Episode 253: Spinouts and Encouraging Innovation from Within with Dr. Andre Le Plume, Professor at Ted Rogers School of Management, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

Disruptive CEO Nation

In today's environment, innovation is recognized as a critical business practice, but do companies encourage innovation to the fullest? Do business leaders feel secure in allowing ideas to grow and potentially sprout into a completely new organization?

In this episode, Dr. Andre LePlume shares insights from his extensive research on spinout ventures explaining how companies can benefit from encouraging employees to form internal corporate ventures and pursue innovative ideas. Based on his book, Spinout-Ventures-Transitioning-Employees-Entrepreneurs, he also expresses his view that the best new companies aren't founded in garages, but rather come from a place of keen knowledge and understanding of the needs in a market.

Episode Highlights:

- Defining Spinout Ventures: Spinouts are created using knowledge and resources transferred from a parent organization. They can ultimately benefit the company even if the spinout founder creates a new company as it may offer needed services.

- Encouraging Innovation: Andre points out the need for businesses to create an innovative culture, allowing employees the freedom to explore and develop new ideas internally and externally.

- Success in Spinouts - These founders typically have greater experience, are more knowledgeable, and have positive support systems compared to other founders.

- Case Study - Zoom: Zoom emerged as a successful spinout from Cisco, highlighting the potential of spinouts to revolutionize industries.

- Navigating Legal Challenges: He notes the evolving legal landscape around non-competes and intellectual property, and how businesses can manage these issues to encourage spinouts.

- Recommended Reading: "The Innovator's Dilemma" by Clayton Christensen; "Crossing the Chasm" by Geoffrey Moore; and "Zero to One" by Peter Thiel.

Dr. Andre Laplume is a co-author of Spinout-Ventures-Transitioning-Employees-Entrepreneurs. Andre is a Full Professor in Entrepreneurship and Strategy at the Ted Rogers School of Management, which is part of Toronto Metropolitan University. Laplume researches the intersections where new entrants and incumbent firms meet to break down the barriers facing entrepreneurs while helping managers deal with entrepreneurial ambitions in their organizations.

His research has appeared in top journals like Human Relations, Journal of International Business Studies, and Journal of Business Research, among others. He received his PhD in Management from the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, and spent seven years at Michigan Tech, teaching in its MBA program. Earlier, Laplume was a business and information technology consultant, helping clients integrate businesses and automate units. He is a frequent judge at entrepreneurship pitch competitions and an experienced entrepreneur, having launched a startup while in Michigan.

Connect with Andre:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andre-laplume-90639433/

Book: Spinout Ventures: Transitioning Employees Entrepreneurs can be found on Amazon

Connect with Allison:

Feedspot has named Disruptive CEO Nation as one of the Top 25 CEO Podcasts on the web and it is ranked the number 10 CEO podcast to listen to in 2024! https://podcasts.feedspot.com/ceo_podcasts/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allisonsummerschicago/

Website: https://www.disruptiveceonation.com/

Twitter: @DisruptiveCEO

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