Why Large Orgs Need Boutique Innovation Partners: Insights from "Loonshots"

We are all familiar with the pain of watching large organisations try and drive innovation. Safi Bahcall 's book, "Loonshots: How to Nurture the Crazy Ideas That Win Wars, Cure Diseases, and Transform Industries," provides valuable insights into why traditional, large-scale businesses often struggle with innovation. As a digital innovation firm working with organisations in the hundreds of millions to billions of revenue range in the industrial and government sectors, I have found these principles particularly poignant.

Over the past 20 years working with large organisations, in sectors like industrial, food and beverage and government, I have witnessed the effects Bahcall describes and have come to understand why CxOs at Clevvi’s clients choose to engage us in ways that make us an extension of their team. Let’s explore, using Bahcall’s principles, how partnering with boutique innovation firms like Clevvi helps large organisations address the critical success factors necessary to successfully drive innovation and deliver what Bahcall calls “loonshots.”

Phase Separation: Leveraging External Innovation Teams

Bahcall’s concept of phase separation highlights the necessity of maintaining distinct environments for nurturing loonshots and executing core business functions. In large organisations, integrating innovative initiatives within the existing structure often leads to conflicts, competing agendas, and stifling rigidity. By partnering with Clevvi, our clients use us as an independent innovation team to execute on high-impact initiatives without disrupting their core operations. For instance, a large food and beverage client recently collaborated with us in a joint hackathon model to tackle a supply chain optimisation challenge. In this scenario, the client even collocated operational team members with our innovation team, fostering a collaborative yet distinct environment conducive to breakthrough thinking.

Dynamic Equilibrium: Balancing Innovation and Operational Excellence

Maintaining a dynamic equilibrium between innovation and operational excellence is critical for sustained success. Large organisations excel at executing structured, methodical processes, what Bahcall terms "franchises." However, this very strength can become a barrier to innovation. By using an innovation partner like Clevvi, CxOs can better manage this balance. Our partnership model allows for flexibility, enabling organisations to ramp up innovation efforts in response to specific needs or opportunities. This approach provides periodic surges of innovation that are more effective than constant, low-level attempts, ensuring that operational excellence is not compromised while pursuing transformative ideas.

Critical Mass: Scaling Innovation Capabilities

Achieving critical mass is essential for triggering transformative change. Large organisations often lack the diverse skill sets and specialised expertise required for effective innovation. At Clevvi, our engineers are deeply specialised and motivated by the opportunity to work on groundbreaking projects. This diversity and depth of expertise enable us to scale up rapidly in response to innovation opportunities. Moreover, our clients benefit from a network effect—the more innovation initiatives we undertake, the better we become at identifying and addressing threshold issues and opportunities to accelerate. This cumulative expertise enhances the success rate of subsequent projects, providing a compounding benefit to all our clients.

Innovation as a Service

Bahcall’s principles from "Loonshots" clearly demonstrate why large organisations often struggle with internal innovation and how partnering with boutique firms like Clevvi can overcome these challenges. By leveraging phase separation, maintaining dynamic equilibrium, and achieving critical mass, organisations can drive significant innovation without disrupting their core operations. This partnership model not only accelerates innovation but also enhances the overall effectiveness and agility of large organisations in navigating today's dynamic market landscape.

At Clevvi , we are committed to being the catalyst for your next loonshot, bringing together the best of both worlds — your market leadership and our radical innovation.