What startups and corporates can learn from each other?

No one is ever too old or too young to learn; a baby start learning from birth, and similarly an old man learns until his last day on earth- even from a child; be it through observation or being advised. As the saying goes, “No man is an island”, this is to emphasize that as people we need each other to survive. In the same manner, it is so in the business field- there are a lot of lessons startup businesses can learn from corporates, and there is so much corporates can learn from startups.

The two may appear to be different or opposite; start-ups are known to be fast moving, agile and future-focused, on the other hand corporates are known to be cumbersome, slow moving, and comfortable on operating the same way for decades with the notion “if it is not broken, why fix it?”. However opposite they may appear, there is a common ground for both of the entities which is making money; that means there is for sure something they can learn from each other or even collaborate for common good.

Collaboration

One way of learning from each other can be through collaborations or partnerships. This can happen by corporates incubating startups through institutional programming. “Successful collaborations can unlock game-changing mutual benefits, but getting to that point is not without challenges,” the Startupbootcamp Survey among alumni base from a large mix of industries and industries across the world shows

The Startupbootcamp in its vision report observed, “Even for the most innovative of corporates, the sheer volume of people, geographies and processes that can slow down their world makes work with agile, enthusiastic startups hugely appealing. Likewise, startups are determined to tap into the resources, customer base, experience and finances of the corporate world. It’s a rare entrepreneur, who thinks they can do it alone. Collaboration is at the forefront of everyone’s minds, and most startups know that collaboration is critical when it comes to helping with the sale of their product or bring it to the market.”

Startup businesses are popular for their ideas and grip on new technologies, not forgetting their drive and ambition. Employees are admirably passionate and have tireless work ethics that do not go unnoticed and often help propel the organization forward towards profitability and success. To bring the vibe and the vibrant energies back, it is essential for corporates to collaborate with startups to bring that spark back and grow even more while at the same time helping the start up to grow.

Corporates can also buy services and products from local small startup businesses, or offer the physical space for meetings and events instead of supporting the already big and established corporates. Corporates may prefer other corporates for services and products for the reasons that they want luxury, but supporting startups is a sure way of helping them to grow to be a force to reckon with.

What can startups learn from corporates?

1. Focus on your employees: As a small business, it’s important to focus on your employees early on so that it becomes a core value as the business continues to grow. By building a culture that appreciates, celebrates, and empowers employees, you’ll find you can more easily scale your business because you have a motivated staff that will work hard to take the company to the next level.
2. Establish Processes to Ease Stress and Frustration: The beginning phases of a startup can be chaotic. There are so many tasks that need to get done that it can be hard to prioritize where to start. Often businesses just want to get started on whatever product or service they are working on and get it out to the public as soon as possible, yet they forget to take a step back and focus on the business and operations themselves.
3. Know Who You Are: Putting processes and procedures together not only helps to organize the business, but they also help companies define what kind of business they want to be. Big companies have strong brand personalities that people can identify with. They know who they are and they know who they want to target-small businesses need to aim to achieve the same.

What can corporates learn from startups?

1. Take Risks: Out of necessity, startups and small businesses take risks in order to move the company to the next level. As businesses grow, however, there is much more at stake, making larger businesses more risk averse than they were in their early years. When a business graduates from a small business to a large business, it can be easy to grow stagnant. Processes get set up, and everybody starts abiding by the rules of the organization. Big businesses may forget to work on their business while continuing to grow their business. Evolving the business includes taking risks.
2. Remember Who You Are: For big brands, it can be easy to get caught up in day-to-day operations and forget the passion that existed in the infancy stages of the company. Through years of operational changes, turnover, stress, and pleasing investors, many large businesses lose their connection to the original story they wanted to tell. But it’s always important to get back to your roots and remember why the business was started in the first place. By keeping the passion alive, big brands can bring energy into their culture, and their employees will be encouraged and motivated to take the business’s growth even further.
3. Spend Wisely: The phrase “more money, more problems” doesn’t only apply to individuals. As a business grows bigger, pockets get deeper, and the yearn to spend money mindlessly and on frivolous things seems to emerge. Often brands with large amounts of money at their disposal can actually be negatively impacted due to the excess of cash. Think like a startup would financially. Focus on spending money as efficiently as possible, whether it be on investing in new equipment, hiring top talent, or treating your staff to an annual retreat to show your appreciation. Ensure your spending habits align with business goals. All purchases should make sense for the company; don’t spend money simply because it’s available in the budget.

Research have shown how healthy collaborations between startups and corporates can be to both businesses, what is vital is to be able to pick a company which will be more suitable with what you stand for and what you want to achieve.