An Innovation Sports Metaphor

Sports metaphors are quite common, so I figured I go with the tried and true. These are my thoughts on "If innovation were sports what role some key folks fill":

Start-ups are the teams. They do the work. But not all players on the team are created equal:

• The founders are often the all-stars on these teams. A team is built around its leader. However too many all-stars on a team usually leads to chemistry issues.
• A team is always staffed with a bunch of essential, but largely unnoticed role players who do all the little things – dive for loose balls, push for that extra inch (ie the dirty work).

The VC’s would be the GM’s. They are the ones spending the money to bring in the right talent, but aren’t the ones doing the dirty work.

The boards would be the coaches as they help with the strategy, set the line-up, and make the right connection. They are also easily replaced when things aren’t going well.

Player-coaches are the hybrid board member who starts working for the team. It’s the rare mix of someone who can do both strategy and execution.

Regulators are the referees. If they are doing a great job, no one notices. But when they make the game about them, no one else is happy.

The market intelligence firms are the scouts. Always on the lookout for the undiscovered talent. The best of these are akin to the guys doing analytics or playing “Moneyball”, reinventing scouting.

The customers are the fans. They show up to cheer the team, buy your merchandise, and live and die by your every action in crunch time. They also can be quite loud when things aren’t working like they should. However, everyone loves a good bandwagon, an underdog story, and to hate their rival (GTHC).

The media are the analysts and commentators. They have short attention spans and are always interested in their own “Hot Take”.

The stock market, the buyout, or the last funding round is the scoreboard. If you want to know if you won go look at the scoreboard. Numbers don’t lie.

The accelerators are like the team physician. They build an organized training regiment, ask are you okay a lot, but ultimately need to hand you off since their advice is pretty standard.

The assorted innovation programs are like the waterboys providing fuel to the players. They aren’t necessary but it’s sure nice when someone gives you orange slices at half time. And if they are lucky enough to be championship-adjacent they get the ring.

And while I may not be Bobby Boucher, I do know some high-quality H2O when I see it. And, I think it’s high-time I got into the game, and put a few points on the board. Off to go join the team that is Ernest Maier and helping PaveDrain along the way.

Agree? disagree? Who might be the owners, cheerleaders, or even the mascot?