The Lean Enterprise: How Corporations Can Innovate Like Startups [Kindle Edition]

Trevor Owens

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(Author), Obie Fernandez

Obie Fernandez (Author)

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Book Description

The first and most comprehensive book on bringing the startup mindset into large organizations. Forget vague notions of creating an "innovative culture." This book reveals the methodologies, tools, and incentive structures guiding the world's largest organizations to reclaim their innovation prowess.

Even in a tough economic climate, small startups have found ways to create innovative products in shockingly short timeframes. So why should larger, more established companies take notice? Because they have everything to gain when they examine and adopt the process, strategies, and mentality of high-growth startups. The guidelines in this book will help companies shake the lethargy, bureaucracy, and power struggles that plague large organizations.

At the heart of this comprehensive resource is a practical approach to innovation based on specific timetables, compensation structures, and financial investments. Respected thought leaders in lean startup methodologies, the authors cover successful enterprise development, development innovation labs, corporate venture arms, and acquisition and integration of startups.

• Essential reading for product managers, directors, senior executives, and even board members of Fortune 2000 companies
• Presents the tools and methodologies large businesses need to compete with a new generation of highly-empowered startups
• Covers startup culture while identifying the forces that are stunting growth in large enterprises
• Offers a comprehensive, practical approach for developing exciting products and opening vast new markets

Don't be mystified by the success of startups. Master the methods of this new generation and compete on a level playing field.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Presents a framework for companies to create an environment that empowers the greatest entrepreneurial talent to thrive inside the organization, retaining the greatest innovative minds and reaping the benefits of their greatest inventions."
Brad Smith, Intuit President & CEO

"Corporations who miss this book have their days numbered."
Dave McClure, Founding Partner at 500 Startups

"Provides savvy insights on the organizational structures, systems, and processes that will maximize success odds with corporate entrepreneurship."
Professor Thomas Eisenmann, Harvard Business School

From the Inside Flap

Opportunities and new markets appear unpredictably, and reacting to them quickly and aggressively is more important than ever for large enterprises. The monolithic nature of the enterprise, however, is quite often directly at odds with the notions of innovation and the lean methodology. For the leaders of such enterprises, a complete rethinking of strategy is in order.

Enter The Lean Enterprise, which provides enterprise leaders a detailed examination of the motivations that drive innovative individuals and the support structures they need to deliver breakthrough products and services within an enterprise context. More notably, the book points out examples of the many failures of corporate leadership to empower the very innovators within their walls. Spectacularly successful startups, such as Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram were founded after corporate employees became fed up with the stifling nature of corporate bureaucracy and decided it was easier, and more profitable, to venture out on their own.

Authors and Lean Startup experts Trevor Owens and Obie Fernandez will take you through methods, time tables, compensation, and financial investment related to successful enterprise innovation. They discuss the limitations of traditional innovation structures including skunk works, innovation labs, and intrepreneurship programs while introducing their own solution--the innovation colony. These concepts are illustrated further through a series of case studies and interviews that indicate real-world examples within large enterprises.

With the largest organizations in the world taking note of the obvious advantages of the lean approach, it is only a matter of time before enterprises level the innovation playing field. The Lean Enterprise: How Corporations Can Innovate Like Startups shows you how to unlock the hidden potential within your organization, today.

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Product Details

• File Size: 521 KB
• Print Length: 253 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (March 13, 2014)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B00J0VZS16
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray:
  Not Enabled
• Word Wise: Not Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #82,305 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  • #18 in Books > Business & Money > Management & Leadership > Quality Control & Management > Lean
  • #33 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Business & Money > Technology > Innovation
  • #45 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Business & Money > Entrepreneurship & Small Business > Entrepreneurship > Startups

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Value can be created anywhere. April 12, 2014

By Daniel James

Format:Kindle Edition

The lean movement is new, but value creation is as essential to the human experience as consuming or learning. We all do it. Our businesses do it.

However, somewhere along the line, as firms scale, they tend to lose their mojo. The markets shift. Their teams get too big. They stop rewarding failure. And their pace of innovation grinds to a halt.

These organizations need a hand. A book. A handbook. This handbook.

Why? Because it is thoroughly prescriptive.

Skunkworks, intrapreneurship, innovation labs and innovation colonies breed innovation. Innovation requires funding. Funding is contingent upon metrics. Metrics are tied to accounting. This process begets success, but then what?

How should compensation work? Answered in this book.

Where does vision fit in? Answered in this book.

What is the Lean Enterprise process? Answered in this book.

Most importantly, multiple paths to innovation are explored: incubation, acquisition, investment, etc. Options for new value creation abound.

If you have been around innovation, or even if this is your first foray into the topic, this book is well worth the investment.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A non-intimidating introduction to innovation in enterprises April 15, 2014

By Luis Colon

Format:Hardcover

I liked how the perspective appeals to stakeholders in traditional businesses. The book intends to provide a structured approach, and the testimonials are solid. Of particular value were the discussions on compensation, corporate structure, and attracting the right hires that have that spirit of innovation instilled intrinsically in what they do.

A good comparison can be made from this book (by Trevor Owens) vs Lean Enterprise by Jez Humble. In this book, a traditional manager may find a bridge between their current state and a more lean startup-friendly state. In Humble's book, the approach feels like starting from business startup and scaling it to work in enterprises. The two books nicely compliment each other.

If I can see any shortcoming, is that the book is ambitious in its coverage. For example, it does a decent job of summarizing innovation and metrics. Of course, this is but a starting point on this important part of lean startup. The next jumping-to point would probably be Lean Analytics by Croll.

Still, I think this is a valuable read, specially for the traditional executive or middle manager that wants a gentle, less intimidating introduction to lean startup than the seminal Ries' book.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Must read for Chief Innovation Officers June 18, 2014

By Tristan L. Kromer

Format:Hardcover|Verified Purchase

The most comprehensive work on the subject of applying Lean Startup methodology to large corporations to date. It covers a range of practical tactics for lean teams to investment approaches while keeping a consistent overall narrative.

This is not a typical coma inducing business books. It keeps you engaged to the last sentence. It's one of the most enjoyable business books I've read.

In addition to providing a great overview of different approaches, it's packed with the best interviews on the subject so far. The authors don't skimp and include interviews people who disagree with parts of their main innovation colony thesis.

It stays at a fairly high level, best suited to Innovation Officers and C-level execs. If you're a PM, team member, or accelerator manager looking for something about dealing with culture change and how to lead lean teams, you'll have to go back to Jeffrey Liker's The Toyota Way to Lean Leadership.

Overall, Lean Enterprise is a book that all large companies should steal liberally from when considering their strategy for innovation.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Bring Lean Startup Principles to Your Company August 10, 2014

By Jeremey Donovan

Format:Hardcover|Verified Purchase

The Lean Enterprise answers the question, "How can I drive corporate innovation by instilling the lean startup ethos in my organization?" The book answers this question incredibly well by advising executives to set up an innovation colony with the following conditions:
1. physical, financial, & organizational autonomy
2. equity incentives for employees as a trade-off for lower base compensation and the high risk of job loss
3. Access to a large pool of potential projects

At first, I really struggled with the authors' premise on two levels. First, I did not feel that companies would agree to the autonomy conditions. Second, I did not feel that many "regular" employees would agree to the high-risk, high-reward trade-off. However, it eventually dawned on me that the book is geared toward companies that do not want to lose the tiny but extremely valuable set of employees who would otherwise leave to start their own companies. If that keeps you up at night, this book is for you.

I appreciated the case studies sprinkled throughout the book. As far as I could tell, none of the companies individually featured applied ALL of the authors' lessons. However, collectively they did and I think it is reasonable that the authors put a stake in the ground for what the ideal innovation colony looks like.

Beyond that, you get a good survey of:
a. lean startup principles: disruptive ideas, small cross-functional teams, customer development, minimum viable product, rapid experimentation, pivot or persevere decision making based premeditated success criteria, etc.
b. entrepreneurial financing and venture-capital accounting
c. innovation accounting (i.e. focus on metrics that matter)

The book also does a good job of exploring different corporate innovation strategies including: incubating internally; acquiring early; and investing.

Finally, the book does a good job of giving credit to Eric Ries for the principles he popularized in his 2011 book. However, I would have like to have seen credit given to Steve Blank and Bob Dorf who kicked the whole thing off in 2005 with their exceptionally valuable but admittedly textbook like "4 Steps to the Epiphany." Read more ›