Innovate or Perish: Managing the Enduring Technology Company in the Global Market

Aligning the Interests of Stakeholders

When managing the expectations of multiple diverse stakeholders in a regional venture economy, one must take into account the following groups:

• Founders/scientists

• Local area participants (community, state, region)

• Universities (in the case of university spinouts)

• Corporations (in the case of corporate spinouts or partners)

• Investors (funds and individuals as well as limited partners/investors in the funds)

Recognizing stakeholders and understanding and aligning their interests are critical, as is managing their expectations. For each of the foregoing, here are a few critical elements and lessons:

Founders. This is where it starts. In not-so-fertile soil, scientific as well as many business founders will be new to starting companies. Matching them up with experienced managers and investors is critical. Helping them understand where their interests are aligned with other stakeholders, and where they are not, can compress the time to success. Taking the time to understand their objectives in starting a company is necessary for achieving this goal. Generally, scientific founders should not be CEOs or directors. Growing a company in infertile soil is hard enough without having trainee management and board members. Nevertheless, growing talent is important, so having founders as board observers and participants as active members of the SAB is key to helping more stakeholders develop skills and capabilities toward the next venture as well as the current ...