Literary Insights

BOOK LINK:

Joanne Moretti, founder and CEO of JCurve Digital, praises Marchand as one of the most skillful innovators and communicators she has worked with. Moretti says Marchand’s approach works and she has seen it firsthand. She recommends the book be required reading for students and executives striving to stay relevant.
Jabril Bensedrine, CEO of three companies and an NYU professor, says Marchand’s book provides a timely and important framework and tools for fostering creativity. He believes readers will be inspired to become innovators after reading it.
Amit Rakhit, CEO and former pharma executive, calls the book a practical guide with case studies on how to apply an innovative mindset in everyday life and work.
Tracy Harmon Blumenfeld, CEO and cofounder of RapidTrials, says the book is inspiring and enjoyable. She believes Marchand demystifies innovation and provides practical steps to stimulate creativity within organizations.

So in summary, the praise highlights Marchand’s experience and effectiveness as an innovator, and commends the book for providing an inspirational and practical guide for developing an innovation mindset through real-world case studies and tools.

Lorraine Hudson was speaking to 96 executives from a large pharmaceutical company to encourage them to develop an innovation mindset and culture within the organization.
She asked the executives to rate their level of curiosity on a scale of 1-10, and most rated themselves a 4-5, indicating they were not very curious.
She then asked them to think back to when they were kids to reconnect with their earlier curiosity and dreams. This sparked some personal anecdotes from the executives about their childhood interests.
One story in particular stood out, where a female executive shared about losing her mother to breast cancer at age 14 and now working in cancer research.
Lorraine related this back to her own childhood, sharing a story about her father who was an inventor and serial entrepreneur. She said this sparked her own interest in innovation from a young age.
The goal was to get the executives to reconnect with their passion and curiosity from childhood to cultivate a mindset of innovation within the large pharmaceutical company.
Dad would observe problems and challenge the author and his brother to come up with at least three solutions. They had to defend the pros and cons of each.
One summer, at a restaurant cafeteria, Dad noticed it took a long time to clear tables due to spilled sugar packets. He tasked the brothers with solving this.
They observed the issue, brainstormed solutions like removing sugar packets or adding trash cans. They prototyped a “Sugar Cube” plastic holder with advertising space.
With Dad’s guidance, they pitched the Sugar Cube to the manager. It was successful and implemented at multiple locations. This was the author’s first experience taking a product to market.
The author tells this story to introduce the “Innovation Mindset” - problem-solving coupled with passion and understanding customer needs. Successful innovations often solve frustrations with the status quo.
The author encourages adopting this mindset to explore your talents and customer needs to develop impactful solutions. Innovation can happen at any age or stage in life. The time is now to start generating new ideas.
The passage discusses the definitions and history of the terms “invention” and “innovation.” Invention refers to discovering or finding something new, while innovation also emphasizes conceptualizing and marketing an invention.
Innovation has gone from being a derogatory term referring to change or disruption to describing new ideas, solutions, and meeting unmet market needs. It is now a high priority for companies and CEOs.
Experts distinguish between incremental, breakthrough, and disruptive types of innovations. Incremental updates existing products/services, breakthrough pushes companies to new levels, and disruptive changes industries by creating new markets.
Examples of breakthrough innovations include Dyson vacuum cleaners and disruptive innovations include Uber disrupting taxis and Airbnb disrupting hotels.
The passage outlines eight “Laws of Innovation” that are presented as key steps in an innovation process, including having a solution in mind, testing ideas with customers, being flexible to pivot, and having a strong pitch.
It discusses how innovation involves both inspiration and perspiration, using Edison as an example. Real innovation is a team effort and involves trial and error to solve problems.
The passage describes a common but not very effective type of innovation called “Field of Dreams innovation,” where companies develop a product/service without fully understanding customer needs/problems.
Examples given include the development of Post-it notes and Rogaine hair regrowth treatment. While ultimately successful, they took a long time to pay off.
A more systematic problem-solving approach is advocated, starting with identifying a clear customer problem and developing solutions to address it. Willis Carrier’s invention of modern air conditioning is used as an example.
The author then led a workshop teaching an “Innovation Mindset” to a pharmaceutical company struggling with clinical trial inefficiencies.
She helped them define the problem of slow patient recruitment and developed data-driven tools to better select trial sites and improve forecasting/management, improving trial completion times.
Follow up feedback showed several employee-led innovation projects being launched using this approach, yielding improved customer satisfaction and faster product delivery.
The story describes an incident from the author’s childhood where they needed to cut the grass for an Easter egg hunt but their lawn mower was out of gas.
Their father led them through a process of carefully defining the problem (no gas in the mower) before jumping to solutions.
With limited resources available on a Sunday, their father innovated by using plastic tubes, suction cups, and a pump to create a makeshift gas siphon to transfer gas from their mother’s car into the lawn mower.
They were able to get the grass cut just in time for the egg hunt. The father believes in learning through doing and the kids learned about problem solving in the process.
The story illustrates the importance of taking time to fully understand the problem before rushing to solutions. It’s an example of creating innovation by solving a problem with constrained/limited resources.
Necessity is the mother of invention, as constraints can spur more creative problem solving approaches. The story demonstrates how innovationmindset starts with proper problem definition through experiential inquiry.
Companies working on multiple COVID-19 vaccine candidates, including Moderna and BioNTech partnered with Pfizer, were the first to bring vaccines to market despite never having launched a drug before. Their nimbleness and focusing solely on vaccines helped speed development.
Tesla and Medtronic worked together to develop mobile, battery-powered ventilators to address the limited hospital capacity for large ventilators for COVID patients with respiratory distress, allowing treatment in outpatient settings.
Videoconferencing company Zoom grew exponentially due to COVID-19 and remote work/learning becoming the norm. Their solution enabled business meetings and classes to continue virtually when in-person interaction was eliminated.
Telehealth companies like Teledoc also grew during the pandemic as people accessed medical care remotely rather than visiting clinics. This proved telehealth can efficiently and effectively provide healthcare to many.
These solutions arose from observing problems in their natural context, conducting customer research, creating fast solutions with limited resources, and innovating out of necessity during a crisis.
It’s important for problems to be well-defined with evidence of market need before solutions are developed to avoid developing solutions searching for problems. Asking the right questions is key to diagnosing the core problem.

Here is a summary of the key points about problem solving techniques from the passage:

Getting clear problem definitions in writing to understand the problem fully.
Examining the problem from multiple angles and considering different situations when the problem may be more or less acute.
Analyzing exceptions when the problem does not occur to understand it better.
Using analogies by finding examples of others who have solved similar problems and learning from their approaches.
Taking a “first principles” approach by breaking the problem down into fundamental elements, challenging assumptions, and creating new solutions from scratch rather than by analogy.
Understanding the customer perspective and needs is important for defining problems and solutions.

The COVID-19 vaccine development is discussed as a case study using these techniques. Companies broke down each step of the process, challenged timelines, took risks to run trials in parallel, and benefited from previous research to drastically shorten the timeline for an approved vaccine. Good questioning and problem deconstruction was key to the rapid innovation.

The consultant was working with a group of engineers from a medical device manufacturing company to help them develop new product ideas.
The general manager Randy was impatient with the lack of “big ideas” from the brainstorming session. He wanted to give the team a pep talk but the consultant thought that wouldn’t help.
To spark more creative thinking, the consultant reframed the discussion to look at diabetes through the eyes of patients and caregivers rather than just the company’s business goals.
The consultant’s secret weapon was bringing in his colleague Jan, a nurse educator and mother of a child with diabetes. Jan could provide valuable first-hand insights into the patient experience that the engineers were unfamiliar with.
The consultant hoped hearing directly from a “customer” like Jan about living with diabetes would help the engineers develop more impactful product ideas that addressed real patient needs.

Here are the key points from summarizing the passage:

Engineers from a medical device company were participating in a workshop to brainstorm ways to improve their products for diabetes patients.
A guest speaker, Jan, shared her personal experience of having a daughter diagnosed with diabetes. This created an emotional connection for the engineers and helped them understand the patient perspective.
The group was divided into teams and tasked with mapping out the patient journey and identifying pain points/problems at each step from diagnosis to treatment.
Seeing the issues through the eyes of patients like Jan’s daughter gave the engineers new insights and questions. They recognized needs they hadn’t considered before.
The teams brainstormed potential solutions, focusing on making it easier for kids to check blood sugar levels at night and reducing the hassle of glucose patches.
Their proposed solutions, like a backlit blood sugar monitor and protective caps for patches, were well-received by company leadership and moved into prototype testing.
Bringing in the patient/customer perspective proved highly valuable for inspiring creative solutions to real-world problems faced in diabetes care. It improved customer satisfaction and the company’s relationship with a key manufacturer.

So in summary, having a “customer…here?” was a breakthrough that helped the engineers think outside their norms and process something truly unexpected - the lived experience of patients dealing with a chronic condition on a daily basis. This shifted their focus to meaningful, empathy-driven solutions.

Here is a comic strip summarizing the user experience roadmap activity:

Panel 1: A group of people are sitting around a table brainstorming. Thought bubbles show them thinking of different ideas like “Users can track their progress” and “Users can connect with others”.

Caption: The team generates ideas for what users will be able to do.

Panel 2:
One person is writing on a whiteboard labeled “Short Term” and “Long Term”. They write “Users can log in” under short term.

Caption: They organize the ideas into a roadmap based on timeline.

Panel 3: Under long term they write “Users can access custom workout plans”. Another person says in a thought bubble “This will help with engagement over time.”

Caption: They fill out the roadmap with a focus on long term experience and value.

Panel 4:
The team reviews the completed roadmap which shows a progression of features and capabilities over time.

Caption: The user experience roadmap helps envision the long term journey and goals for users.

The author is a consultant leading a workshop to test an MVP (minimum viable product) software with customers. The testing is to be done remotely via a live system hosted in India.
On the day of the workshop, the network in India is down, preventing the live testing from starting as planned. This delays and frustrates the customers who traveled for the event.
The customers/clients represent 17 global corporations who will implement the software. They are impatient and starting to complain about the lack of features to test.
Faced with no backup plan, the author decides to launch an improvised “Plan B” - have her local team demo sample versions of the MVP software in small groups to get some testing and feedback started while India works on fixes.
The story highlights the importance of contingency planning for technology dependencies, managing customer expectations, and being able to think on your feet to salvage a problematic situation. It’s an example of reacting to challenges that arise during the MVP testing process.

Here are the key points about MVPs from the passage:

MVP stands for “minimum viable product” - the simplest version of a product that can be created to test the core idea and gather feedback.
The goal of an MVP is to validate an idea with customers as quickly and cheaply as possible before investing significant resources in a full product.
An MVP focuses on implementing only the most essential features to solve the main problem, leaving out nice-to-haves.
It allows startups and innovators to test assumptions, learn what customers value, and iterate the product rapidly based on real-world usage and feedback.
Examples discussed include the early website of online shoe retailer Zappos, and a prototype robotic arm for vegetable chopping created by engineering researchers to test with potential customers.
Benefits of MVPs include getting feedback sooner, focusing resources efficiently, and accelerating the learning process to improve the product more quickly.

So in summary, an MVP is a minimum functional version of a product created to validate ideas and assumptions through customer testing before full development. It’s a best practice for efficient innovation and product development.

For Instacart and other grocery delivery startups, the original MVP was a manual process where the founders did the grocery shopping and delivery themselves after customers placed orders through a basic mobile app. This allowed them to test the concept and workflow with low costs while proving demand.
Etsy started as a simple website that allowed people to register and list handmade goods for sale. Despite its minimal features, it took off quickly by addressing a need and tapping into existing demand not met by existing options like eBay.
A “manual first” MVP approach means the product appears fully-functional to customers, but the founders are manually fulfilling orders behind the scenes. This lets them test processes and demand before automating.
The manual MVP allowed these companies to quickly validate customer problems and test solutions at low cost before automating processes or building sophisticated technology. It proved the ideas were viable with real customer usage and transactions.
The MVP or minimum viable product strategy aims to get the simplest version of a product to market as quickly as possible to start validating the business concept and collecting customer feedback.
Developing an MVP focuses efforts on solving the core problem the customer is willing to pay for, rather than adding unnecessary features upfront. It provides discipline to only build what is truly needed.
If the concept is still being developed or validated, it may not be ready to build a full MVP yet. Alternatives like slide decks, mockups and demos can help explain and test the idea without a fully built product.
Gathering feedback from potential customers early, even before building the MVP, is important. It helps define what problem needs to be solved and prevents building unnecessary features. But customers don’t dictate what is built - they provide problems to solve.
The goal is to get feedback as quickly as possible to iterate on the product and business model. The sooner feedback is incorporated, the faster a viable and profitable business model may emerge.

The passage discusses the importance of customer research for new businesses and products. It tells the story of Jenna Ray, a student who was developing an online women’s fashion brand called Blue Catamaran.

At a program review, the teacher questions Jenna about her customer research. However, Jenna has not actually interviewed any customers - she has only created fictional “personas” based on women she knows. The teacher and an adviser stress that talking directly to potential customers is crucial to validate the business idea and understand customer needs.

The goal of customer research is not just data collection, but truly understanding customers’ perspectives - their pain points, dreams, and what they want to buy. Blue Catamaran’s personas were not grounded in real customer feedback. Going forward, they need to survey at least 50 potential customers to start validating their concept.

In summary, the key point is that innovators cannot rely only on their own ideas or assumptions - they must systematically talk to many actual customers to ensure they are solving real problems and building something people want to buy.

Here are the key points about why customer research is important for innovation:

Customer research helps companies understand customer needs, problems, and pain points that need to be solved. This provides critical input for developing innovative solutions.
Without customer research, companies risk developing products and services that don’t actually meet customer needs or solve real problems. This can lead to failure in the market.
Examples like railroads, taxis, and cable TV show that failing to listen to customers and adapt to changing needs can cause companies to become obsolete as better alternatives emerge.
Customer research should involve direct input from customers through techniques like interviews, surveys, observation, etc. This provides firsthand understanding of customer perspectives.
A sample size of 100 customer interviews is recommended to get a statistically significant and varied set of customer voices and viewpoints to inform innovation. This helps validate assumptions and uncover new insights.
Ongoing customer research and feedback loops are important for continually improving products and solving customer problems over time, as Stitch Fix demonstrates.

So in summary, customer research is critical to the innovation process because it provides direct customer input to understand needs and problems, ensure solutions are solving the right issues, and improve solutions through iterative feedback. This helps deliver innovations that are successful in the market.

The author advocates for conducting 100 customer interviews according to his “Law of 100 Customers” to ensure statistically meaningful and verified findings for customer research.
As a case study, he conducted 100 interviews of eye doctors (ophthalmologists, retinal surgeons, optometrists) from various regions to understand how they diagnose and treat wet AMD.
The interviews helped segment doctors and informed decisions around market entry strategies and clinical trial design for a biotech startup’s gene therapy for wet AMD.
The six best VOC questions are: understanding the customer/their work; current business state; pain points/unmet needs; problem scale/impact; past solutions tried; and reaction to the proposed solution.
These questions provide insight into customer workflows, challenges, gaps in existing solutions, competition, and likelihood of adopting the proposed solution.
Finding 100 customers requires a mix of surveys, interviews, and focus groups. Various approaches are outlined from utilizing professional research firms to grassroots methods like alumni networks and social media.

Here is a summary of the key points about market research approaches:

Approach 1 (Traditional market research firms): Most expensive option, costs $100k-$250k, but provides the most comprehensive and accurate results. Best if you need a lot of research quickly and aren’t constrained by budget.
Approach 2 (Self-service research agencies): Provides access to subject matter experts through databases, but you conduct the interviews. Cost is $750-$2,000 per interview. Good for a small number of interviews to inform survey questions. Works well with a modest budget.
Approach 3 (Lists): Can buy lists of professionals/consumers for about $5,000 per zip code. Allows casting a wide net but information may be out of date.
Approach 4 (In-house): Leverage social media to recruit customers for interviews. Free but requires an in-house expert to manage.
Approach 5 (Crowdsourcing): Post prototypes on sites like Kickstarter to find interested customers. Good for startups to conduct research and sell early versions.
Approach 6 (LinkedIn/Facebook): Use platforms to identify potential customers and ask for introductions/survey participation. Effective with no budget but requires time.

The summary provides a brief overview of the different approaches to market research, outlining their key characteristics, associated costs, and best use cases. It synthesizes the main points about each option discussed in the passage.

Sylvana Sinha is the founder and CEO of Praava Health, a integrated healthcare provider in Bangladesh that offers private, subscription-based healthcare to the middle class.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in early 2020, it severely disrupted Praava’s business model as patients could no longer visit clinics and telehealth was not fully developed. This put the company’s growth, revenues, and cash flow at risk.
Sinha pivoted Praava’s strategy by rapidly rolling out telehealth services in April 2020. In May, Praava received approval to conduct COVID-19 tests, becoming the first private lab in Bangladesh to do so. This helped drive patient volumes and convert them to other healthcare services.
While still facing challenges, Praava has grown significantly during the pandemic, helping hundreds of companies provide virtual healthcare and processing over 50,000 COVID tests. Sinha secured new private investment, showing how she turned the crisis into an opportunity.
The pandemic has accelerated changes and pushed many businesses to pivot their strategies, operations, and business models through digital transformation and adapting to new market needs, as Sinha and Praava successfully demonstrated.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, manufacturing and supply chains for medical devices were disrupted in China, Europe, and eventually North America as the virus spread globally. This interrupted supplies.
Fictiv, a digital manufacturing company, pivoted to source parts and develop/donate face shields to hospitals to help address shortages. This allowed them to stay one step ahead of supply chain issues and find new suppliers.
As a result of helping during the crisis, Fictiv expanded into the medical device market permanently. The pandemic gave them an opportunity to aggressively explore healthcare, which has now become one of their fastest growing segments.
The article argues that pivoting can be important for success when needed to realign strategy with vision due to market changes or problems. It cites several examples of successful pivots made by companies like Twitter, Airbnb, and Wrigley.
Common reasons for pivoting include weak customer demand, growing competitors, financial underperformance, lack of partner engagement, and external constraints affecting the business model. Pivoting allows companies to adapt and potentially avoid failure.

Here is a summary of the key points about pivoting from the provided text:

It’s important to regularly gather feedback from customers to understand if you need to pivot or change direction based on what customers actually want or need. Pivoting in response to insights is better than failing.
When pivoting, don’t scrap the whole idea but rather keep the core insights and lessons learned. Make targeted changes based on customer feedback.
A good example is a company that pivoted their lightweight travel guitar from serious players to parents/kids after learning kids were a bigger market.
Truly understand customers by directly observing and talking to them, not just looking at statistics. This helps ensure any pivot addresses real customer needs.
Build a culture focused on customers, not just the product, so the team sees pivots as normal for pleasing customers, not failure.
Don’t avoid pivoting just because you’ve invested in the current path. Be willing to significantly change direction if needed to enable growth.
Communicate clearly about any pivot to maintain stakeholder trust and confidence through the transition. Follow through on the new strategy.
Focus on the overarching vision or goal rather than a rigid product plan to allow for flexibility in achieving it over time through pivots.
The Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) had traditionally relied on in-person fundraising events like the Jerry Lewis Telethon, but these were canceled due to COVID-19.
MDA President Lynn O’Connor Vos and her team moved quickly over the summer of 2020 to pivot and relaunch the telethon as a virtual fundraising event hosted by Kevin Hart.
The virtual telethon was a success, raising over $10 million. This showed how a nonprofit could creatively pivot its fundraising strategy in response to the pandemic.
Moving decisively and rapidly is important when pivoting, as seen by how Pfizer and Moderna swiftly pivoted to develop COVID vaccines. Moving slowly can waste time and resources.
Communication during a pivot is also key to keep stakeholders informed and on board with the new strategy. One company discussed succeeded because the CEO framed changes as meeting the original goal, while another faced “messaging whiplash” from unclear communication.
Successfully pivoting requires excellence in timing, execution, and communication between all stakeholders. The examples provide lessons on how to navigate common pitfalls during strategic shifts.
YouTube launched on Valentine’s Day 2005 as a dating site but users started sharing funny videos instead, like one of the founders Jawed Karim’s “Elephants Have Really, Really, Really Long Trunks.”
This video sharing became very popular and YouTube realized users wanted to exchange videos, not meet people. This pivot to a video sharing platform proved very successful.
Just one year later, Google acquired YouTube for $1.65 billion, recognizing its potential as the leading video sharing site.
YouTube is now estimated to be worth up to $160 billion and is the most popular video sharing platform in the world. The founders’ willingness to shift the platform’s focus based on user behavior led to unprecedented growth and financial success.
Ted, a prison rehabilitation coordinator, asked a professor to review and provide feedback on business plans created by inmates. The plans were handwritten on notebook paper due to restrictions on supplies.
The professor was surprised by the circumstances but wanted to give the men meaningful feedback. She read all 10 plans and used one from James as a benchmark for being the most complete.
James’ plan proposed opening a barbershop near the airport, after he and his cousin conducted market research showing demand. The professor was impressed they were able to do research from inside.
The inmates then each presented their plans. Gary proposed a landscaping “hardscaping” business. Tat wanted to open a tattoo parlor, playing to his existing skills as an artist.
The professor provided feedback and questions to strengthen the plans, focusing on differentiation, long-term revenue opportunities, and competition.
She emphasized the importance of understanding customers and having the right marketing strategy given competition some plans faced.
The experience showed the inmates’ entrepreneurial spirit and initiative in developing new business ideas and plans, despite their circumstances, for which the professor commended them.
The inmate entrepreneurs avoided common business planning mistakes like overly aggressive financial forecasts based on weak assumptions and lack of customer/market research.
Their plans included realistic financial forecasts based on solid market assumptions and research. They also adequately addressed risks like not raising enough funding or changes in regulations.
A business plan forces you to analyze the opportunity, assess risks, understand the market, and determine what is needed for success. Developing one with a team provides valuable experience.
A business plan is a written description of a business’s future that outlines the people, steps, and activities needed to achieve success. It discusses the industry, business model, financial projections, marketing, operations, funding sources, competition, and risks.
A business model shows the business’s rationale and plan for making a profit. It explains how the business will generate revenue through its value proposition, customer segments, channels, customer relationships, revenue streams, key activities, resources, partners, and costs.
Both a thorough business plan and model are needed to fully understand and test the viability of a business idea by challenging assumptions. The inmate entrepreneurs developed strong plans that incorporated realistic research and addressed key components.
The passage discusses common mistakes that entrepreneurs make when developing business plans, including not focusing enough on cash flow, failing to validate their problem/solution with customers, including incomplete sections in their plans, doing inadequate market research, and making unrealistic assumptions not backed by facts.
Some specific mistakes highlighted are not accounting for monthly cash burn needs, not interviewing enough customers (a minimum of 100) to validate the problem and solution, leaving out critical plan sections like customers, products, operations, marketing, management team, or competitors.
Plans also fail if the assumptions are not clearly stated and supported by evidence from market benchmarks, similar industries, or other data points. Research is needed to justify assumptions around things like market size, pricing, customer behavior, commercialization timelines.
A case example is given of a clinical research company that buried an important real estate assumption in their plan without properly researching typical location and cost factors for their industry.

So in summary, the passage cautions entrepreneurs against common shortcomings in business plans like poor cash planning, lack of customer validation, incomplete/unsupported sections, weak research, and unrealistic assumptions. Doing thorough research and tying assumptions to facts is advised.

The CEO of a biotech startup wanted to locate their office in an expensive space in Manhattan to improve brand awareness. However, the costs cited to investors were over a year old and didn’t reflect the recent rent increase.
The startup founder had flagged this as a risk, but it was ignored. An investor familiar with the real estate market called out the outdated costs during the pitch.
The investor also criticized the CEO for not considering cheaper office options across the river in New Jersey, where most employees lived.
Fortunately, the startup was able to quickly address this issue by securing an office in New Jersey at half the cost. This allowed them to get back in front of investors.
The main mistake was neglecting to address risks in the business plan. Any sensible investor understands there are always risks, so they need to be understood and accounted for upfront.
Specifically, this situation highlights the importance of using current data and examining all potential options, rather than fixating on a single favored choice without properly vetting it. Addressing risks proactively avoids potential embarrassment in front of investors.
The passage describes a leadership workshop attended by 73 senior-level women and a few men from the author’s company. The workshop was sponsored by the company’s women’s affinity group, the Women’s Information Network.
The tables were deliberately arranged with one man and several women at each table. This was done to leverage male advocates and support for advancing causes around female equity in the workplace.
The passage notes that workplaces can sometimes be challenged or threatened by women with new ideas and innovations.
The group was energized after an inspiring talk by an athlete turned businesswoman. The author was preparing to share tips for how serial entrepreneurs increase their odds of success.
Robyn Benincasa spoke about her experience winning the grueling 2000 Eco-Challenge expedition race in Borneo, overcoming intense physical challenges through strong teamwork and leadership.
A psychologist then taught stress management techniques like yoga breathing.
The speaker, Lorraine Marchand, was asked to share her experiences managing risk as a business leader.
She told a scenario mirroring her own experience co-founding a molecular diagnostics startup that faced major setbacks when her co-founder suffered critical injuries in a motorcycle accident.
This led to unforeseen risks like patent challenges, uncertain funding, wavering scientific advisors, and contradictory company data.
Marchand polled the audience on their risk management abilities before and after her story to illustrate how unexpected crises test even seasoned professionals.
She emphasized developing risk tolerance, contingency planning, and learning from mistakes to strengthen risk management skills, whether for a startup or new projects.
The speakers aimed to motivate the audience and equip them to better handle risks and crises through real-life leadership examples and stress management techniques.
The speaker shared tips for managing risk when facing challenging situations: focus on strengths, maintain perspective, emotionally detach and observe objectively, assess options and priorities, develop a new plan with stakeholders, and learn from lessons.
He then told a personal story about founding a diagnostic startup with a partner who suffered a catastrophic injury. The speaker secured funding to allow the partner to continue research, while he moved on to found three new startups, consult, teach, and eventually join Cognizant.
The speaker defined the difference between risk and uncertainty, noting that uncertainty involves unknown potential problems while risk can be assessed and planned for.
Three types of business risk were described: uncontrollable external risks, strategic risks that enable growth but require execution, and manageable operational and technical risks that can be prevented through planning and documentation of processes.
Examples discussed managing partnership, technical, and operational risks at companies like Apple/IBM, AstraZeneca, Google, and a software startup client. The key is identifying risks and developing strategies to anticipate and mitigate negative impacts.
The speaker is glad they earned the company’s confidence and have tangible ways to de-risk the company going forward.
Contracts present an operational risk if the business fails to meet contractual obligations. It’s important to have legal counsel review contracts to understand obligations and risks of non-compliance.
Lack of resources to deliver products is another operational risk that could cause failure to meet objectives.
Examples are given of potential impacts of operational risks like website downtime causing sales loss or failing an audit due to outdated documents.
Market risks include high failure rates of new products and innovations. Thorough customer research is important to understand job needs a product fills and avoid proposing features customers don’t really want.
Financial risks include lack of adequate funding, which is a leading cause of start-up failure. The speaker stresses the importance of aggressive fundraising and a well-developed business plan to de-risk the financial position.
Reputation risks can occur at any time and preparing for potential crises is important to protect the brand. An example is given of how Johnson & Johnson effectively handled a Tylenol tampering crisis.
A risk assessment matrix is presented as a tool to help prioritize and quantify risks to help the business prepare and respond effectively.

Here are the key points about managing and assessing risks from the passage:

Conduct a risk assessment to analyze potential risks with minimal effort, visually convey risks, and identify the most critical areas to focus on de-risking. This gives a starting point for risk mitigation strategy.
Develop a risk matrix table categorizing different types of risks (e.g. global, strategic, technical, operational, market, financial, reputation) and assess their manageability.
prioritize risks using a risk mitigation matrix measuring likelihood and impact to determine highest priority risks.
Mitigation strategies can include contingency planning (having backup plans), diversifying sources of funding, moving markets proactively through education, and ensuring redundancy in supply chains.
Raising capital from friends/family requires clear milestones, goals and risk mitigation to justify investment and make sure failure doesn’t ruin personal finances.
An innovator needs to consider vulnerabilities and have contingency plans to manage risks outside their control, like supply chain disruptions.
Thorough risk assessment and mitigation upfront helps innovators navigate challenges and obstacles while pursuing new product development.

Here is a summary of the key points about being an innovator based on the passage:

It can be difficult and uncomfortable to be an innovator, as your ideas will likely receive criticism from others saying your idea is “stupid” or “useless.” This criticism can feel like personal attacks.
You need a strong support network of trusted friends and family who can prop you up during difficult times and shield you from criticism. This “village” is important for staying motivated and maintaining a thick skin as an innovator facing skepticism.
Pitching new business ideas and innovations to potential investors is high-stakes, as most venture capital firms only invest in a small fraction of the ideas they hear. You need to have a clearly differentiated solution, scalable business model, and credible financial projections to succeed.
Meticulous preparation and practicing your pitch is essential. Deviating from your plan at the last minute or not addressing investors’ key concerns can doom your presentation and chances of funding. Bold confidence in your idea is important but must be grounded in reality.

So in summary, being an innovator requires resilience to withstand criticism, a supportive network, meticulous pitch preparation, and the ability to sell investors on your innovation’s real-world viability and commercial potential. Proper planning and presentation are vital for success.

Entrepreneurs must stay focused on their vision and goals, but need to be responsive to customer feedback. They cannot change direction abruptly based on one conversation without broader input.
It’s important to communicate clearly, concisely and with compelling evidence when pitching an idea to investors. Investors are evaluating the idea and team.
Some mistakes made in the case example pitch included not understanding the audience, failing to describe a scalable business model, lacking credibility as a team, being unprepared for questions, and not following best practices for slide formatting and time allocation.
Keys to a successful pitch include starting with a clear vision for the future, demonstrating a return on investment within the investors’ expected timelines, and telling the story concisely within 15-20 minutes.
An optimal pitch deck has 10 slides covering the key points of problem/opportunity, solution, technology, customer research, competition, roadmap, sales strategy, team, financials and summary. Detail and evidence are important.
An example pitch that raised $112 million addressed an unmet medical need, demonstrated technological advantage, showed validated results, had a strong team and advisers, and presented a clear go-to-market strategy. Thorough preparation and understanding audience are critical for success.
Cancer genomics and AI models for analyzing cancer genetics are growing areas that can provide life-or-death information to patients. The cancer genomics market is estimated to be worth $39.4 billion by 2027.
C2i, a cancer genomics startup, had several advantages that helped them raise funding successfully: an experienced leadership team with expertise in oncology, genomics and software; a unique technology addressing an unmet need; accurate financial forecasts based on sound assumptions; an effective pitch that followed best practices; and thorough preparation by the founding team.
Key sources of startup capital discussed include founders’ own investment, funding from friends and family, crowdfunding platforms, angel investors and venture capital. Founders should try to retain equity as long as possible while pursuing these sources in sequence from friends/family to larger amounts from angels and VCs. Experience, expertise and networks of the founding team are important for raising capital successfully.
Successful businesses and investment outcomes require strong partnerships built on mutual trust and shared values. Developing partnerships takes time, around 6 months of cultivating relationships.
Angel investors provide their own money for high-risk startups, unlike VCs or other professional investors. Getting to know potential angel investors well through repeated meetings is important.
Typical angel investors look for startups requiring $50,000-$500,000 in capital, with projected sales of $2-20M in 5-10 years and 10-20% annual growth. However, criteria can vary by individual.
Angels offer more than just money - their experience and networks are invaluable. Finding angels involves groups like the Angel Capital Association.
Venture capital involves higher risk/reward than loans. VCs operate portfolios to maximize investor returns, typically focusing on acquisition or IPO exits.
VCs evaluate factors like team experience, market size/growth, product competitiveness, capital needs/use, and founder/investor alignment on goals/control. Extensive due diligence on VCs is important when selecting the right fit. The fundraising process with VCs takes around 6 months as well.
The entrepreneur proposes doing live streamed performances on social media during the COVID lockdown when touring was not possible. This became a daily series called “Songs from the Corona Zone”.
Inspired by the positive response, the entrepreneur purchased an RV and embarked on a hybrid live/streaming tour across the country under the name “NomadDan”. Venues and dates were announced last minute on social media.
Fans began voluntarily sending monetary donations despite the tour not directly soliciting funds. This allowed the entrepreneur to break even on expenses and pay some bills.
The grassroots funding model demonstrated that asking for help can lead to offered money, while directly asking for money risks less support. It provided an unexpected source of income during an uncertain time.
The improvised and flexible touring approach adapted well to the pandemic conditions and engaged online audiences who came to rely on the daily performances. It was an innovative way to continue working as a musician when traditional performances were halted.
Managing and executing on an innovation successfully requires the right team. A start-up typically needs key roles like CEO, CFO/COO, and head of product/R&D filled. For very small businesses, these roles may be filled part-time or through contractors/volunteers.
It’s important to assess your company’s needs based on your business model and growth plans when hiring. Senior leaders should have broad operational experience to oversee multiple functions.
Founders often outsource roles in the early years to keep costs low, like hiring contractors for clinical development, regulatory, and legal roles.
The best way to find talent is through your own network and referrals from trusted connections. LinkedIn, incubators, accelerators and professional associations can also be sources for candidates.
Having the right team is critical for successfully implementing plans and executing on an innovation to take it to market. It’s one thing to design plans but another to implement them successfully.
Eration strategies refer to growing and scaling a company over time through various stages (e.g. seed funding, series A/B funding rounds). Successful companies plan their funding needs and growth trajectories.
Fund-raising involves attracting investors at different stages to provide capital. Companies develop strategies to approach and pitch to investors.
Marketing strategy refers to how a company plans to promote its product or service to customers, build brand awareness, generate sales and growth. Effective marketing is crucial for startups.
Talent attraction involves using recruiting agencies and networks. Agencies can help startups find and recruit talented executives within constrained budgets through options like retainers, contingency fees, or equity compensation. Planning compensation properly is important to attract good people.
Setting an exit strategy from the start is important for founders. Examples include selling the company, merging/acquisition, keeping it running as a lifestyle business. The end goal affects strategic decisions made throughout the company’s evolution.
An exit is an opportunity for entrepreneurs to realize value from their company through options like an acquisition, IPO, or sale. Proper exit planning is important for long-term success.
Setting harvest goals years in advance provides focus and guides strategic decisions. Goals could include selling to a partner in 3 years or going public in 5-7 years.
Timing is crucial - both being patient and assessing market conditions. Exiting due to short-term fears often leads to undervaluing the company.
Common exit options are mergers/acquisitions, IPOs, management buyouts, and outright sales. Each has pros and cons around valuation, control, and risk.
Valuations involve both art and science - factors like company stage, economy, industry trends all influence price. It’s best to hire experts to assess valuation options.
With the right harvest goals and exit strategy in place early, entrepreneurs can better ensure sustainable growth and maximize value realized from their ventures. Proper planning separates one-time from serial entrepreneurs.
The passage discusses some of the unique challenges faced by women innovators and entrepreneurs, such as being underrepresented in STEM fields, holding fewer patents, receiving less funding, and having higher business failure rates.
It shares perspectives from research with women innovators and stakeholders like investors and policymakers. There is much that can be done to reduce disparities and encourage more women in innovation.
The author then shares her own experiences as a woman innovator, including presenting at an investor event attended mostly by men. She reflects on building her credentials and network while starting her biotech company.
Joining organizations like BIO and AWE helped her connect with other innovators and entrepreneurs. However, more still needs to be done to improve representation and support for women in these fields. Overall, the passage examines gender disparities in innovation and the author’s personal insights into navigating this space as a woman.
The author attended an Angel Venture Fair seminar for women entrepreneurs, where she pitched her biomedical technology company to potential investors.
She received mixed feedback from male investors of different ages, but one female investor referred her to another investor group and offered mentoring.
The author secured a spot to pitch at the Angel Venture Fair due to her credentials and technology, but also because a mentor championed her to the selection committee.
At the Fair, she pitched to 10 male investors and fielded technical questions. One investor seemed skeptical as he may have funded a competitor.
Of the 65 total investors, only 5 were women, mirroring the low percentages of women angels and VCs.
The author met with other entrepreneurs and secured interest from one investor syndicate, but they wanted more clinical data. A local VC offered a term sheet but wanted too much equity.
The experience reinforced for the author the challenges that women entrepreneurs face in breaking into investment circles dominated by men. She remained committed to advancing other women innovators.
After 5 years launching startups, the author returned to corporate work for stability but continued innovating through “intrapreneurship” and advising startups.
Today, women make up a larger portion of startup founders and investors but still receive very little VC funding - around 3% in the US and 2% in Europe.
Studies show women-led startups perform well with less funding and focus more on social missions. However, women face biases around perceptions of aggressiveness and femininity.
The author suggests women leverage social impact framing, women-focused investor networks, accelerators, mentoring programs, and involvement in STEM communities to advance opportunities.
Leaders need to hold VCs accountable for diversity metrics, provide women entrepreneurship training, and encourage more women in STEM to create a larger pool of innovation talent. Creating an inclusive culture and mindset is key to progress.

#book-summary

The Innovation Mindset Eight Essential Steps to Transform Any Industry - Lorraine Marchand