20 Insights From Visiting 20 Companies in Silicon Valley

At 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, my plane from London landed at San Francisco International Airport. I arrived with a backpack, a big suitcase and twenty questions about innovation.

My close friends were waiting for me and after greeting each other we ventured into the city for coffee. On the way, we passed the Blue Bottle Café, which is very similar to Camel's Step Café in Saudi Arabia. I do not know if one took the idea from the other, or if their resemblance to each other is purely coincidental.

Incidentally, it is not a shame to take existing ideas and develop or improve them. For more on this theme read the beautiful book "Steal like the artist".

We walked along San Francisco Bay until we reached Pier 39 where we had lunch and enjoyed excellent views of Alcatraz Island, home of the once-notorious prison. Speaking of which, I have read an interesting blog about entrepreneurship related to disposing of construction rubble from a renovation project at Alcatraz.

After lunch, we went to our hotel in a very pleasant town called Sunnyvale in Silicon Valley.

The next day was the start of a fascinating five-day trip in which we met 20 companies. They included Google, Facebook, Box, Dell, Amazon Web Services, Audio, Plug & Play, and Tesla. We also visited the University of Berkeley and investment companies and met with entrepreneurs, investors and some smart and crazy people!

I learned a lot during these visits and meetings and found some answers to my 20 questions about innovation.

Here are the 20 lessons and benefits I discovered while on this trip.

1) I learned that diversity, cultural and scientific differences is an important factor in Silicon Valley which can be the reason for their innovative environment. We have met with managers in big companies like Google, Facebook, and Tesla and we noticed they all came from different backgrounds (French, Russian, Indian). We spent time with them asking all the questions that came to our mind and each one of them had their own unique way and experience in answering them.

Most notably the leader of the Tesla team who was a young and active leader, and the nice manager at Google. He was so energetic that he answered more than 40 questions in one hour! The most notable speaker was the Russian investor, he did not use any presentation nor gave us a tour anywhere but instead, we spent 40 minutes with him listening to his stories which felt priceless. Then there was Omar from Amazon WS who conducted the session very well that he made us feel like we are part of their team.

2) In my journey, I learned that luck and prayer are a key reason for the success of seed investments, especially during the early stages. The biggest and wisest investors failed while those who never imagined their successes achieved tenfold. In their businesses, you cannot guarantee which start-ups will succeed, since they invest in the early stages. When asked about the secret of their successful investments they said “luck”, and others have added “and prayer”.

3) I learned the most important factor that helps the growth and prosperity of companies are forging strong relationships with customers and understanding better their needs and challenges.

4) As Google learned from the Google Plus adventure, I learned not to try to compete in an arena that you’ve been competing in for a while. Conserve your effort for what is good and improving because the world is full of opportunities.

5) I learned that technology is not the direct cause of disruption, but rather disgruntled clients. Some companies are afraid of losing their customers and try to protect them from their competitors. However, at the same time, they are pushing them away due to bad service and bad customer relations. Customer experience and customer service are of paramount importance.

6) At Google, programmers can earn the same salary as the vice president. This is good news for programmers!

7) One of the top Android OS executives at Google does not have a college degree. A college degree is not a prerequisite for employment. Google spent many years focusing on attracting students from the top five universities in the United States before their research proved there was no direct correlation between qualification and the achievement and creativity at work.

8) I learned that curiosity is one of the most important signs of creativity in a person. You should not employ people who do not have a hobby, even something as simple as a cooking hobby.

9) I learned in all large companies, there are challenges when the business departments collaborate with the innovation department - if there is an innovation department. Education, training, and incentives are required for successful innovation, as well as objectives that are common to both the innovation department and other business divisions.

10) Instead of spending a million dollars, P&G decided years ago not to invest more than $50,000 to experiment with any idea and learn from it. This has increased their creativity. Experimenting and learning quickly and at a lower cost reduces risk and increases corporate confidence to experiment more and more.

11) Plug & Play is an amazing accelerator that has a very distinctive business model. It gets revenue from the partners who want to protect themselves from startups penetration. They give the partners the opportunity to look at the startups' ideas and projects at an early stage then they invest in them.

PnP Do not take a dollar from start-ups or any of the investing companies. At the same time, if you have an idea about Fintech for example, this is one of the few accelerators that can get 40 banks in the same room for you to pitch your idea.

12) Box company has a very distinctive flat environment with very few closed offices. Even the CEO sits in an open space. Also, there is a vice president specializing in building the culture.

The company also has a flexible time system, a survey every six months about culture and engagement, entertainment, and free meals every day prepared by Michelin-starred chefs.

Then there is an interesting honorary position, the CFO "Chief Fun Officer". This person’s job is to increase employees engagement and loyalty.

13) Question: Why was the first industrial revolution in England rather than another country?" Answer: Because of "management". This was the conclusion of a very long research project by a Berkeley University professor.

On a related point, before training employees on new technology, the company should educate the managers about it so they know how to use the new technology and the new capabilities. Management is more important than technology and money.

14) At Amazon, if you want to start a new idea or project, you must first write a press release about it and then publish the document within the company. This should include Q&As and all the relevant details.

15) Amazon has exceeded the fast shipping and "same-day delivery" concept. The company is now looking at "instant shipping" without any time delays. They plan to start shipping goods before you order them, by using artificial intelligence to predict what you will buy.

16) The cost of building a startup today may not exceed $1,000 due to the availability of many free cloud services. A few years ago those costs would have been hundreds of thousands of dollars. This means greater competition and greater risk to large companies.

17) The world of today is moving towards leasing more than selling. This is the future not only for information systems and technology but also many other industries. Porsche now has a monthly subscription service to drive a car instead of purchasing it.

18) There is a saying: "Remember that people do not want to buy a quarter-inch drill. They want a quarter-inch hole in the wall." This compels you to look at the service you offer differently and makes you aware of competitors who may be outside your immediate industry surroundings. They do not have to be makers of drills!

19) I learned you may not find an answer to each question. If you can’t get an answer, write the answer. Experience, sail, explore, then tell them the answer. Write the book you love to read and create the story that you wish to hear.

20) I discovered on this trip that we at "Elm", especially in innovation, are much better than I imagined. I have found our company has a unique way of building creative employees, not only creative in their work, but in their home and society.

I discovered that Elm has a unique system of building loyalty with innovation rewards. We call it the "8848" program and have not seen anything similar in major companies.

Another discovery I made is that our approach to searching for challenges, discovering hidden needs and finding creative solutions according to proofed methodologies and integrated plans is distinct.

Additionally, our quest to invent a methodology to measure the maturity of the creative culture in companies is unique, as is the construction of indicators to measure the impact of innovation in organizations, and a lot more!

Most of these benefits are taken from interviews with senior managers of large companies in Silicon Valley.

While writing and revising this article I discovered that I had about forty benefits instead of twenty. So, there will be twenty more at a later date.

I hope you enjoyed the article and will take advantage of it in your work and endeavors.

Have a great day!