At a recent technology networking event a truly serial innovative entrepreneur spoke about the things that have made him successful in business. To date he has started over 80 companies; that is about 4 a year. Less than a handful of these businesses have failed.

Keys to Success:

Requirements :

Companies are more likely to be successful if they have requirements from clients – and you can get these through relationships that you or a partner has.

Part of the requirements discussion also involved being able to change the game and existing models through looking at the core requirements. Building solutions to meet real needs rather then trying to make existing solutions fit the requirements.

Relationships :

In today’s environment you need to take risks – however risk can be reduced and even removed with strategic partnerships (and first mover advantage). For start-ups, the bigger the company a start-up tries to get into the harder it is to get in. Connections and strategic partners help start-ups get to market.

Partnering is advantageous to both start-ups and larger companies since both get what they’re looking for. Start-ups get requirements and ideally a customer base while larger companies get their requirements filled and innovations brought in without the financial and time to market risks had they tried to achieve it themselves.

Within Canada two of the ways non-profit organizations are working to help start-ups are through relationships and partnerships. Rather then one company approaching a number of larger companies the non-profit goes to the larger company and brings forward a portfolio of start-ups they are working with. Examples of this include Invest Ottawa, Wavefront, and Mars just to name a few.

Related articles

• Innovation in Government (spring2innovation.com)