1. INNOVATOR OR ENTREPRENEUR
WHICH ARE YOU? WHICH DID YOU INVEST IN?
Innovat
ARE YOU BUILDING A “WHAT” OR SOLVING A “WHY”? (Or are you an
innovator or an entrepreneur?)
Do you know the percentage of companies that have built interesting new technologies
with only a vague concept of market need? In other words they built a “what” instead of
solving a “why”. My guess is - - 70%, 80%? ¹ They’ve built something intriguing but can’t
find a market. If you are the CEO, are you in that situation yourself?
But if you are the investor, it’s even more frustrating to find that you have invested
in a company like that. Great idea, you like the CEO and the team, but they built a
“what” instead of answering the question “why”.
Why is this problem so important that we need to fix it right now?
Why is this opportunity so big and critical that we must build something new?
Why will there be multiple applications that allow us to scale this business?
Why should you, or did you, invest in this?
GAIL BUERGER KERR
I often work with CEOs of companies that are in this bind and the investors call me to help
Business Development Partner
figure it out. Over time, I’ve decided it’s the perfect match. The innovator (the founder,
for Companies With Vision CEO) built something great but needs the entrepreneur (me) to make it into a business.
Oh, you want to argue with me about who is the innovator and who is the entrepreneur?
I’ll be happy to debate this because I’ve been thinking a lot about it recently. It says a lot
about the value I bring to my clients, and more importantly, it says a lot about the value
delivered by this critical partnership between the innovator and the entrepreneur.
It all started with Babson College
On their website², Babson defines an entrepreneur as follows:
“(M)any entrepreneurs often control uncertainty by acting directly upon it. Within a loosely-defined
general direction, and within the confines of their values, they focus on what to do next and worry
less about what they ought to do in some ultimate sense. They use quick action to test what works
and make modifications as they go. Ironically, this approach limits risk. Most managers focus on
gail@gailbuergerkerr.com means they must acquire in order to achieve the ends they desire; many entrepreneurs often start
with their means at hand and work to the ends that they can create within those means. Managers
Office: 978-425-9243 generally think about what they ought to do; entrepreneurs often focus on what they can do.”
Cell: 617-835-1627 ¹ Does anyone have any statistics about this figure?
www.gailbuergerkerr.com ² http://president.babson.edu/pdf/2009_May_Strategy.pdf

2. Internal or External Entrepreneur: My Personal Experience
At Citibank, Dun and Bradstreet, and IBM we were called managers but I operated as an entrepreneur.
Act fast; focus on what can be done; adjust as you move; don’t wait for perfection; concentrate on the
practical application; keep the goal in sight. Reading the above white paper from Babson’s website, I
immediately recognized Babson’s definition of entrepreneur and smiled. Ahh, that’s me, but I always
had attributed much of my entrepreneurial ability to my turn-around consulting experience. (There are
a lot of similarities, frankly.) But since Babson has for over 15 years been recognized as the #1
entrepreneurship MBA in the country I figured they know their definitions.
Similarly, as a judge for the Edison Awards (www.edisonawards.com) the last couple of years, I
periodically participate on conference calls with Sarah Miller Caldicott (Steering Committee Chair and
co-author of the book “Innovate Like Edison”.) On one of those committee calls recently I realized that
some folks were using the label “innovator” interchangeably with “entrepreneur”. Not the same thing,
and my question about the difference was answered with “an innovator invents something typically for
one purpose, and they also usually innovate with a lot of things, broadly, over time.” One light bulb
after another. But the entrepreneur takes the invention and finds multiple uses, goes after many
markets, and builds a business around it. The entrepreneur solves a lot of “why” questions that make
the innovator’s “what” into a successful enterprise. We need both.
Innovators and Entrepreneurs, a great combination
Innovators create “whats” but entrepreneurs answer “whys” and add the “how” by acting
pragmatically, fast, and efficiently to build a business. Edison was apparently good at both and I’ve met
a few others who have that talent too. But not many.
So if you have invested in a company that is floundering, or you have started a company that isn’t
getting traction as you envisioned, do you need to add the entrepreneurship to the innovation? After
all, you need both. Call me and let’s talk about it!
Gail
gail@gailbuergerkerr.com
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Gail Buerger Kerr
Business Development Partner for Entrepreneurial Companies
Office: 978-425-9243
Cell: 617-835-1627
Visit my website at www.gailbuergerkerr.com