This was super interesting and I loved the perspective it provided on innovation! I studied innovation at college years ago and this was a really refreshing and informative book.

OUT-INNOVATE

Inasmuch as plenty of analytical rigor has been devoted to the art and science of startups, the literature on the subject often has one fatal flaw: much of what works for startups of the Silicon Valley variety will hardly work elsewhere. The necessary and sufficient conditions that allow startups to thrive in the Valley—the access to capital, the culture of innovation, the availability of talent, to name but a few—are only present in varying degrees elsewhere in the world.

I have been saying this for years to anyone enamored by what can only be called the Cult of the Startup, which is why I was elated to discover that Alexander Lazarow makes precisely the same point in his timely book Out-Innovate: How Global Entrepreneurs from Delhi to Detroit are Rewriting the Rules of Silicon Valley.

Lazarow’s fundamental point is that the attention paid to the Silicon Valley model of startups and innovation overlooks the fact that it is just one model, and not necessarily a representative one at that. More and more, there are startups in emerging markets that embody alternative models of innovation—and in some ways, these frontier models are more robust than their Silicon Valley counterparts.

To appreciate this it’s important to understand what Lazarow means by the frontier. Notionally, these are places that often exhibit some general economic instability in the environment coupled with a basic weakness in the startup ecosystem. Despite this there are what he describes as “entrepreneurs of opportunity who operate outside the most developed startup ecosystems, leveraging technological or business model innovation, and seek to scale their business.” Those who are successful in many cases can compete with the best that Silicon Valley has to offer.

It’s not difficult to see why. The inherent weakness of frontier markets means that frontier innovators have to plug the gaps in the ecosystem themselves. Thus, as Lazarow points out, they have to build a “full stack” both vertically (supply chain) and horizontally (often in adjacent and related businesses), as a matter of strategy and necessity. In many cases, social impact is also a key metric of their success.

Because this is inherently difficult, one can infer that frontier innovators are more calculating in terms of the profit potential of their undertakings. This is perhaps the biggest difference between the Silicon Valley startup and the frontier one. Whereas it appears that the ultimate objective of the Silicon Valley startup is to become the next unicorn—that is, a startup with a billion dollar valuation—Lazarow opines that Frontier Innovators strive to nurture camels instead: businesses that are sustainable over the long term.

Out-Innovate cogently articulates the case for Frontier Innovators, and the book will strike a chord with anyone who has worked with startups in markets far from the orbit of Silicon Valley. Having previously worked with the Omidyar network, Lazarow clearly has much experience in this area, and Out-Innovate often references a refreshingly different cohort of startups from the metaphorical Frontier. Most importantly, the book is a welcome reminder that there shouldn’t be a single monolithic paradigm for how startups can be successful.

It's a fascinating read that introduce you to the new frontiers of innovation and the different with the Silicon Valley.
I liked the style of writing and the clarity of the explanations.
Informative and useful, highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Unlike several decades ago, innovation today no longer resides within the Silicon Valley area. Today’s innovation happens not just in the United States but especially all over the world.

This book introduces the readers like you and me to the Frontier Innovators. These are the companies that increasingly disrupt the business and social landscape as we know it. Entrepreneurs all over the world are increasingly getting more adept in introducing valuable solutions to the dilemma of our modern age. Some of the ubiquitous names now like Spotify, Waze, Alibaba originated from Sweden, Finland, and China respectively.

The book provides us the key differences between Silicon Valley start ups and those of Frontier Innovators. It also provides us numerous names of start ups all over the world.

I think that the book paves the way for readers to know the increasingly pivotal role of these new companies. This makes it valuable as we continue to navigate the dynamic world of our global economy.