Acceleration Co-op

 

They call the new business process Challenge Driven Innovation where clearly stated problems or goals (challenges) provide the fundamental units upon which a Challenge Driven Enterprise can be built. Applying the well-known adage: "a problem well-stated, is a problem half solved," and widely communicating it to an external 'crowd' with diverse backgrounds and skill sets, a faster, lower cost path to solutions can be found. A challenge or system of challenges that break down a problem or goal into smaller chunks is a better way to organize work.

 

Business today is conducted in an era of low cost search, online collaboration, electronic transactions and global engagement that enable a different organization structure. Instead of applying traditional methods of doing business with vertical integration of the various elements in the value chain, the open innovation marketplace has created a new normal - distributed work and mass collaboration. Bingham and Spradlin call it 'vertical disintegration.' Advances in communication and search for information has enabled lower transaction costs between separate functions that traditionally resided within a vertically integrated corporation. These lower costs and also a more agile response of the various elements in the value chain have encouraged disintegration of the old corporate structure. 

 

Start-ups have the luxury of never expending time and money to vertically integrate in the first place. Instead, they identify at what point in the value chain they can make a profitable contribution and focus on that. The Internet provides searchable access to specialized skills and services that are tapped only when needed. Overhead costs are much lower as a result.  The future workplace will be a collection of expertise (via open crowds) that is a part of a network orchestrated by the new company. Contrast this new approach to work with the traditional, vertically integrated, hierarchical firm and it becomes clear that the new form can be far more efficient and cost effective. This trend is encouraged by individuals that want to engage globally while maintaining their present local residence (an observation also brought forth by Thomas Friedman in his book The World Is Flat ).

 

Many of these ideas can directly apply to the value proposition offered by Acceleration Co-op.  It is the 'orchestrator' of  a crowd of experts that self-selects (one of the valuable attributes of crowds that Bingham and Spradlin point out). This optimizes the match between a problem's technology area and the expertise of the solver/advisor. Think of the orchestrator as a stimulator and educator that locates innovation and production tools to convert intention to actual products; exploiting openly sourced supply chains to deliver products. 

 

Through a crowd of sufficiently diverse experience and skills, Acceleratees can gain access to collective intelligence that enables rapid linkage to answers/solutions to their business questions/problems. 'None of us is smarter than all of us.' Acceleration Co-op is, in effect, a crowd-sourcing platform that provides access to selected expertise. Furthermore, it can extend the impact of this platform by also providing "orchestration" (via Private Circles and possible spin-outs) of open sources of value at each link in the value chain of an Acceleratee's product or service.  

 

I hope this synopsis and alternative view of a business model for organizing work has given you food for thought as you address your new venture activities. There are many more pearls in The Open Innovation Marketplace. I highly recommend it.