The New Entrepreneur

Abstract

Over the past 25 years, the field of innovation, entrepreneurship and commercialization has reached a critical mass and maturity. It is not only possible but also essential to scale it so that an immense amount of untapped human innovative potential can be unleashed for the benefit of our people. Further, R & D centers and existing entrepreneurial ecosystems can be made more impactful. Firstly, this book succinctly identifies the entire field of innovation into one comprehensive and meaningful framework to help understand its evolution, incremental growth, super acceleration, and exponential explosion that has resulted in an innovation log jam. Secondly, it maps out common characteristics and approaches that make innovation, venture capital and investments into startups succeed much better. And, last, but not the least, it outlines measures to commercialize them in a massive way and "industrialize" innovation going forward including creating next generation 'Innovation Hubs'. Intro; Preface; Industrializing Innovation; An Innovation Logjam?; What Differentiates This Book; Who This Book Is For; Expert Case Studies to Enrich the Content; Go with the Flow: Reading Tips; The Next Industrial Revolution: The Time Is Now; Acknowledgments; Contents; Part I: The Innovation Logjam; Chapter 1: Introduction; An Era of Massive Economic Expansion; The Innovation Logjam; The Paradox of Industrializing Innovation; Part I -- The Innovation Logjam; Part II -- Industrializing Innovation; Part III -- Innovation Is Universal -- Scaling Innovation Globally Innovation Is Humanity's Constant CompanionClearing the Innovation Logjam; Chapter 2: University Research and Development; An Unbalanced Equation; Metrics Drives Behavior; The Case of Existing Cross-Aligned Metrics for Innovation; Startups from Research in US Universities; Data Highlights and Insights; Chapter 3: Large Corporations Are Innovation Challenged; A Humble Problem; Everyone Loves Innovation, So Why Aren't We Better at it?; Risk -- No One Ever Got Fired for Saying No to an Idea; Fear -- Most Possible Outcomes Are Disasters Disruption -- Barriers to Entry Seem Higher than They Really AreFriction -- No Plan Survives Contact with the Enemy; Innovation and Cost Containment; The Build Vs. Buy Question; Building an Innovation Ecosystem has Proven Difficult; Centers of Excellence in Innovation; Buy Me a Future; Some Companies Succeed; Chapter 4: Venture Capital; Venture Capital is Oxygen for Innovation but the Air Can Get Thin; Finding Greatness; The Role of Venture Capitalists in a Startup; Venture Capitalists Hedge Their Investment Risk Across All Investments Investment Metrics are Not Aligned for a Majority of Innovative StartupsThe Painful Shortage of Operating Experience; Chasing "Unicorns" -- A Flawed Goal for Innovative Startups; Portfolio Management Vs. Growth; Venture Capital Investments -- Time for a Change?; Chapter 5: Existing Innovation Ecosystems; Emergence of Innovation Ecosystems; Incubators; Accelerators; The Issues with Incubators and Accelerators; The Follow-up Investment Gap; Accelerators as a Business; Failing by Love for a Technology or a Part of the Process; Pitching as a Business Model; Variable Quality; No Free Rides Part II: Industrializing InnovationChapter 6: Driving the Innovation Ecosystem and the Startup; The Innovation Ecosystem; A Startup Innovation; Classification of Startups; Stage 1: Inception; Stage 2: Proofing; Stage 3: Planting; Stage 4: Growth; Stage 5: Established; Funding, Control and Exits in the Startup Continuum; Measuring Risk in the Startup; Chapter 7: The New Entrepreneur; Entrepreneurship Goes Mainstream; The Age, Race and Gender Bar; Digital Tech and Digital Skills; Traits of the New Entrepreneur; Continuous Learners: 'Being Smart' Vs. 'Being Wise'; Coachable