Corporate America has given the world the corporate ladder, corporate culture, the corporate tie, and even Mad Men.
However, enormous organizations don’t often give us the innovative, disruptive products we crave as consumers – or the creative, supportive environment we look for as employees. For entrepreneurs, Corporate America is especially lacking in the sense of urgency and passion that allows new products and concepts to seemingly fly into the marketplace.
Groupon, Sortify and Zynga didn’t come from the deep pocket labs of Microsoft. They didn’t incubate in the “imaginariums” at a General Motors or General Electric. And they weren’t created in the “innovation chambers” at long-established, now-suffering mega-corporations that have become cartoon facsimiles of the original Google campus. Some suggest that Google is now too big to innovate. Now 23,000 employees small, they continue to roll out new products such as the Android mobile operating system. However, some journalists have questioned whether the company’s creative juices have slowed. At the same time, former employees complain of a crippling bureaucratic mentality that has taken hold at the search engine giant.
Of course there are exceptions, or at least one: With it’s 49,000 employees and $50 Billion in revenue, Apple is still considered a “start-up” by many – despite bursting on the scene in the 1980’s. Initially engaged in a heated battle with Microsoft for the hearts and minds of computer user, Apple turned its creative efforts to new consumer products – and became a market leader in several segments. Today, Apple continues to developing world class products that create and define new markets.
For every Apple (and perhaps Ford Motor Company, which is leaving competitors in the dust through genuine innovation) there are thousands of corporations so bureaucratic that – despite recruiting tremendous talent – fail to create.
It is these stifling, slow-moving companies that become inspiration – and a fertile training ground – for emerging entrepreneurs:
Marc Benioff – Salesforce.com
Prior to founding Salesforce.com in his San Francisco apartment, Benioff was an assembly language programmer at Apple Computer and then at Oracle Corporation for 13 years in a variety of executive positions in sales, marketing, and product development. Salesforce.com now boasts over $1 Billion dollars in sales.
Reid Hoffman – LinkedIn
With degrees from Stanford and Oxford, Hoffman was initially interested in a career in academia, but decided to pursue a career in business instead. After working at Apple Computer and Fujitsu in product management, Hoffman co-founded online dating service SocialNet.com before creating LinkedIn – which now boasts 80 million members in over 200 countries.
Jeff Bezos – Amazon.com
After graduating from Princeton in 1986, Bezos worked on Wall Street in the computer science field. He worked his way up to a vice-president position at Bankers Trust. Later, he also worked in computer science for D. E. Shaw & Co. before founding Amazon.com, reportedly setting up the company in his garage.
So thank you, Corporate America, for being the inspiration and catalyst for thousands of people to break free of the Borg collective, follow their passions, and give rise to countless innovative companies outside corporate bureaucracy.
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