392 ENTREPRENEURSHIP
mining what the customer really wants can also launch an intrapreneurial venture. For
example, 3M developed an adhesive that no industrial user seemed to want and was
ready to abandon the product. The engineer who led the project took the samples home
and let his family use them. After discovering that his teenaged daughters used the tape
to hold their curls overnight, he recognized that there might be household and person-
al uses for the adhesive—Scotch tape.^28
Incongruities—things that stick out as inconsistent—can also be the source of ideas.^29
That is, disparities between the assumption of an industry or business and economic
realities give rise to ideas for intrapreneurial opportunity. Questioning the conventional
wisdom (“everybody knows”) or the perceived practice (“it’s the way things are done”)
can point up these incongruities. When what “everybody knows” is no longer known
and accepted by everyone and when “the way things are done” doesn’t work any more,
resources can be redeployed to exploit an opportunity.
Because there is now a general recognition that corporate venturing is required for
sustainable competitive advantage, companies don’t want to wait for serendipity and
chance to step in. They want a more systematic approach. For example, toy company
FAO Schwartz has try-outs for toy inventors to tap the creative ideas of everyday peo-
ple. Once a year it hosts people who pitch their ideas in five-minute presentations. In
2006 FAO CEO Ed Schmults and his chief merchandising officer David Niggli saw 22
inventors demonstrate 50 ideas. While this is not strictly corporate venturing, the
process does enable a company to mine outside sources of creativity. “I don’t see a lot of
creativity, a lot of new designs from many toy companies. As a company whose lifeblood
is introducing unique products, I think this is a fabulous way to get that quirky, special
item,” says Schmults.^30
One ingenious system for generating and affirming venture ideas has been employed
by Rite-Solutions. This software company builds sophisticated and classified command-
and-control systems for the Navy. It has created an internal “stock market” for ideas.
Anyone in the company can propose a venture idea, and the proposals become stocks
on a fantasy stock exchange. Each idea receives a ticker symbol, has discussion lists, and
e-mail alerts. Prices change as employees (engineers, computer scientists, managers and
executives—basically everyone) buy and sell the ideas. This process employs the “wis-
dom of groups” to gain a consensus about which proposals to pursue.^31
“At most companies, especially technology companies, the most brilliant insights tend
to come from people other than senior management. So we created a marketplace to
harvest collective genius.”^32
IBM is on the list in Table 10.1 and it also has a special way to identify future paths
and opportunities: the online jam explained in Street Story 10.1.Coalition Building. Stage 2 requires coalition building. The intrapreneur must develop
relationships within the corporate bureaucracy, relationships that will support the inno-
vative project in its early development. This parallels the entrepreneur’s search for legit-
imate partners and supporters. For an idea to attract support, it must in some way “fit”
the company and be congruent with company goals. This is a paradox of sorts: If an idea
is too congruent, it will not be innovative; but in order to sell the idea, the intrapreneurs
need to make their case to the company. In addition to personal persuasion, the best