Q&A With An Executive: How To Feed An Innovation Funnel — Strategyzer

We discussed how the selection headache is actually resolved by the portfolio approach, as good ideas will emerge on the portfolio map and poorly performing teams will drop off.

At this stage of the conversation she asked me about concrete examples, so we discussed the high level actions taken by a global pharmaceutical company ($45bn+ revenues) that we work with at Strategyzer.

To feed their growth innovation portfolio, this company started with an intrapreneurship support program. Twice a year, they manage an application process where global intrapreneur teams can submit their new business ideas. Successful applicants enter a 3-month program to explore their business idea. The intrapreneurship support program is designed by the corporate innovation team to facilitate the discovery phase and includes metered funding, skills development and expert coaching.

More recently they added Strategyzer’s Spark offering as an additional way to feed their portfolio. (Spark is a virtual toolkit that guides teams through a 12-week innovation process at low cost.) And they included a bridge to the main intrapreneurship support program for successful teams.

 Teams that survive the discovery phase can then access further funding and coaching. Strategyzer supports the validation phase for those teams with our innovation sprint that helps teams drastically reduce the uncertainty of their business ideas with 10 weeks of intense testing and high impact coaching.

 After several iterations in the validation phase, a few successful teams should achieve a tested business model and be ready for acceleration. Even though this stage can seem closer to execution (a task that large organizations usually excel at) there are still critical obstacles to overcome.

Unfortunately, we had to slow down and stop our discussion at the critical point of acceleration, as we ran out of time.  What a great place to pick up our next conversation though!

 A quick recap on key ideas for feeding and managing an innovation funnel:

1.    Manage ideas with high uncertainty with a portfolio approach.

2.    Play the volume game: make lots of small investments at the beginning!

3.    Kill the vast majority of ideas, initiatives, projects on your portfolio.

4.    Use metered funding.

5.    Make portfolio decisions based on strategic fit, opportunity and evidence.

6.    Enable discovery, validation and acceleration of new business ideas.

 What are your key questions on innovation and business transformation? Let us know in the comments.

* Frederic Etiemble is an Exectutive Advisor and Associate here at Strategyzer.