This New Model Could Be Replacing Corporate Innovation Consultants
Innovation breeds change.
With new products, services, and technology come new businesses, structures, and operating models. And corporations are realizing that innovation is a necessary and imperative evolution — even if they’re not well-equipped to innovate at the same pace as smaller companies and startups.
This leads to an interesting trend.
The process of innovation itself — how companies innovate — is also changing.
One of the most fundamental ways that things are shifting is that the role of traditional innovation consultant is being replaced by the model of startup-corporate partnerships.
Whereas firms that wanted help with figuring out new ideas and processes used to turn to outside consultants to help drive change internally, many are now relying on startups to show them the way.
By partnering with startups, corporate firms are getting instant access to a dedicated team that has knowledge and experience not only in identifying opportunities for innovation, but executing against those opportunities.
For startups, this is also a chance to learn and grow.
Not only can a startup get their foot in the door with a potential customer or long-time partner, but they also gain access to resources and a network of vendors, suppliers, and other partners. Any one of these could be the spark that the company needs to gain traction or accelerate growth within a particular market.
It’s a winning proposition for all involved, and if executed correctly, it can curtail the need for outside consultants or internal restructuring.
Accelerating Change
Innovation is about driving change. And startup-corporate partnerships are about accelerating the rate of innovation — and defining a new operating model that benefits both sides.
In particular, corporates are able to define and deploy an innovation strategy without the need for complicated internal maneuvers or outside analysis. In a way, it’s a plug-and-play model.
When structured correctly, both corporates and startups can reap major benefits.
This framework allows corporates to kickstart the push for innovation and to plug in an active team that already has skills and experience innovating within a certain space or part of the business.
Meanwhile, the startup involved in a corporate partnership can gain access to major capital and resources, improved market penetration/position, social proof, network opportunities — and possibly even a clear path to an acquisition or merger opportunity.
For example, a Fortune 500 company may partner with a startup that is innovating in HR and hiring. This could help the corporate firm streamline their recruitment process, develop a stronger pipeline of top talent, or restructure the people/operations model entirely.
The startup could have a customer in the corporate firm, or at least learn key insights from corporate users that help them further develop their product or service.
In this relationship, it’s important for both parties to have their defined roles.
It’s also important for each party to recognize their relative weaknesses and to capitalize on the partners strengths that may complement their own.
While startups can benefit from what corporations have to offer, corporate leaders must be careful not to crush a startup’s ability to innovate under the weight of their structure and bureaucracy.
This is a fine line that culminates in understanding and finding a good fit for partnership.
Finding a Startup-Corporate Partner Fit
While a startup-corporate partnership could help both sides accelerate growth and innovation, not every partnership is fated to be a success.
At the most basic level, we understand that the strengths of a startup — their agility and high tolerance for risk — are exactly what many corporations lack. Likewise, the weaknesses of the startup are the relative strengths of the corporation.
Nonetheless, this basic synergy isn’t enough for a partnership to be a slam dunk.
It’s important for both parties to carefully consider the aspects of a partnership that would be most beneficial for them and evaluate any potential deals based on those factors.
Corporates and startups can find common ground and opportunities based on any number of aspects of the business, including:
- Resources
- Partners
- Activities
- Customers
- Channels
- Relationships
The onus of this relationship generally falls to the startup. While corporates may be actively seeking ways to accelerate their growth and even partnership opportunities, they may have vague expectations or only a loosely defined scope.
If this is the case, it’s important for startups to only pursue opportunities where a true and valuable partnership could be established. It’s easy for both sides to waste time in countless meetings discussing possibilities, but with no clear vision for how a partnership might be achieved or what it would accomplish.
With this in mind, it’s possible to forge a partnership that’s a win-win-win for the startup, corporate, and the customers/partners served in the process.
Major companies like Target, Barclays, and Sony are partnering with startups to help them bring new products and technology to market as well as accelerating their own innovation efforts.
But they’re certainly not alone.
Increasingly, corporates and startups are forming mutually beneficial partnerships. These relationships are helping to accelerate innovation and keep incumbent firms rooted in new technology, processes, and market opportunities. The role of innovation consultant is being transformed into a partnership that helps both sides succeed.
If you’re a corporate innovator looking to kickstart your program or a startup looking for opportunities to solve new and emerging problems, then join us in Lincoln, NE on May 29–31 for the Inside/Outside Innovation Summit.
This two-day conference will feature discussions, panels, and networking for anyone interested in tackling innovation.
