How Can Enterprises Think and Execute Like a Startup?

Why do businesses always need to have “Startup spirit”? Tech startups are disruptive because they are promoted by the ambition to tackle an unsolved problem in a unique way and create new value. In contrast, most large and “mature” companies are motivated by the ambition to beat the competition and their defense school. Therefore, when businesses have “Startup spirit”, they will have “Startup mindset”, have a new perspective and form creative ideas. And only in that way – changing and creating,  businesses can maintain their competitiveness firmly and don’t become obsolete compared to the increasing demands of the market.

So how can enterprises think and execute like a startup?

Overcoming the ‘Enterprise Mindset’

‘Enterprise Mindset’ is a collection of beliefs, thought processes, and worldview that drives entrepreneurs to run their businesses. However, this thinking style will often encounter some limits in the search for ideas and creative thinking ability because it is limited to one person’s knowledge.

Currently in Vietnam, it is difficult to find large corporations and companies that actively set up investment funds or incubators, etc. It’s easy to see why innovation doesn’t come naturally to enterprises. As certain processes prove to be reliable, large corporate machines tend to stick to these known commodities, and they’re more deeply entrenched as companies become more risk-averse over time. Even large organizations traditionally seen as innovation engines have to come face-to-face with this trajectory at some point. One reason why Thomas Cook – the world’s first travel agency went bankrupt was its slow change in business strategy and inability to adapt to the development of the Internet. In the digital age, customers are gradually turning to online transactions to serve their trips, but he invested in about 560 stores located on main roads with expensive costs. During the period of the digital transformation in the travel service business, Thomas Cook did not quickly adapt to the changes of the market and technology, leading to the collapse of the forefather of the world travel industry. As the world becomes more and more open, the closed model becomes less and less viable. Therefore, the application of technology in business activities of enterprises in the 4.0 era is an extremely urgent issue, but it also poses a thorny problem that requires businesses to have courage to change, break out of their own comfort zone to continue to exist and develop.

Investing in Innovation

To learn about the ways businesses create innovation, look at startups and how they identify, experiment around, build strong teams and compete with the titans in an industry. Here are some innovative methods to create that are commonly applied today:

Create a separate team responsible for innovation

Many organizations opt to create a separate experimentation unit. This team reports to the CEO. They get adequate management, priority, focus, and investments, but it’s chartered to look at business differently. That might mean experimenting with new modules, exploring new ways of accessing or servicing customers, or seeing a new platform through ideation, pilot, and launch stages to bring in new business. By keeping these efforts isolated from the larger company, you can avoid internal resistance and operate outside the confines of normal processes while still finding resources to fund the experimentation.

Create a separate company outside the parent organization

Sometimes innovation in business models demands a more dramatic approach, and creating a completely separate entity outside the parent company provides the funding model, flexibility, independence necessary for an initiative to thrive. This entity will have its own culture, startup-friendly culture, processes and policies – essential for the development of the initiative. This approach always has the possibility of failure, but if it succeeds, it will succeed faster because it’s an empowered unit outside the bureaucratic and risk-averse tendencies of the parent company.

Create an internal incubator

Businesses build their own incubators to invest in and support new ideas, technologies and products. This is a great way to bring together ideas from different parts of the business. This organization has the goal of creating an “incubator”, an environment that nourishes new ideas with the best potential for development of key employees in the business. With some investment, the ideas with scalability could one day blossom into startups that help the organization form new ideas for a new product. This product is a solution for the difficulties which many businesses confront in the period of the rapid development of technology and the changes of the market requirements.

Searching for information on a new open innovation platform

In an era of rapid change like today, it is no longer suitable for innovative enterprises to depend solely on their own resources for development. They not only need to promote the power of content but also seek support from outside resources. Open innovation and one of its forms – open innovation platform is a highly effective solution, which helps enterprises to solve difficulties. Platform is a pattern that has become more popular recently. Through an open innovation platform, Innovation Seekers are connected with Innovation Providers and receive suitable solutions. For instance, if businesses want to digitize the cost management process, save maximum costs relating to human and paper costs, they will be consulted and connected to some suitable apps.

In a fiercely competitive market and the rapid development of technology, innovation is the only way for modern businesses to achieve success. The best way to apply innovation is to consider the practice of startups. There are different methods to create a motivation to innovate businesses, but one of the options above can be the best way to start