As the saying goes, “If you want to run fast, run alone. If you want to run far, run together.” This book was made possible by the steadfast support of those running alongside me, and sometimes ahead of me, who helped propel me across the finish line.
First and foremost, thank you to my wife, Shea Loewen Lazarow. She is the reason I began this book, and the reason I finished it. Over the arduous marathon of the writing process, Shea was my constant companion, cheerleader, advocate, thought partner, and editor. Quite simply, this project would not have been possible without her.
Thank you to my family for their strong and enduring support. First to my mother, who taught me as a young child how to structure my thinking, and to whom I credit my proclivity for answering every question in three parts. Thank you to my brother and my father for supporting this project and all my other endeavors. The rest of my family was incredibly supportive, including my uncle Paul who provided invaluable feedback throughout. Special mention also goes to my family-in-law, who have adopted me and my family into their own—and to Wayne Loewen for being the first reviewer to read the manuscript.
My research team was critical to completing this book. Maya Lorey was a fabulous thought partner and pushed my thinking on a number of critical topics, including the impact of highly successful startups and the power of diversity. Nihar Neelakanti was a valued partner on distribution and marketing strategy. I also want to thank Maxwell Harrison, Julia Turnbull, Rushil Prakash, Julie Fukunaga, Paige Preston, and Sandy Lin for their invaluable research assistance.
Carol Franco, my agent, took a chance on me and worked tirelessly to find Out-Innovate a great home with Harvard Business Review Press. Carol, along with her husband, Kent Lineback, has been a consistent sounding board for the project, and for that I am endlessly appreciative.
The entire HBR Press team has been fabulous to work with. Thank you first and foremost to my editor, Jeff Kehoe, whose counsel I regularly sought and highly valued on the conception of the book, the framing of the issues I explore, and the book’s positioning in the market. I am grateful to Alicyn Zall for her editorial support, Stephani Finks for the beautiful cover, Erika Heilman for leading the marketing of the book, Melinda Merino for her advice on the launch strategy, Allison Peter for shepherding me through production, Betsy Hardinger and Karen Palmer for their copyediting work, and the rest of the Press team for their invaluable support.
Countless friends and colleagues helped shape the critical ideas that propel Out-Innovate. Some of the earliest theories germinated with Yuwei Shi, my thoughtful coprofessor at the Middlebury Institute for International Studies, as we dealt with the dearth of material on global entrepreneurship during preparations for our class. Nick Nash, with whom I have collaborated on a number of projects, including the Kauffman Stewardship Pledge (a code of conduct for the venture capital industry), was a superb intellectual sparring partner, and his firm Asia Partners shared valuable research insights. Thank you to Chris Schroder, an early global entrepreneur and storytelling pioneer, for providing regular advice on the book and the publication process and for taking one of the first plunges into the manuscript. Thanks also to Brad Feld and the entire Endeavor team for their thought leadership on startup ecosystem development. Finally, hats off to Austin Arensberg, Emmanuel Smadja, and Mark Meras, consistent discussion partners, brainstormers, and strategists.
Many people took the time to read full and partial manuscripts of the book, and each provided a valuable perspective. Special thanks to Jay Harris, Keith Davies, Tom Barry, Chris Bishko, Mark Palmer, Sanjay Wagle, and Alex Bakir.
A number of people shared ideas or introduced me to people whose stories I could learn from and perhaps tell. This includes Ali Hashmi, Beau Seil, Bill Draper, Catherine Cheney, Chris Sheehan, Chris Yeh, Courtney Guertin, Dan Ariely, Ettore Leale, Jasper Malcolmson, Kate Connally, Rob Lalka, Ed Simnett, David del Ser, Maelis Carraro, Niko Klein, Patrick McKenna, Sangu Delle, Sheel Mohnot, Russ Siegelman, and Zheng Huang. Thank you as well to my entire Kauffman Fellows class, especially Sid Mofya, Dalthon Wright, Jeremy Yap, and Dan Abelon.
It is essential to acknowledge the formative impact of my colleagues at Omidyar Network, particularly Arjuna Costa, who invited me to join his team of one and immersed me in a world of global innovation, for which I will forever be grateful. Other colleagues at Omidyar Network provided key advice along this journey, including Tilman Ehrbeck, Jenny Johnston, Anamitra Deb, Peter Rabley, and many others. My colleagues at Cathay Innovation helped open my eyes to the European and Chinese ecosystems, and I would be remiss not to thank Denis Barrier, Mingpo Cai, and Simon Wu.
Thank you as well to the Bracken Bower Prize and the teams at McKinsey & Company and the Financial Times, notably Dominic Barton and Andrew Hill. Your prize was the catalyst for this project, which otherwise might have proved too daunting to start. The wider Bracken Bower community has provided critical support along the entire life cycle of this project, notably my friends Scott Hartley, Irene Sun, and Mehran Gul.
Over 250 entrepreneurs, investors, and ecosystem builders granted interviews for this book, and I was unfortunately only able to feature a small minority in the text. Thank you to each and every one of you for your time and invaluable insights. You are the backbone of Out-Innovate.
Lastly, thank you to all Frontier Innovators—the men and women in the arena. Thank you for what you do, for helping to change the world one venture at a time, and for inspiring the rest of us to dream bigger.