Four Insights For Rising Quicker From Harvard, MIT and Wharton Professors

To raise capital, startups need to spark investor fear of missing out (FOMO). And one thing that drives such a FOMO is a company’s ability to acquire customers and grow sales in the double or triple digits.

Start-up CEOs might be surprised to learn that big companies want investors to feel the same way. But many slow-growing large companies are getting cold shoulders for investors.

My recent interviews with professors at Harvard, MIT, and Wharton suggest that these large corporation CEOs are falling asleep due to activities your company may be doing: Using new technology, they can offer their customers a much more valuable experience at a lower cost.

Here are four pieces of advice they gave to help grow your business and my thoughts on how to apply them.

1. Form different teams.

Better solutions come from different teams. This is especially true when there is a large experience gap between the executives who lead a team and the perspective and experience of their clients.

Linda, professor at Harvard Business School Hill told me in an interview on March 11th that big companies that excel at innovation have the right culture and skills. Part of the success of agile companies like Pixar is working with people under the age of 25.

In order to form different teams, it is helpful to include people who have different perspectives and life experiences than the company leaders. Engage people with the customer’s mindset and the experience of those who will help manufacture, distribute, sell, and service the new product.

When these teams gain insight into customers’ future needs, it is vitally important to listen carefully to the questions, perspectives, and solutions that each team member offers and to incorporate their views into a product that customers find compelling, and that of the company Can design, build, and deliver and service effectively.

2. Promote timely communication between executives and innovation teams.

One of the things that slow innovation in large companies is all the levels of management that some large companies impose on new product development teams.

When such a team is competing with a startup, it is a significant disadvantage as it has to wait – sometimes months – to get executive approval before moving on to the next phase of product development.

As Nelson Repenning, the faculty director of the MIT Leadership Center, told me in an interview on March 2: “To make quick cycles, you have to be careful about how much work you take on. People who work on projects have to wait three months before they come to the boss to make decisions that will or will not go.”

He continued, “Companies should incorporate more frequent touchpoints at the beginning of the project to make these decisions faster. Companies should also have 15-minute meetings every day to coordinate what is being done each day.”

3. Innovative to solve the customer’s problem and stop selling your current products.

The success of large organizations can slow them down. That’s because they set up formal organizations to maintain the success of their original products. This provides significant financial rewards for executives and salespeople who can persuade customers to buy more of their products.

When a company’s legacy products no longer offer customers compelling bang for the buck, revenue slows. The only way to fix the growth problem is to combat the company’s natural propensity to get more sales of these legacy products.

To overcome this tendency, company executives must require their innovation teams to solve the customer’s problem and stop pushing the outdated products.

Hill examined companies that have digitally transformed their supply chains. Success depends on people receiving the new mindset and behavior that is required to use the technology.

4. Use technology to create great customer experiences.

On a March 15 podcast, I discussed how many retail managers who have been trained in merchandising have trouble imagining how technology can help their customers deliver great experiences – not just great merchandise.

Many large corporate executives have difficulty doing this Wharton Management Professor Nicolaj Siggelkow told me in an interview on March 2nd: “New technologies make it possible to improve the customer’s life and reduce the costs of it. A bank can see itself as a competitor to other banks. But technology enables Kickstarter Offer a new company [non-loan] Funding source. “

Large companies should open up to the sources of innovation. “You could look to other industries for ways to give customers a better experience – for example, when you order your sandwich from Wawa and when you near the shop your sandwich is ready. ” Siggelkov said.

If you want to give your customers a better experience than the competition, you need to adopt new technology and lead a diverse team to implement such a strategy.

Follow these four pieces of advice and your business will grow faster and give you easier access to capital.

The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.

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