The New Killer Apps: How Large Companies Can Out-Innovate Start-Ups

by Chunka Mui, Paul B. Carroll, James Madara (Foreword)

“An erudite anthem for large companies reshaping themselves to innovate and compete with agile startups.” -- Kirkus Reviews — A Kirkus Indie Books of the Month Selection The New Killer Apps reverses the conventional wisdom that start-ups are destined to out-innovate big, established businesses. Through crisp analysis and compelling case studies, Mui and Carroll show that this just isn't true. Or, at least, it need not be. Yes, small and agile beats big and slow, but big and agile beats anyone. This book offers a roadmap for how large companies can Think Big, Start Small and Learn Fast. In doing so, they can get out of their own way, take advantage of their natural assets, and vanquish both traditional competitors and upstarts by nurturing and unleashing their own killer apps. There's certainly a lot on the line. A perfect storm of technological innovation—combining smartphones and other mobile devices, ubiquitous cameras and sensors, social media and “big data” analytical tools—means that more than $36 trillion of stock-market value is up for what Mary Meeker at Kleiner Perkins is calling “reimagination.” Large companies will either do the reimagining and lay claim to the markets of the future or will be reimagined out of existence. Table of Contents GETTING STARTED A Road Map for Corporate Innovation–Big and Agile Beats Anyone Case Google Cars and $2 Trillion in Auto-Related Revenue Up for Grabs PHASE THINK BIG Rule 1: Context Is Worth 80 IQ Points Rule 2: Embrace Your Doomsday Scenario Rule 3: Start with a Clean Sheet of Paper Case Carmakers Must Take a New Road PHASE START SMALL Rule 4: First, Let’s Kill All the Finance Guys Rule 5: Get Everyone on the Same Page Rule 6: Build a Basket of Killer Options Case Auto Insurance in a World Without Accidents PHASE LEARN FAST Rule 7: A Demo Is Worth a Thousand Pages of a Business Plan Rule 8: Remember the Devil’s Advocate Case Are Hospitals DOA? Conclusion Moving From Innovation to Invention ADVANCED “An important book for the boards and managements of every company dealing with the avalanche of technological change.” -- Jack Greenberg, Chairman of Western Union and former CEO of McDonald’s “Mui and Carroll offer thought-provoking case studies and compelling rules for how large, established companies can quickly become true innovators. Given the disruptions we face, the timing of this book is perfect.” –Robert Schifellite, president, Investor Communication Solutions, Broadridge Financial Solutions “This book’s eight innovation rules represent the difference between big companies leveraging their assets or getting their assets whooped.” -- Guy Kawasaki, Former chief evangelist of Apple and author of " Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur" “There is no law that says today’s Fortune 100 must become tomorrow’s dinosaurs. Carroll and Mui map out how your corporation can inno- vate and prosper as well as—if not better than—the hottest start-ups.” –Don Tapscott, best-selling author of, most recently, "MacroWikinomics" “This is the best business book I’ve read in very many years. It absolutely nails how to and how not to innovate.

213 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 15, 2013

Reviews

[Kevin Kosar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who has time to read books these days? Well, if you are in business, you'd better find time to read this book. Because one day or another someone is going to eat your lunch. That's business.

As I worked through this book, and old saying kept coming to mind: "We have met the enemy and he is us." A company is many things---physical assets, monetary assets, processes and structures. But first and foremost it is people. And if the people at the top become stuck in their ways and mentally wedded to the past, then it is only a matter of time before the company hits the rocks.

As Chunka Mui points out, the context that businesses operate in is changing. Mobile, sensors, and other technological developments are initiating creative destruction. The longer a company is out of sync with the changed environment, the greater the peril.

The New Killer Apps helps the reader recognize the magnitude and ramification of these technological changes, and then proposes exercises to help one think about how to respond to the changes. (E.g., one can "begin with a clean sheet of paper" to consider what ones company SHOULD look like, and game out worst-possible scenarios for one's companies---a bit like reverse stress-testing.)

The New Killer Apps reads quickly---it is written in a conversational (but intelligent) tone. I very much enjoyed it.

[Jose Papo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a must read to all established companies. It gives 8 rules for companies to survive this new disruption age.

[Sondra · Rating 5 out of 5]

A "must read" for anyone working in business.