Its been just over 10 days since I coached startups at VIVATECH 2017, and the positive feedback I have received in this time has been really touching.
When I was first contacted by École du Pitch and told that I had been selected to coach startups at VIVATECH 2017 I felt proud and excited.
There is nothing I love more than being in an environment buzzing with ideas, dreams, and creativity...And helping passionate people channel their ideas and prepare their pitch in order to obtain the funding/support that they require is extremely rewarding.
I have to admit that as a Coach and Activator, most of my 'working week' involves coaching top level executives and innovating with large scale corporates, so working intensely with only Startups during the event was quite refreshing.
But it just emphasised something that experience has shown me, and that is always at the heart of all the innovative sessions I design...
...that startups and corporate giants are very able, and actually should, collaborate rather than be in friction.
Both can learn a lot from each other.
Over the years i have seen many corporates undergo a major change in mindset. There has been a shift from 'lets make big money however we can' to 'lets make big money but do so while working collaboratively, and by leaving a positive impact on society'.
Ok Ok, Im simplifying here, and not all large scale corporates think the same way, but many of them do...Many of them no longer want to be seen as 'monsters', and want to face societal challenges head on.
It is this shift in mindset that motivated me to focus my attention on helping these bigger players transform from within.
Why? Well If a bigger player wants to make a positive impact on this world, well the positive impact on this world will also be bigger and thats what i want...I want a better world.
So how do I help these companies innovate?
Well once the theme of the innovation session is established (creating new offers, helping their intrapreneurs accelerate their ideas, reworking the business model, creating more agility..etc.),
I design, and later drive, their innovation session.
And here is where collaborating with startups and entrepreneurs comes in.
When I design my innovation sessions, I always incorporate startups and entrepreneurs either as inspiration, or to participate in a workshop as a fresh pair of eyes, or to teach a valuable lesson such as frugality, agility, alternative business models, platforms...etc. By doing so, corporate transformation and corporate innovation occurs much much faster.
Needless to say, the outcome of the sessions as a result of this collaboration is outstanding, and is solid proof that we should stop looking at it as Startups Vs Corporates, but should start looking at the bigger picture and think more on the lines of Startups + Corporates = Bigger Impact !
Great news for Corporates: SLACK is here to the rescue!
Great news for Corporates! Slack is here to help you change the way you work
Simplifying and streamlining work (procedure, internal communication, and decision making lines...) as much as possible is one of the factors in creating a transparent and energised business environment that fosters innovation.
SLACK is here to help you do just that with Slack Enterprise Grid, a corporate level version of Slack which includes:
"A new set of search, business intelligence and analytics tools — which are not launching today but plan to be rolled out later in the year — will give users the ability to look for files across the whole of their system, and and also suggest content and contacts to users, positioning Slack as a platform to interact across the whole knowledge base of your company." (Ingrid Lunden)