Shameen Prashantham - Gorillas Can Dance

—Felipe Monteiro, Senior Affiliate Professor of Strategy, INSEAD

“Shameen Prashantham has scoured the world, seeking the experiences of an impressive network of thought leaders across the entrepreneurial ecosystem. There is no set formula for how successful startup-corporate collaboration works; all we can do is keep learning from each other. This book provides both corporate innovators and game-changing startups the platform to do this.”

—Sheelpa Patel, founder and Managing Director, Mavens & Mavericks

“The major global challenges are simply too big for any company alone to address. It is imperative for the larger organizations to partner effectively with the more nimble startups to help create a better world for all. This book has some great insights on the how.”

—Paul Polman, former CEO, Unilever, and cofounder and Chair, IMAGINE

“A general pattern of organizational life seems to involve being nimble but inefficient in their youth, and lumbering but efficient as they age. How to keep the best attributes of both life stages has become a sort of holy grail for academics and consultants. Prashantham does a terrific job laying out what he has observed of partnerships between established and entrepreneurial firms as a mechanism that aims to hit this bliss-spot. Combining smooth prose with insightful observations, this book will be a great read for those who design and manage organizations as well as those who study them.”

— Phanish Puranam, Roland Berger Chaired Professor of Strategy and Organisation Design, INSEAD

“Having spent most of my career trying to dance with gorillas, and now as a gorilla learning to dance, I can safely say that Gorillas Can Dance is an important addition to the strategic partnership canon and should be required reading for entrepreneurs on both sides of the table.”

—Martin Suter, Global VP Digital Commerce, Anheuser-Busch InBev

“With ecosystem approaches to innovation gaining traction, ‘gorillas’ and startups now recognize that they need to work with, rather than against, each other. It's not always going to be easy, but through a decade of keen observation, Professor Prashantham has uncovered the most important insights for both budding entrepreneurs and seasoned corporate executives.”

—Wern-Yuen Tan, CEO, Pepsico APAC

“Corporate innovation as we know it is dead. Current corporate innovation is delivered through skunkworks and through learning new dance moves with startups. In his book, Professor Shameen Prashantham has captured the fine details of dancing with gorillas and how to redesign modern large corporations to survive and thrive in this new world.”

—Tzahi (Zack) Weisfeld, Vice President and GM Ignite: Intel for Startups

“Based on over 15 years of international research, Shameen Prashantham's insightful work on partnering between established corporations and startups breaks new ground in identifying the why and how of effective alliance building. Rich in examples and practical advice, this work will be recommended reading for any corporate manager or startup executive looking to build scale and deliver innovation through partnerships.”

—Jonathan R. Woetzel, Director, McKinsey Global Institute

“Shameen Prashantham is one of those rare academics who can combine theoretical rigor with in-depth company examples to yield highly practical insights and frameworks. Gorillas Can Dance is a great example of this combination and is essential reading for both large companies and their startup partners.”

—George S. Yip, Emeritus Professor of Marketing and Strategy, Imperial College Business School, and member of the Thinkers50 Hall of Fame

SHAMEEN PRASHANTHAM

Copyright © 2022 by Shameen Prashantham. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

Published simultaneously in Canada.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Prashantham, Shameen, author.

Title: Gorillas can dance : lessons from Microsoft and other corporations on partnering with startups / Shameen Prashantham.

Description: Hoboken, New Jersey : Wiley, [2022] | Includes index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2021021545 (print) | LCCN 2021021546 (ebook) | ISBN 9781119823582 (hardback) | ISBN 9781119823605 (adobe pdf) | ISBN 9781119823599 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: New business enterprises. | Partnership. | Success in business.

Classification: LCC HD62.5 .P646 2021 (print) | LCC HD62.5 (ebook) | DDC 658.1/142—dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021021545

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021021546

COVER ART & DESIGN: PAUL MCCARTHY

To my children, Diya and Aditya.

I hope the ideas in this book play a small role in contributing to a more innovative and sustainable world for your generation, and the ones to follow.

I have been an entrepreneur for my entire life. After a few successes and a failure, I started to invest in early-stage startups. We became frustrated with the investment process, which we felt was especially detrimental to entrepreneurs. Out of that frustration we founded Techstars in 2006 and we created a better business model for entrepreneurs, investors, corporations, and communities.