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How to Compete Like the World’s Most Innovative Leaders

Skip Prichard

It’s a fascinating study, one that echoes my constant inquiry of the difference between success and failure. You are teaching what separates successful innovators from those who struggle. If Tesla’s ideas ultimately had more impact, then why was Edison so much more successful? Lessons from Tesla versus Edison.

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A Quiet Revolution in Clean-Energy Finance

Harvard Business Review

Even if most of their investments fail, a few spectacular successes can "make the fund" for a VC. If the IPO window remains open in spite of Solyndra's public failings, we anticipate that a broader set of clean energy startups will achieve successful exits.

Energy 11
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When a Product Fails, Find a New Direction

Harvard Business Review

Cephalon's IPO was in 1991, part of the second wave of biotechnology companies to sell shares to the public. Realizing that a rejection from the FDA was possible, Baldino sharply scaled back the Mytrophin program, containing the risk but maintaining an option on the possibility of success. By 2010, sales exceeded $2B.

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Searching for Health Care's Entrepreneurial Spirit

Harvard Business Review

And biotechnology and medical devices are among the leading areas for venture capital funding. Very few things in the economy are the same today as they were a half century ago, and most of those are still the same are not considered successes. Fortunes have been made from implants, surgical instruments, and artificial products.

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Should Big Companies Give Up on Innovation?

Harvard Business Review

Start-up companies tend to cluster in industries favored by venture capitalists (like biotechnology or information technology) or ones where there are relatively low barriers to entry (like restaurants). In 2010, Embrace entered into a partnership with General Electric to help scale the technology around the globe.