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Most novel ideas either stall out at some point in product development or lose their originality before they make it to the marketplace. How do you defy those odds? By helping your organization's innovators adapt their collaborative behavior to support ideas wherever they are in their journey. Each stage of that journey idea generation, concept elaboration, internal promotion, and implementation has its own set of collaborative needs. Here's how to meet them.

Mercedes-Benz's Startup Autobahn is an open corporate accelerator built on an open innovation platform that enabled the automaker to screen thousands of startups, execute more than 150 pilot projects, and implement 17 innovative solutions between 2016 and 2021. Mercedes's experience demonstrates how companies can leverage the open corporate accelerator model to more effectively integrate startups into the corporate R&D processes and accelerate their innovation efforts.

In April 2020, Katerra executives struggled with a series of decisions that would determine the fate of one of the best-funded construction startups in history. Katerra was founded in 2015 by technology-industry executive Michael Marks and commercial real estate developer Fritz Wolff to "redefine the construction industry." Over the next four years, Katerra raised $2.5B in venture capital investment and grew to 7,500 employees. Focused on creating a fully integrated commercial real estate development process, Katerra built and operated factories manufacturing building components ranging from pre-fabricated wood panels to windows, acquired architecture and general contracting firms globally, and developed a series of proprietary software systems to design and manage construction projects. Management touted a project pipeline filled with eager commercial real estate developers and multifamily housing projects, but actual revenue was lacking. Katerra would soon run out of money without additional investment. Customer complaints about Katerra's ability to deliver on promised time and cost savings, coupled with the departure of one of the company's co-founders, call into question the company's strategy and Marks' leadership. Investors must decide whether the company's vision is salvageable, and if so, what steps they should take to construct a pathway to profitability.

In May 2020, SoftBank executives, having invested nearly $2 billion in Katerra, decided the vision of an end-to-end, vertically-integrated construction process was worth saving-with some major changes to company structure. The SoftBank Vision Fund invested $200 million in Katerra as part of a company restructuring in which cofounder Michael Marks stepped down as CEO, and former oil industry executive Paal Kibsgaard was promoted from chief operating officer to CEO. However, by June 2021, Katerra had initiated the bankruptcy process. Should Katerra's failure be attributed to mistakes made by the company's management team? Or did the company encounter a series of misfortunes that made it impossible to continue forward?

This case describes the entrepreneurial journey of two college friends - Anchal Taatya and Abhiram Nukalapati. While studying at IIM Ahmedabad, they saw an opportunity for aggregating credit card discounts and launched a pilot in February 2019 under the name Circles. Circles helped discount seekers and credit card holders to connect and make transactions. Case A outlines their journey until the launch, where they faced the dilemma of choosing between a B2B and a B2C business model. Case B outlines their struggles in launching a B2C product and eventual shutdown of the venture. The key objective of this case is to understand the business formation stage of a college start-up, and how they arrived at opportunity identification. The case is aimed at enabling classroom discussions on the role of trust in platform businesses and how regulations - or lack thereof - can shape the destiny of new ventures.

This case describes the entrepreneurial journey of two college friends - Anchal Taatya and Abhiram Nukalapati. While studying at IIM Ahmedabad, they saw an opportunity for aggregating credit card discounts and launched a pilot in February 2019 under the name Circles. Circles helped discount seekers and credit card holders to connect and make transactions. Case A outlines their journey until the launch, where they faced the dilemma of choosing between a B2B and a B2C business model. Case B outlines their struggles in launching a B2C product and eventual shutdown of the venture. The key objective of this case is to understand the business formation stage of a college start-up, and how they arrived at opportunity identification. The case is aimed at enabling classroom discussions on the role of trust in platform businesses and how regulations - or lack thereof - can shape the destiny of new ventures.

Six months after the August 2018 launch of Troverie, a U.S.-based online retailer of luxury watches, the average cost of acquiring a customer is much higher than originally projected, and the startup is incurring a substantial loss on each sales transaction. Could customer acquisition costs be reduced through optimization of marketing messages and channels, or did high marketing costs presage a fundamental problem with Troverie's business model? Troverie was an authorized retailer of 17 luxury watch brands, and had partnered with brick-and-mortar jewelry retailers that would drop ship the watches from their inventory in exchange for a share of Troveries's revenue. The brands were authorizing online sales for the first time, to combat "grey market" outlets that sold their watches without the manufacturer's warranty.

Resolves the questions raised in Troverie (A); recounts pivots and efforts to raise capital from strategic investors and sell Troverie; and shares the founder's post-mortem reflections on what went wrong and what he might have done differently.

This case follows the decision of two Stanford Graduate School of Business classmates, Heather Fernandez and Daniele Farnedi, to start a company together. It explores the criteria they used to assess ideas, how the pair identified an opportunity in consumer health care, and how they started testing urgent care clinic software concept. The case culminates with making a go or no-go decision.

For manufacturers, remaining competitive depends on their ability to digitalize their business models (i.e., offer digital and digitally enhanced products and services). To achieve this, they must engage with new digital partners and help their existing suppliers, partners, and other stakeholders to digitalize. Orchestrating this growing ecosystem is challenging. Manufacturers struggle with this endeavor because of specific barriers associated with their existing legacy business model and related to their lack of digital vision, product-centric value chains, and a bias toward firm-centered profit formulas. To overcome these barriers, leading manufacturers have developed new approaches to ecosystem orchestration.

Perfect Day was a rising cellular agriculture company specializing in lab-based milk. Its founders had created and patented a formula for an ingredient that could produce authentic-tasting non-dairy products. At the beginning of 2020, the US-based firm received US$140 million in funding, and the founders had to navigate a complex operating and stakeholder environment to map out a growth strategy. The complex situation required them to answer related questions that were easy to understand but difficult to answer. First, the founders would have to chart the expected evolution of the lab-based milk industry as it moved to the full roll-out of products. The founders would next have to decide on Perfect Day’s positioning in its changing industry. Finally, they would have to assess the myriad players, both as stakeholders and as potential alliance partners, in order to support the strategic positioning decision.

Perfect Day was a rising cellular agriculture company specializing in lab-based milk. Its founders had created and patented a formula for an ingredient that could produce authentic-tasting non-dairy products. At the beginning of 2020, the US-based firm received US$140 million in funding, and the founders had to navigate a complex operating and stakeholder environment to map out a growth strategy. The complex situation required them to answer related questions that were easy to understand but difficult to answer. First, the founders would have to chart the expected evolution of the lab-based milk industry as it moved to the full roll-out of products. The founders would next have to decide on Perfect Day's positioning in its changing industry. Finally, they would have to assess the myriad players, both as stakeholders and as potential alliance partners, in order to support the strategic positioning decision.

Launched in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in 2018, Praava Health ('Praava') delivered high-quality in-clinic primary and specialist care, backed by its own high quality diagnostic laboratories, imaging and pharmacy. Praava was founder Sylvana Sinha's response to what she saw as a broken healthcare system in one of the world's most populous countries, unable to provide efficient, reliable medical attention to the majority of its population. Centered on the patient, it had a flagship state-of-the art medical center in Dhaka, and digital channels, including Bangladesh's first patient app, telemedicine, and e-pharmacy. Behind all this was a highly qualified medical, technical and management team, made possible by equity investments of $11.1 million. But raising funds had been a difficult and arduous process, even as Praava's revenues were growing at around 20% a month. As Sinha proceeded to plan her next steps in Series B fundraising, she wondered if there were modifications that she needed to consider. Were there any changes-in the Praava business model, in the financing structure or in her messaging-that would allow her to break through in the capital markets?

In January 2011, China-based Joyson Automotive Group (Joyson) acquired Preh GmbH (Preh), a German manufacturer of high-end automotive components. While Joyson had lower capabilities in areas such as management and engineering, it was able to ensure a successful acquisition of the more competent firm Preh after years of careful planning and relationship building. Joyson had grown over 14 years to become a US$10 billion manufacturing company by continuously acquiring more capable firms. The acquisition of Preh would make the two companies powerful players in the global automotive parts supply market and promised to provide Preh with financial resources and access to the lucrative Chinese automotive market, but only if the Chinese and German companies could be integrated successfully. How could Joyson’s management team ensure a successful integration of a firm with superior management, soft skills, and technical capabilities?

QuantumScape CEO Jagdeep Singh juggles the many activities required to lead the next-generation battery pioneer. Founded in 2010, QuantumScape's mission was to develop new "solid-state" car batteries that would improve upon traditional lithium-ion batteries in key areas such as range, charging speed, durability, cost, and safety. Success, they believed, would accelerate the transition from gasoline-powered cars to electric vehicles. Between 2010 and late 2020, QuantumScape operated in stealth mode and raised venture financing totaling more than $800 million. The team grew to over 200 employees, nearly all scientists and engineers working on the technical challenges associated with creating a solid-state battery that could be produced at scale. By summer 2020 it was clear to Singh and the board that the company required more capital to help fund its commercialization plan. In November 2020, QuantumScape went public by merging with a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC). Now, with that capital in hand, production facilities under construction, and a signed joint venture with Volkswagen, Singh expected to see cars with its batteries on highways by 2025.

In 2021, AppHarvest completed construction of a 60-acre indoor farming facility, one of the world's largest, recorded its first sales, and went public in a multi-billion dollar IPO. Described as "a force of nature," Jonathan Webb founded the company to bring jobs back to Appalachia. Now, as he plans for more indoor farms, he has to face the challenges of growing a company quickly.

The COVID-19 crisis has underlined the need for accelerated innovation to rapidly help business solve social problems. These problems require access to capabilities and knowledge that no single organization or existing supply chain possesses. Drawing on the experience of the open innovation and rapid-scale-up achieved by the VentilatorChallengeUK to address a shortage of ventilators required by patients seriously ill with COVID-19, this article develops a framework for accelerated innovation and delivery that crosses traditional industry boundaries. It offers a series of important lessons for how open innovation, exaptation, and ecosystem strategies - backed by a set of enabling initiatives - can be used to solve multi-faceted social and business problems at speed.

In 2021, Greg Bush, Jr., owner, president, and CEO of KFA, Inc. is working with his leadership team to plan for the future. KFA provides consulting services on software and project management needs for infrastructure projects. Bush and his team have just debuted a new product, PHAZE, which offers a low-cost option for the industry. He's exploring several options for growth - selling PHAZE in the developing world, targeting smart city projects, or focusing on KFA's core consulting business now that the Biden infrastructure bill has been signed into law. Which path should he choose?

The case ONE2ID B.V., Growth Challenge explores the challenges a small company faces when the founder controls every aspect of the firm. Over the past eight years, the firm has grown from a whiteboard strategy exercise conducted with the firm's founder and his investors to a company with a manufacturing plant, direct sales in the Benelux and Germany, and some initial distribution in other parts of Europe. Strategic choices made during the startup phase require reexamination as the founder struggles with balancing competing demands on his time and the challenges of "letting go" of some of his decision-making authority. While the firm has been very profitable with little debt and a sound business model, continued growth has challenged the company due to a lack of management staff capable of taking on greater responsibility. The firm has concentrated its growth focus on the Benelux countries. Unless the company expands into other European markets, ONE2ID growth will be limited. Anton Damen, the founder, must decide how to structure the company for additional growth as he determines what role he will assume in 2021.

The Berline-based start-up, Lytt, was founded in late 2019 with the aim of offering employees a means to speak up about misconduct at work through a digital assistant, which enabled them to communicate difficult topics safely and anonymously. Lytt wanted to help companies understand their working climate and sustainably promote their employees' satisfaction and health. In August 2020, the owners of Lytt had to develop the right go-to-market strategy, keeping in mind the potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their decisions.