Intrapreneur’s Field Guide: Building a New Business Within a Corporate Environment
My journey begins with a casual conversation with an acquaintance in the office. A colleague asked how things were going, and instead of the typical “ok,” I answered truthfully. My workload was not challenging, and I was frustrated by how the company seemed to repeatedly overlook new opportunities for disruption in favor of undifferentiating optimization projects. This honest conversation initiated many follow-ups that were the highlight of my week — a place to dream about what could be. Ideas were flowing, and within a couple of weeks, we refined our focus on a specific problem in a market where we had the least penetration. Our one-size-fits-all product did not address key pain points and limited market growth. Historically, the company relied on acquisitions to maintain market dominance but this as an opportunity to innovate from within.
We assembled a deck with market research, the value proposition, and budget asks and pitched the idea directly to the CEO. He loved our enthusiasm, recognized my ability to deliver results, and gave us the green light. I was excited to pioneer the incubation model with the goal of opening doors for others. I would create a safe space for creatives and risk-takers — an alternative path for top talent to continue pushing boundaries and operate in an environment conducive to this type of work. As we aligned on the next steps, the CEO said all we needed to do was “let finance know so they could update the budget.”
Lesson 1: Bear the torch
Anticipate institutional barriers
The rush of endorphins from our pitch meeting with the CEO turned to disappointment after we met with finance. The meeting was combative and we were told to come back when “it’s a real thing.” This catch-22 went on for months. We couldn’t launch our web app without the ability to process credit cards, and they would not set that up until we were “real.” I was not prepared for that kind of push back and learned the hard lesson that executive sponsorship doesn’t always open doors.
Work that requires external help moves slowly. For example, we did not have full decision-making power on using new vendors and spending money was a burden and constant source of frustration. Yes, there was this one time when the security team wanted us to upgrade to an enterprise license, a cost increase of 1,700% or tens of thousands of dollars, so the vendor would fill out a form before we could use them. I was able to save the money after escalating to the CISO of the parent company of our parent company.
Large companies are more likely to have tenured employees. Tenured employees are comfortable where they are and aren’t fond of surprises. My “pet project” reminded them of something stupid a past executive wanted to do ten years ago. That project failed, the executive since left, and they wasted a lot of time on it — they don’t want to do it again. This an understandable mindset, but is a good example of how companies can get in their own way. I believe most people are not conscious of their bias. Take the time to understand everyone’s concerns and look for opportunities to make their job easier. You will probably learn something new!
Remove excuses
Office politics is nuanced and there are many ways to passively resist progress without saying “no.” Be prepared to do anything you can to move the ball forward. If it’s doing their work for them or streamlining their workflow so we can jump through that hoop, then so be it. I got a crash course in drafting contracts for legal “approval.” Take note as you move along and address it later.
Conduct the orchestra
In theory, we would bootstrap the business with support from the existing sales, finance, legal, and hr teams. As they take on the administrative support, we will focus on what we were building. In my experience, each team does what they need to do, if asked. Someone needs to orchestrate all of these pieces, and who is worried about your business as much as you?
Lesson 2: Always be selling
Have an elevator pitch memorized and an overview deck handy to help you get buy-in from anyone you talk to outside your team. The most important thing to remember is that most people will be wondering “what’s in it for me?” as you talk about your own work. Anticipate any fears or misconceptions and speak to them directly. Don’t underestimate survival instincts. Your new product could be misunderstood as a threat to another team. It’s always helpful to point out how your success is shared.
Lesson 3: “Leave” the company
Put up your mission statement and create your own space — everyone on the team needs to come in every day focused on their new job. Sometimes being out of sight and out of mind is a good thing. When forming the team, we recruited from within, so there was a transition period. To signify the shift in our focus, I advocated building our own identity as a new business. We changed our email addresses and relocated to our own corner tucked away on an empty floor in our building. In one case, a team member had to work remotely to reduce interruptions from the previous team.
In Closing
My intention with this post was to focus on the often unsaid parts of leading this kind of work. Things that I would say privately to a friend. Not to scare them off, but to manage their expectation and help them recognize patterns. Untangling these hairy situations are complex and context-specific. I hope that my distilled thoughts are helpful and help spark the right conversations or prompt the right questions.
What I do this again? Absolutely! Although I would prefer more control, it was a valuable learning experience. The next iteration will be better.
Thank you for reading!
