Welcome to the third article of our Entrepreneurial Wednesdays series. In this series, I share my thoughts on lean entrepreneurship as I take my first steps in my journey. I will be sharing my lessons learned with you.
In this third article of the series, I want to dive deeper into understanding what innovation is and how to scale success and innovation.
Continuous Innovation
Like I said in previous parts. The lean startup is based on continuous innovation. But, it is hard to imagine what innovation is without being very detailed or giving exact examples. Without a clear idea of what innovation is you may think: “That’s easy to say, but hard to do!” Luckily, there are several things connected to innovation. Marks, which will let you know that you are getting close to innovating something in your project. Innovation is created in the lower stages of the company structure, and if it’s a quality one, it steadily makes its way to the upper stages, where people who can decide about it have to act. Innovation is decentralized and (unfortunately) cannot be predicted, but (fortunately) can be scaled. At least, the impact of a new innovation can be seen on the behavior of the customers. Innovation is not a steady business, it takes focus and mindset to be a good innovator, but it will undoubtedly pay off.
Scalable Innovation
Being able to scale the innovation right is crucial. Doing scaling properly will prevent time wasting but will also show you the feedback you need. So how do you scale it? Brad Smith from Intuitive says:” We scale the success of our innovations by comparing the number of customers using a product, which wasn’t on the market three years ago. And income from offers, that did not exist three years ago.” Whether this is the right way only time will show. Actually, after a short period of time Intuitive showed a huge progress in being able to scale their innovations and when to innovate effectively.
Testing Innovation
Being able to make good innovations is not all about good ideas. Good ideas are just the start. The whole process and the hard part start from that point. It is the manager’s job to create a limitless environment. Because that’s what you want if you are expecting your innovations to turn out as perfect as needed. The right environment should not bring setbacks to your path for the right form of innovation. Experiments are the precious element in here. You have to make sure that your colleagues, employees know that it is theirs for the taking. That the route has been cleared for them and their abilities and skills are their only limitations.
Of course, even a good idea tested in the right place and time can go horribly wrong. But you never fail completely. You learn, analyze and try again. The problem is “we learned” won’t satisfy your boss, manager or the bank and primarily, customers. So don’t be surprised when this is not the right thing to say when something doesn’t go as expected. But to realize the importance of moving forward is the best way to avoid depression from failing from time to time. Even though there is no profit from it, being progressive and experiencing new situations is needed, especially in the very risky environment where the lean startup is built!
Never feel like you wasted time when in the end you didn’t fill your pockets. The risk can only be lowered with experience and that can only be learned by failing and learning.
What are your thoughts on Lean Entrepreneurship? Let me know in the comments below.
And keep your eyes peeled for the second installment of the series next Wednesday!
