Startups don’t have an “innovation” strategy, they have a “don’t die” strategy

I often have the opportunity to talk to people who work in large corporations about innovation. Recently in fact, I helped coordinate a tour / event at the Atlanta Tech Village for a group of C-level executives at a Fortune 1000 company. 

During the event, we had scheduled multiple startups to come and present to the group, after which the group would ask questions. One of the things they said they wanted to ask was, “What’s your innovation strategy?” I counseled them not to ask that question because startups don’t have an innovation strategy, they have a “don’t die” strategy.

For established companies, thinking about innovation – how to look for new revenue streams, new ways to produce their products, etc.  – is a very important area of focus because most of what they do day to day is protect what they’ve already built.

For startups, there is nothing to protect. They are trying to figure out a way to keep the business going, to make payroll, to actually build something a customer wants to buy. All of that could be described as “innovation”, and would be to established companies, but for a startup its just the status quo.

The parallel to me would be asking someone who is in the ocean, frantically trying not to be eaten by a shark as they race back to the boat, “You’re going so fast! What’s your thought process for improving your technique?” 

“Uh, I’m basically doing anything I can not to let that shark catch me because, well, then I’d die.”