NATHALIA GARCÍA LESMES
MAGAZINE MANAGER
Note taken from Manager Magazine.
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Digital platforms and technology are an ally for companies to innovate, but many times more innovative than the tool itself is the idea behind it. For this reason, although startups have a technological component from their inception, the DNA considered innovative is rather anchored to a different way of thinking.
COMPANIES FROM DIFFERENT SECTORS OF THE ECONOMY ARE INCREASINGLY TRAVELING PATHS TO DIVERSIFY AND ADAPT, HOWEVER, there are companies that from their birth had the innovative gene integrated, especially technology companies due to the dynamics of change in which they are immersed.
According to Santiago Amador, director of Areandina’s Master’s in Innovation, startups require processes that are or are very similar to the processes of innovative models, and although some may break out of this pattern, it is not usual.
“For example, they start from a rigorous study of customer needs (pain points), quickly generate prototypes or hypotheses that are adjusted on the fly and consider their products or services as eternal prototypes that seek to improve on the fly,” he says.
On the other hand, although a large part of innovative solutions include technology, when talking about technology we are not always talking about innovation.
In fact, “many of the players in the technology sector only repeat traditional models that still work, although they tend to disappear, but still generate business opportunities that will continue to be exploited until they are totally obsolete,” says 2NV, a company that it accompanies other companies in their processes to generate value based on innovation.
Although the creativity they develop to find solutions can make companies resilient, technology companies and startups face the challenge of financial sustainability. “It is not only having the idea of innovation, but being able to carry it out through a growth financial model, in which financing and/or investment is sought that will lead it to be successful over time,” adds 2NV.
For this reason, entities such as iNNpulsa, the Ministry of Culture, MinCiencias, Colombia Productiva, Bancoldex and the Chambers of Commerce through crowdfunding platforms offer special lines of financing, even non-reimbursable for entrepreneurs.
