This must-read book by investor Alexandre Lazarow provides valuable frameworks, tips, and examples of startup success across the planet.
Launched in 2012, YourStory’s Book Review section features over 280 titles on creativity, innovation, knowledge work, and digital transformation. See also our related columns The Turning Point, Techie Tuesdays, and Storybites.
Business frameworks and actionable tips for founders are well explained in the compelling book by Alexandre Lazarow, Out-Innovate: How Global Entrepreneurs – from Delhi to Detroit – Are Rewriting the Rules of Silicon Valley.
Though Silicon Valley dominates much of the prescriptions about startup business and financing, a new crop of startups in Asia, Africa, and Latin America is introducing other mindsets and skillsets. Some of these “frontier” startups are even present in parts of the US beyond Silicon Valley, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East.
Much has been written about startups in Silicon Valley and China, but this book unites insightful and inspiring lessons from other parts of the world. Written in an engaging storytelling format, this book is a must-read for entrepreneurs, investors, innovators, and ecosystem enablers.
Alexandre (Alex) Lazarow is a venture capitalist with Cathay Innovation and was previously with Omidyar Network, McKinsey, and Bank of Canada. Originally from Canada, Alex is a Kauffman Fellow and an adjunct professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, Monterey. He is a graduate of Harvard Business School and the University of Manitoba.
The material is well-researched and thoroughly referenced, with 30 pages of notes and sources. Here are my key clusters of takeaways from this 270-page book, summarised as well in the table below.
See also my reviews of the related books, The Prosperity Paradox, Funding Your Startup, The Startup Community Way, Tech Titans of China, and the Startup Guide series featuring Johannesburg , Cairo, Bangkok, and Singapore. Foundations
“Entrepreneurship is a driving force for employment,” Alex begins. “Startups are also a key driver of national innovation,” he adds.
“If we are in the age of innovation, then its economic, philosophical, and spiritual centre is in Silicon Valley,” Alex explains. It is home to three of the world’s five most valuable companies, all of which were once startups — Alphabet (Google), Apple, and Facebook. Silicon Valley has an estimated 40,000 startups and thousand VC firms. Venture capital has fueled successful companies like Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Genentech. However, the rise of broadband, mobile media, cloud computing, and collaboration tools have helped […]
