our model. I became attached to the idea and wished for more time to properly test the market in a more realistic environment. There was still too much to be done before pitching and promoting our new venture. But we did and feedback was positive. I was starting to understand the addictive and all-consuming nature of building a business. A seed had been planted.
Through assignments like this I began to truly learn - moving from processing new information, to challenging my own assumptions and testing what I had learned. With the use of the Venture Validate SIM and in my own full time job, I moved from theory to practice.
“NEWS FLASH—ENTREPRENEURSHIP CAN BE TAUGHT!” (Aulet, 2013)
This module challenged my perception and what I took for granted. I used to believe that some of us have a fixed set of abilities or a ‘lane’ we’re confined to–what Dweck refers to as the Fixed Mindset (2006) –and that entrepreneurs are different; “that there is an entrepreneurship gene, that certain people are genetically predisposed for success in starting companies.” (Aulet, 2013) But it is now clear that this is not an exclusive club and it changes the way I think: I can start a business, other companies can be more entrepreneurial, it can be improved upon, harnessed, learned from and shared with a much wider audience so our cities and communities can thrive and become more sustainable. This is relevant because all company types struggle with value creation. Every day. There’s a career and important work to be done here.
I have more confidence to support entrepreneurs on their journeys to building and launching successful products and solutions. I’m in a better position to understand how entrepreneurs work and perhaps more importantly for me - why they don’t work.
Based on the Get2 Test by Dr Sally Caird (2022), I learned that I may be best suited to the role of “intrapreneur”. While I’m less likely to execute radical, disruptive ideas, I am driven, creative and good at finding and applying new technologies, methods or processes that may lead to innovative change. I was glad to read that some idleness is important to allow the subconscious to work on ideas during an incubation phase.
The lessons will be useful for me in my current and future career as I believe Entrepreneurship and the innovation it can deliver, is reaching another turning point. One where order and uncertainty collide and collaborate, where the entrepreneur is no longer on a linear path to becoming a large organisation, but intertwined with and valuable to other organisations, for the value in their inherent adaptiveness and agility, as much as their innovative solutions.
My plan is two-fold:
To leverage the tools from this course to build a framework for working with entrepreneurs to help them build their business.
To leverage the insights from this work to help larger organisations to recognise the value an entrepreneurial mindset can bring as they try to unlock more value for their stakeholders.
I agree with Ries’ when he says “I believe ‘entrepreneur’ should be considered a job title in all modern companies that depend on innovation for their future growth.” (Ries, 2011)
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Struggling to find innovation in your business? Find out more or arrange a consultation, contact: shane@mciconsulting.eu
References / further reading:
1. Ries, E. (2011). The Lean Startup. Penguin Business, Great Britain.
2. Aulet, B. (2013). Disciplined Entrepreneurship - 24 Steps to a Successful Startup. Wiley, New Jersey.
3. Dweck, C. (2006) Mindset - Changing The Way You Think to fulfil Your Potential. Robinson, New York.
4. Kuckertza, A. Scheua, M. Davidsson, P. (2022) Chasing mythical creatures – A (not-so-sympathetic) critique of entrepreneurship's obsession with unicorn startups. Journal of Business Venturing Insights https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbvi.2022.e00365
5. BCODN (2012, July 21) An Evening with Robert Kegan and Immunity to Change. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFYnVmGu9ZI
6. Osterwalder, A. & Pigneur, Y. (2010) Business Model Generation. Wiley, New Jersey.
7. Caird, S. (2022). Get2 Test For Enterprising Potential. Retrieved 28tth December 2022 from
http://www.get2test.net/get2test.html
8. Bar Am, J. et al (June 17, 2020) Innovation in a crisis: Why it is more critical than ever. Retrieved from