INSPIRED, 2nd Edition

CHAPTER 5Enterprise Companies: Consistent Product Innovation

For those companies that succeed in scaling and that want to create a lasting business, some of the toughest challenges still lie ahead.

Strong tech‐product companies know they need to ensure consistent product innovation. This means constantly creating new value for their customers and for their business. Not just tweaking and optimizing existing products (referred to as value capture) but, rather, developing each product to reach its full potential.

Yet, many large, enterprise companies have already embarked on a slow death spiral. They become all about leveraging the value and the brand that was created many years or even decades earlier. The death of an enterprise company rarely happens overnight, and a large company can stay afloat for many years. But, make no mistake about it, the organization is sinking, and the end state is all but certain.

Strong tech‐product companies know they need to ensure consistent product innovation.

It's not intentional, of course, but once companies reach this size—often becoming a publicly traded company—there are a tremendous number of stakeholders throughout the business working hard to protect what the company has created. Unfortunately, this often means shutting down new initiatives or ventures that could re‐create the business (but potentially put the core business at risk), or putting up so many obstacles to new ideas that few people are willing or able to drive the company ...