Companies traditionally see failure as a waste of money. This is the right perspective when you’re building a new factory or managing established processes. However, quick and cheap failure helps you identify which ideas NOT to pursue when it comes to creating new growth engines. This type of “productive failure” that leads to learning and insights helps you avoid investing millions of dollars in ideas that customers don’t want, won’t make enough money, or are impossible to execute.

What’s the one thing companies have that startups don’t? Customers. Access to customers is indispensable to learn if new  business ideas have the potential to become solid growth engines. So why is it so difficult for corporate innovation teams to connect with a company’s existing customers?

This blog post visualizes an idea that I heard from Roger Martin at the Drucker Forum in Vienna last year. Traditional shareholders expect predictable growth without risk. Growth requires a venture capital type investment philosophy. Let me explain.