Remove Advice Remove Innovation Remove IPO Remove Marketing
article thumbnail

The Best Platforms Are More than Matchmakers

Harvard Business Review

True platform innovators aren’t just market matchmakers using data-driven algorithms to drive better buyer-seller matches; they invest in new value creation. In platform markets, cultivating user capability becomes as strategically important as reducing transaction costs. What really makes them work?

IPO 8
article thumbnail

Great Businesses Don't Start With a Plan

Harvard Business Review

One of our most striking findings was that of the entrepreneurs we surveyed who had a successful exit (that is, an IPO or sale to another firm), about 70% did NOT start with a business plan. Many start-up plans emphasize some gigantic potential market and how getting just the smallest sliver of it will make them and investors rich.

Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

What BMW’s Corporate VC Offers That Regular Investors Can’t

Harvard Business Review

Gimmy’s task was clear but highly demanding: to reimagine the way BMW innovates. To fill the void and build such a new BMW startup unit, Gimmy partnered with an experienced innovation manager from BMW, Matthias Meyer. Gregor and BMW faced a crucial question: “How can the BMW Group, as a company, co-innovate with startups?”

article thumbnail

How Singapore Became an Entrepreneurial Hub

Harvard Business Review

Since I had never done venture investing before, I was trying to get advice from as many people as I could. Like Silicon Valley, Singapore has strong research institutions and limited enforcement of noncompete clauses, a condition that academics now suggest can be a major driver of innovation. “Why Singapore?