From Incremental To Exponential: How Large Companies Can See the Future and Rethink Innovation

by Vivek Wadhwa, Alex Salkever, Ismail Amla

Not only can big companies be just as nimble as start-ups, they can out-innovate their challengers by combining a start-up mind-set with the powerful advantages that legacy companies have.

Over and over, we see big legacy businesses getting beaten to the punch by energetic little start-ups. It seems like innovation can come from only the bottom up or from outside in. But tech experts Vivek Wadwha, Ismail Amla, and Alex Salkever are here to tell you that "big equals slow and stodgy" is a myth. Based on decades of experience working with the world's leading brands and start-ups, they explore the opportunity legacy companies have to create new markets, supercharge growth, and remake their businesses by combining the scrappy mind-set and tool belt of hypergrowth start-ups with the massive benefits of incumbency: boatloads of customer data, decades of brand equity, robust distribution channels, enormous financial asserts, and more. Equally important, they provide a playbook on how to use their insights in your own company, team, or career. This is a fast-paced, anecdote-rich story that rethinks modern innovation--a book every manager, executive, and ambitious employee will want to read.

Genres: Business, Technology, Nonfiction

282 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 18, 2020

Reviews

[Deepak · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not much into business and technology innovation; however, this book is a must-read. It has critically explored a fresh perspective on how an organization can be innovative while tackling internal cultural status-quo, advancing technologies (both product and service), business competitiveness and unforeseen circumstances (e.g., COVID-19 pandemic). It is fascinating to read curated examples and evidence emphasizing why the cultural shift is the core of the world’s top business corporation in their success and failure. It discusses several ways to build an innovative culture by making everyone an innovator in the organizations. Ideas that are not confined to the sole department or hierarchies, not even limited only to product-making profitable organizations, but ideas useful to non-profits contemplating ways to make their entire organization or projects innovative.

[Sachetan Bhat · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book describes stories, anecdotes about why some companies are successful whereas some companies fail miserably. The book offers many examples, most of them are familiar stories, mostly celebrated by each one of us who are tracking business landscape of tech companies. Like numerous books on the same topic, this book also provides insight derived in hindsight.
If you havent read anything on business transformation or starting fresh then its a decent to book to start with. Otherwise there isnt much to talk about other than success stories of Amazon, FB, Walmart etc and failure of companies like Kodak .

[Arun Narayanaswamy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great storyline. Fabulous examples on various companies

[Michael Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very engaging read with an ‘all you can eat’ platter of Silicon Valley case studies to understand the importance of being strategically fit for growth in modern business world.

[Finn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Useful business and innovation learnings

[Melodie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some good and interesting business case studies.