An invited talk at the Nieman Center at Harvard, for the Maynard Foundation fellows, on entrepreneurship and management. Three case studies on intrapreneurship.

1. Entrepreneurship and Management Andrew J. Rosenthal 17 March 2011

2. Overview 2 Three caselets: entrepreneurship and innovation within major organizations Lessons learned and common trends The HBS approach to entrepreneurship Entrepreneurship and management Facilitation: team, environment, advisors Learning from mistakes; dealing with failure Opportunities and challenges in journalism

3. My background 3

4. The business side of journalism 4

5. Three stories of intra-preneurship 5

6. Ex. 1: Non-profit local alumni club 6 October, 2006 The lens matters: Better than average (compared to peers) Struggling, and massive opportunity (in context) Status quo was acceptable and expected

7. Penn Club – 24 month plan 0-6 months: Strong events Frequent scheduling Consistent quality Broad documentation 6-12 months: Strong purpose Board development Defined and communicated mission Addressed expanded stakeholders 12-24 months Sustainable financing Analysis of effort Leadership pipeline 7

8. Penn Club – Best of the Best (1/2010) 8 The opportunity to meet fellow Penn graduates in the area that you may not otherwise meet, as well as the opportunity to experience new places and events that you might not have otherwise known about or thought to attend. Opportunities to socialize with local alumni, intellectual stimulation with professor lectures and the chance for a trip down memory lane!” -Sheryl, Nursing ‘86 “Investment in the Club expands your horizons in so many ways.” -HarveHnautiuk, EE ‘74

9. Lessons Learned Understand motivation and context of each volunteer Understand your champions’ metrics, and execute Embrace low expectations to phase-in risk/reward In major organization, arrange early feedback loop Strong personal demonstration Involve volunteers’ friends Seek “booster shot” of resources 9

10. Ex. 2: Consumer website 10 Summer, 2008 Existing company: business-to-business software Few clients, poor products Stagnant, going broke

11. happier.com — what we built 11 Massive pivot to consumer product happier.com: a personal trainer for your happiness Targeted audience: women who watch the Today Show

12. happier.com — Growing quickly 12

13. happier.com — lessons learned What will it take to get your story told? Leverage changes in “externalities” Learn to say “no” and focus Be prepared to learn new skill-set Lay team groundwork for exhaustive growth Pivot Fail quickly Scrappy determination 13

14. Ex. 3: Entrepreneurship at HBS Fall, 2010 Powerful brand Imposing building The lens matters Top school, great grads Unrealized potential, 5 lost years 14

15. Startup Tribe – First Steps 15 Weekly meetings of core people “Founder and Funders” trek Branding: website, twitter Faculty champions Focus on diversity

16. Startup Tribe – Going beyond the core 16

17. Startup Tribe – Lessons Learned Seek “conceptual heritage” Look for secondary hooks (diversity, action-oriented) Listen and incorporate others’ descriptors Transparent motivations Litmus test: would you attend? Document and broadcast 17

18. So what? 18

19. Entrepreneurship and Management 19 “Relentless pursuit of opportunity without regard to resources currently controlled” An approach to managing, not: An economic function A characteristic of an individual Only about start-ups Manage risks rather than blindly take risks Blatantly taken from HBS course slides “The Entrepreneurial Manager” Definition: Howard Stevenson, “Perspectives on Entrepreneurship,” HBS No. 9-384-131. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 1983.

20. The Entrepreneur’s Environment Great uncertainty Newness of undertaking breeds uncertainty Range of issues: political breakthroughs, growth, competition, resource availability High impact Uncertainty pushes entrepreneurs toward high impact opportunities Necessary to attract resources when failure is frequent Requires understanding context of problem Radical change To achieve high impact entrepreneurship often includes radical change Many sources for change – e.g. new process, new opportunity, new result Limited resources Assemble various resources often from different sources Commitments often staged toward milestones 20 Blatantly taken and modified from HBS course slides “The Entrepreneurial Manager”

21. Entrepreneurship and Management 21 Blatantly taken and modified from HBS course slides “The Entrepreneurial Manager”

22. Assembling the right team 22 Complementary Skills Avoid over-redundancy in skills, networks, etc. Stakeholders like teams of players Reasonable completeness of skill-set Know the gaps that need to be filled Acid test of a good team builder Every one of your partners clearly better than you on at least one dimension Direct reports clearly better on several circumstances If not, change the leader! Blatantly taken and modified from HBS course slides “The Entrepreneurial Manager”

23. Assembling Advisors 23 Who do you want seated at your table? Identify and involve stakeholders Empower them to help you “fail quickly” Internal and external C.Y.A. contact Access to resources

24. Momentum 24 Identify (construct) small wins Authentically, frequently, and visibly recognize others Seek or modify projects for easy wins

25. Dealing with failure 25 Mistakes 1: learning experience 2: wasted resources Seek proponents who understand failure Don’t shirk from telling the story Clear, understood mission perseveres

26. Additional Practical Lessons 26 Pattern recognition: Opportunity Team Steps 20/80 +20% effort to tell story to +80% of stakeholders Professional documentation, frequent and formalized updates

27. Journalism: Changing Business Model Unbundling of readers (going deep) BostInnovation(20-30, job-seeking) There’s a blog for everything Average reader: 2-5 news sources/day Cannibalization with emergence of new channel? Broadening scope of journalist activities Philadelphia Inquirer: video production for everyone Capture communities Collected around issues Al Jazeera English – to Comcast: growth in February Overseas brand expansion Chinese version WSJ Changing organizations Shrinking staff Mergers / disruption 27 Sources: Interviews with journalists and publishers.

28. Journalism: Technological Opportunity Appointment publishing Barstool Sports Game mechanics Data-driven content production How are they monitoring consumption? Understand analytics (internal, and advertisers) “People follow people” Crowd-sourcing journalism Mobile Local Social 28 Sources: Pew, State of the News Media, 3/14/2011; Interviews with journalists and publishers.

29. Recap and Questions 29 Examples of entrepreneurship and lessons learned “Relentless pursuit of opportunity without regard to resources currently controlled” Promoter vs. Trustee Assembling resources; team; advisors Build and recognize momentum Learn from failure