Venture capitalists’ unique approach to investment and innovation has played a pivotal role in launching one-fifth of the largest U.S. public companies. And three-quarters of the largest U.S. companies founded in the past 50 years would not have existed or achieved their current scale without VC support.
The question is, Why? What makes venture firms so good at finding start-ups that go on to achieve tremendous success? What skills do they have that experienced, networked, and powerful large corporations lack?
The authors’ research reveals that the venture mindset is characterized by several principles: the individual over the group, disagreement over consensus, exceptions over dogma, and agility over bureaucracy. This article offers guidance to traditional firms in using the VC mindset to spur innovation.