6 :: Entrepreneurs & Executives-in-Residence

🚪TL;DR:
This is the first Web Summit I’m missing since Lisbon hosts it. I started going as a volunteer in 2016, then went as a Startup Alpha founder and, later, as a corporate partner. I experienced it all - met incredible people, discovered some really cool innovations, and learned more than I could process in 4 days. What also became clear during those years was that the startup ecosystem is such a driving force for innovation that its players and dynamics are replicated externally to generate similar results in many different ways. Entrepreneurs or Executives-in-Residence are a good example of that. And as an ex-EiR myself, I can only attest to its value and expect to see the trend to leverage it as a tool to increase success rates growing over the next years.

🧠 What is it?
I met with an Executive-in-Residence a few weeks ago and had never heard about the role before so I researched it, only to find out that there is not much out there. It sounds like it is not so different from the Entrepreneur-in-Residence role that has been growing in popularity at VCs, Incubators, Accelerators, or Universities, as a way to leverage previous entrepreneurial experiences to build the next portfolio startups. Maybe with less building and more advising to it, but still a mix between a consultant and a business leader. EiRs (both types) are typically hired temporarily to provide guidance, expert advice, or diverse and external perspectives to help shape new ventures, when their experience and area of expertise are relevant. However, it also sounds like neither is much sought-after outside of the startup community - which, if you ask me, is a miss from other organizations.

📦 Why is it relevant?
Suppose such positions are used to increase the likelihood of success in communities where the only goal is for new ventures to survive through problem-solution fit, product-market fit, and growth. Why would it not be useful to do exactly the same in other organizations with similar drivers? I personally find it an interesting twist to leverage both of these roles (or even other variations like Intrapreneurs-in-Residence, if we go back to issue #3, for example), as a CINO, to support and future-proof any innovation project. My hypothesis is: organizations that hire EiRs to work with their teams and leverage their unique inputs will maximize their innovation outputs’ success.

Ps. I have a few other hypotheses about the future of governance/leadership to enable innovation but I’ll dive deeper into them in upcoming issues.

🧶 Where to learn more about it:
The concept of Entrepreneur-in-Residence is a bit more popular than the Executive, but still not widely spread and hard to define, as you can see in this Forbes piece. This Sifted article also does a good job describing the role in the VC world. As for Executives-in-Residences, the programs in business schools like Columbia or INSEAD, startup organizations like Plug and Play, or even Trade Associations and Chambers like Singapore’s can serve as benchmarks and inspiration. For both, however, I would say that the best way to learn more about it would be to actually engage directly with different EiRs and ask questions about their own context. I’d be happy to share my experience, so just feel free to reach out if you’d like to know more about it.

See you next Tuesday! 👋