Modern-day economics tends to idolize entrepreneurs as daring dreamers who create revolutionary startups out of their small garage. Though this narrative is indeed inspiring, it tends to underestimate one key function of an entrepreneur, which is the most important one – to keep their company alive. Being a leader in any business enterprise – be it a five-person startup on the verge of bankruptcy or an innovative department in a multi-century-old company – an entrepreneur is the guardian of organizational sustainability.
In terms of its basic essence, entrepreneurship cannot be regarded as yet another professional position; instead, it should be treated as an entirely unique state of mind oriented towards the future rather than the present. Managerial positions have a very different approach – they are aimed at optimizing current processes, making everything more efficient than ever before. An entrepreneur, on the contrary, can be viewed as the early warning system in the company, always standing on the border line between the company’s functioning and market changes. Companies don’t die due to their inability to perform current duties; they die when the market doesn’t need these functions anymore.
The constant drive to adapt is the only cure for corporate inertia, which is the quiet death of successful firms in growth mode. As organizations grow in size and success, they inevitably create bureaucratic barriers to ensure protection of their core revenues, thus making conservatism their modus operandi. The entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs in such firms introduce controlled chaos to the organization in order to overcome this corporate inertia. They dare to be disruptive, move funds from sunset projects to sunrise investments, and create a culture of acceptable failures. One interesting case of such entrepreneurship would be Blockbuster versus Netflix. While the former maintained its business model with maximum efficiency up to its bankruptcy, the latter’s entrepreneurial approach led to cannibalization of its highly profitable DVD business in order to move towards streaming.
In order to make this happen in practice, the entrepreneurs need a particular set of tools in order to maneuver through the uncertainties of the scenario. The first one is called the lean pivot and refers to using minimum viable product and fast customer feedback in order to change the company’s course before the money run out. What is more important, entrepreneurs should take into account the necessity of treating their business as an investment portfolio in three different horizons. It means that they have to protect their current core business, develop the next big thing, and innovate.
Ultimately, a company’s true lifespan is entirely dependent on its level of entrepreneurial energy. Without a constant influx of innovation and a willingness to take risks, a business is simply counting down the days until its market relevance expires. Entrepreneurs do not keep companies alive by keeping them safe or hidden behind bureaucratic walls; they keep them alive by keeping them dynamic, agile, and prepared for the future. In a fast-evolving global economy, they understand that the safest place for an organization is never standing still, but always moving forward.
At the end of the day, the actual age of any company depends entirely on how much entrepreneurial energy it has. The absence of innovation and entrepreneurship means that an enterprise is merely waiting to be irrelevant in the marketplace. It is not possible for entrepreneurs to prolong the life span of an enterprise through mere protection or safety. Instead, they do so through dynamism and readiness for what is to come. In a constantly evolving international arena, entrepreneurs know that the best way to stay safe is to keep going ahead.
