Out-Innovate: How Global Entrepreneurs--From Delhi to Detroit--Are Rewriting the Rules of Silicon Valley

The new playbook for innovation and startup success is emerging from beyond Silicon Valley--at the frontier.

Startups have changed the world. In the United States, many startups, such as Tesla, Apple, and Amazon, have become household names. The economic value of startups has doubled since 1992 and is projected to double again in the next fifteen years.

For decades, the hot center of this phenomenon has been Silicon Valley. This is changing fast. Thanks to technology, startups are now taking root everywhere, from Delhi to Detroit to Nairobi to Sao Paulo. Yet despite this globalization of startup activity, our knowledge of how to build successful startups is still drawn primarily from Silicon Valley.

As venture capitalist Alexandre Lazarow shows in this insightful and instructive book, this Silicon Valley gospel is due for a refresh--and it comes from what he calls the frontier, the growing constellation of startup ecosystems, outside of the Valley and other major economic centers, that now stretches across the globe. The frontier is a truly different world where startups often must cope with political or economic instability and lack of infrastructure, and where there might be little or no access to angel investors, venture capitalists, or experienced employee pools.

Under such conditions, entrepreneurs must be creators who build industries rather than disruptors who change them because there are few existing businesses to disrupt. The companies they create must be global from birth because local markets are too small. They focus on resiliency and sustainability rather than unicorn-style growth at any cost.

With rich and wide-ranging stories of frontier innovators from around the world, Out-Innovate is the new playbook for innovation--wherever it has the potential to happen.

Author: Alexandre Alex Lazarow
Publisher: Harvard Business Review Press
Published: 04/07/2020
Pages: 304
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.15lbs
Size: 9.40h x 6.30w x 1.10d
ISBN: 9781633697584

About the Author

Alex Lazarow is a venture capitalist specializing in global innovation and impact. He presently works with the global investment firm Cathay Innovation. He was previously a principal with Omidyar Network. He is a Kauffman Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations term member, and an adjunct professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. Lazarow is a graduate of Harvard Business School and the University of Manitoba. He lives with his family in the San Francisco Bay area.

You can find Alex Lazarow at alexlazarow.com and follow him on Twitter @Alex_Lazarow.