Given the benefits breakthrough innovations give to society and the profit they can generate for their creators, one would think that many companies would pursue them exclusively, but the truth is that commercializing innovations is difficult. Of 2.1 million patents that were active in 2014, 95% were not licensed or commercialized (Forbes, The Real Patent Crisis Is Stifling Innovation, Daniel Fisher, 2014).
So, what are the challenges holding innovators back, and how can companies create breakthrough technologies that achieve their societal and market potential?
That’s the question Dr. John Scott, co-founder of enterprise growth engine Innventure LLC, asked himself nearly 30 years ago. Major corporations invest billions in groundbreaking products, yet unexpected shifts sometimes disrupt their alignment with corporate strategies, preventing these innovations from reaching the market.
Dr. Scott envisioned a solution: a company that could connect these technologies with entrepreneurs by fostering collaborative ventures with multinational corporations (MNCs). He enlisted the help of Bill Haskell, now the Managing Partner and CEO of Innventure, whose research laid the foundation for the business model Innventure continues to apply.
“MNCs have the market data, the technology, and the reputation to create innovations that may form the foundation of successful companies,” Haskell says. “Meanwhile, Innventure has the speed and flexibility needed to create companies that harness the full potential of these innovations and technology solutions since we are not concurrently responsible for other ongoing operations like MNCs are.”
The Innventure model is a compelling variation on the classic venture capital model, designed to found, fund, operate, and rapidly scale successful, sustainable businesses centered around technologies that can solve a strategic need for the multinational partner and other companies. Their success relies largely on understanding and solving five key challenges that keep breakthrough technologies from being commercialized.
1. Define and identify “game-changing”
In the world of technology, there are incremental innovations and then there are breakthroughs. Unfortunately, they are often confused with one another.
Incremental innovations are the small, iterative changes that improve an existing technology over time — think the latest iPhone or a new model of the Porsche 911. Then there are breakthrough innovations — the technologies that change the way the world works.
The first iPhone, the first personal computer, the first airplane, and the first lightbulb are all breakthrough innovations. Innventure looks for these game-changing innovations to commercialize, using a business model designed to support breakthrough technology.
2. Avoid the founder’s deadly embrace
An observation learned early on by Dr. Scott was how a founder’s deep dedication to their creation can sometimes hinder adaptation and market alignment. A solution was needed to avoid the challenges associated with founders' strong attachment to their products.
To counter this, Innventure’s managing partners have over the years developed an extensive, systematic, and repeatable diligence process that evaluates technologies against unmet market needs, tests the solution in the market with prospective customers, and creates a business model that is designed for new Innventure companies to thrive.
“Very few opportunities survive this assessment,” Haskell shares.
3. Apply adaptive strategic positioning
When introducing a disruptive, game-changing solution into the market, it’s impossible to know in advance exactly how the market will react. By their very definition, disruptive solutions alter the market because they change the way the market does things to create new value. Knowing this, Innventure uses a methodology called Adaptive Strategic Positioning.
In many cases, a new product or solution may need to be modified to adapt to the changing market conditions, methods, and potential value realization. The Innventure team looks for market signals to adjust the solution to accommodate what the market believes and tells them what will create new value and has become adept at recognizing and implementing the new value-creating market demands quickly and efficiently.
4. Hire hunters and farmers
Decades ago, Haskell stumbled upon Thom Hartmann’s intriguing book “Attention Deficit Disorder – A Different Perception,” subtitled “A Hunter in a Farmer's World.” The book's main idea is that people exhibit a range of genetic predispositions.
On one end, there are those from agrarian backgrounds with strong “farmer” traits, known for their patience and nurturing abilities. They excel in processes and systems, often gravitating toward fields that value these skills. On the other end, some individuals possess strong “hunter” genes, allowing them to focus intensely on their goals and tolerate risks. They often find their calling in sales and entrepreneurship.
Innventure employs its own entrepreneurs (CXOs) for this reason since they possess the ideal characteristics for leading in the formative years of a new company launch.
“There are rare instances in history where entrepreneurs lead organizations from startups to multi-billion-dollar enterprises, but most entrepreneurs eventually get fired by their investors somewhere along the way,” Haskell points out. “Innventure fires its CXOs at the appropriate time and recycles the individuals back into new companies where their skills are put to their best use. It’s yet another component of our model that has evolved from lessons learned over the years.”
Striking a balance between hunters and farmers is crucial, as an overabundance of processes can hinder company growth and, conversely, lacking the right processes and systems at the right time can impede scaling.
5. Partner well
From its earliest beginnings, Innventure’s founders wanted to create companies that would transform markets. One of the first lessons learned was the power of market data. Innventure, recognizing its limitations, decided to work with MNCs for this reason.
“MNCs have a myriad of marketeers along with the marketing forces of their channel partners out there interacting with customers every day,” Haskell says. “Hearing from them about what they need and what they want that they don't have. We learn quantitatively, in real dollars, what the market wants and at what price.”
When the MNC finds an unmet market need for a breakthrough technology that doesn’t align with its corporate strategy, it can share that need with Innventure — along with valuable market knowledge. Innventure then bets on its own team to bring that technology to life for the MNC and to the broader market so that everyone benefits from the great minds of the scientists and innovators behind those breakthrough technologies.
