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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.
Gold Medal Winner for Best International Business/Globalization Book in the 2021 Axiom Business Book Awards
"This book is useful for investors, who want to look for success beyond the Silicon Valley model, and traditional companies interested in startup acquisitions." — Forbes
Advance Praise for Out-Innovate:
"Alex Lazarow has provided us with an up-to-date map of the fast-moving world of innovation: how it works now and where it is headed. Out-Innovate is a must-read for all current and prospective entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and every business leader with a plan to grow." — Bill Draper, cochair and co-founder, Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation; founder, Sutter Hill Ventures; former president and chairman, Export-Import Bank of the United States; and author, The Startup Game
"Alex Lazarow's incisive and much-needed book tells a story that has long been ignored: Innovation is thriving globally, from Bangalore to Beijing, yet often looks different than in Silicon Valley. The global lessons in Out-Innovate are paramount for entrepreneurs everywhere." — Nandan Nilekani, nonexecutive chairman and co-founder, Infosys; founding Chairman, Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI)
"With vivid storytelling, Lazarow describes and defines how innovation occurs on the 'frontier'—nascent urban and rural startup communities in developed countries as well as in emerging markets. A must-read for entrepreneurs and startup-community developers all over the world." — Brad Feld, partner, Foundry Group; co-founder, Techstars; and author, Startup Communities
"As President Obama's point person on entrepreneurship, I've seen firsthand diverse models, grounded in unique local strengths, for building innovation ecosystems and supporting entrepreneurial success. In Out-Innovate, Alex Lazarow provides an outstanding perspective on how startups and entrepreneurs can succeed no matter where they originate—in a mega city like Chicago or a more rural environment like Cedar Rapids." — Penny Pritzker, former United States Secretary of Commerce
"Some of the most exciting venture-investment possibilities over the next decades are sure to come from emerging economies. In Out-Innovate, Alex Lazarow illustrates this immense opportunity in great detail and explains the critical strategies necessary to capture it." — David Velez, founder and CEO, Nubank (Brazil)
"Out-Innovate proves that frontier entrepreneurs face entirely different challenges than their Silicon Valley peers and that the canon of the Valley should no longer be taken as gospel. This book is a must-read for any entrepreneur building a business and any VC who doesn't want to be left behind." — Linda Rottenberg, co-founder and CEO, Endeavor; author, Crazy Is a Compliment
"Startups are one of the most important forces for change. But far too many regions have fixated on the Silicon Valley model as the only way to build a startup ecosystem. Out-Innovate takes you on a tour of innovative entrepreneurs and companies around the globe, to provide a guidebook on how to successfully start and scale world-changing businesses wherever you might be." — Chris Yeh, coauthor, Blitzscaling and The Alliance
"Out-Innovate is replete with inspiring and instructive stories of innovation from around the world. Whether in middle America or middle Africa, it's a go-to book for anyone with an idea for starting and scaling a business." — Diana Farrell, president and CEO, JPMorgan Chase Institute
"Silicon Valley is a source of inspiration for many tech entrepreneurs around the world, but innovation coming from emerging countries, Africa, and other locales beyond the Valley is now raising the game. In his captivating book, Alex Lazarow vividly describes this changing context and the strategies required to succeed within it." — Sacha Poignonnec, co-founder and co-CEO, Jumia
"This important book articulates rich new models for local and global entrepreneurs looking to engage on those markets' terms. This book could not be more timely." — Christopher Schroeder, author, Startup Rising
"We need to move beyond the Silicon Valley 'playbook' for startup innovation. In this trenchant work, Alex Lazarow shows that there are new principles and practices that apply in quickly changing conditions of scarcity and adversity. In other words, wherever you are." — Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder and CEO, Paytm
"Lazarow's book will not only inspire you with its global stories of innovation, it will give you real models to follow. Wherever you are, if you have an entrepreneurial idea, you need to read Out-Innovate." — Mudassir Sheikha, co-founder and CEO, Careem
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.