When we think of the great innovators of our age, we quite probably think of entrepreneurs who built startups that fundamentally challenged our norms and bucked what we believe was possible.  It’s a narrative whereby the erstwhile entrepreneur had their eureka moment, developed their solution, and then brought it to market at scale.

It’s a narrative that Kaihan Krippendorff believes needs to change.  In Driving Innovation From Within, he argues that most of the most transformational ideas of the last 30 years, from the MRI scanner to the ATM machine, the search engine to the genetic modification of plants, were actually conceived in-house.  Indeed, of the top 30 inventions from that period, just 8 were conceived by lone entrepreneurs; only 7 were then developed by that entrepreneur, rather than a larger organization; and just two were commercialized by the startup.

Innovating from within

Krippendorff argues that this is largely because of the various immutable advantages larger organizations have when it comes to conceiving, developing and scaling new ideas.

“Among the many advantages of innovation from within a company is the reciprocal relationship to scale,” he says.  “Being an innovator working from within an established organization can enable you to scale more quickly.  And growing in scale makes more innovation possible.”

This is possible for four main reasons:

1. They have scale that entrepreneurs cannot easily match
2. They have access to multiple capabilities under one roof, including technology, expertise and finance
3. They can take advantage of slack resources within the company to invest
4. They can diversify risk

Numerous studies exploring the challenges of scaling up a startup have touched upon these various issues, whether it’s the difficulty in finding the human capital you need to grow the business, or the difficulties in tapping into new markets.  All of these challenges are potentially overcome in a large business that has a wealth of talent to call upon, and often has a presence in overseas markets that can lend access points and expertise to any global expansion.

Of course, innovating internally is by no means easy, and Krippendorff devotes considerable time and attention to exploring the many challenges that exist for intrapreneurs, from slow decision making, a risk-averse corporate culture, and a lack of an entrepreneurial mindset.

These are all very real challenges, but he provides robust defenses for each of them.  At a time when more and more organizations are striving to be innovative, and indeed mechanisms from the agile movement to a more adaptive deployment of talent internally are helping to provide a more supportive environment for innovation, the book is a nice guide on how firms can unleash the entrepreneurial talent they have.