Featured Publication
The Market Creator’s Dilemma
Authors: Erik Simanis, Cornell; Jeroen Bergman, Oxford et. al.
When creating new markets, innovators unavoidably land on product ideas that harbor a “market barrier”
A market barrier is a problem like none other. It corrupts the very DNA of a venture—what we call the “core business architecture.”
When the core business architecture is corrupted, business models built from it will be saddled with high-cost structures that exceed the value that can be generated for customers. The venture, in other words, is doomed to fail from the very start.
Read about the dilemma posed by market creation & the unique innovation challenge of market barriers.
Featured Publication
Engineering New Market Ventures for Profitability
Authors: Erik Simanis, Cornell; Jeroen Bergman, Oxford et. al.
Applying systems engineering to venture creation: how to innovate new, breakthrough systems
New market ventures are thought to be high-risk and high cost by their very nature. The readily accepted explanation is that standing-up ventures that profitably solve previously unsolved problems poses enormous uncertainty and complexity.
But their high failure rates and high costs aren’t caused by the complexity and uncertainty of this innovation challenge. They result from the innovation methods used today to tackle it.
Read about the science behind systems engineering & how it can be used to reliably innovate new, breakthrough business systems.
FEATURED RESEARCH NOTE
The Big Misconception: Why corporations and self-funded entrepreneurs shouldn’t use Lean Startup
Authors: Erik Simanis, Cornell; Erika Palmer, Cornell et. al.
Solving first for product-market fit by demonstrating sustained growth is first-and-foremost an investment strategy
Venture capital funds flourish despite high cash outlays, high failure rates, and large, persistent losses because they sell the companies they invest in based on a multiple of their revenues.
But corporations shouldn’t follow this investment strategy—they don’t have the upfront cash to place a lot of bets, nor the ability to convert large, ongoing losses into positive returns via a revenue multiple.
Read about how excelling at product-market fit can undermine a venture’s chance of ever becoming a profitable business.
Additional publications
Related publications by MCL organizers
Profits at the Bottom of the Pyramid
Simanis E, and Duke, D (2014). Harvard Business Review, Oct 2014
Simanis, E (2011). Next Generation Business Strategies for the Base of the Pyramid (Chapter 4)
Innovation From the Inside Out
Simanis, E and Hart, S (2009). MIT Sloan Management Review, Summer 2009