Your company is successful. You dominate your space. However, is something (or someone) gaining on you?
Startups are fundamentally changing the basis of competition. Unburdened by overhead, legacy products and customers, unimpeded by committees and focus groups, they can launch new products and services before you have finished preparing a business case.
Your biggest challenge may then be keeping up with the unstoppable tech startups that are fueled by liberal venture capital. They can identify and capture new opportunities faster, much before you can adapt and integrate technology.
How do you stay competitive in this fast changing environment where technology-powered startups are dominating market growth?
Traditionally, you had two ways to stay relevant: internal development and M&A.
Internal development can leverage your strengths but struggles to overcome Process, Governance, and IRR hurdles. It is hard to persuade your best people to commit to high-risk projects. Moreover, it can be harder still to get buy-in for initiatives that could cannibalize your existing, profitable products.
Startups can operate in garages, pay engineers in dreams and ramen, and move at software speeds. An acquisition can bring you their innovations and innovators, but limited due diligence cannot separate winners from spinners. By the time the market announces a winner, sky-high valuations often make accretive deals impossible.