Lessons Learned Leading Indeed’s Incubator
It’s been a pleasure and honor to work at Indeed, as the Head of Program for their global Incubator. Indeed is a special company with strong values, a phenomenal culture, and kinetic executive leadership.
As I embark on my next journey I feel compelled to share lessons learned leading Indeed’s Incubator and acknowledge the hard work and dedication my peers contributed towards building a successful corporate innovation program.
- Fall in love with the problem, not the solution. This is probably a mantra my team is sick of hearing by now. Any opportunity I get I share this dictum with colleagues, pitchers, journalists, entrepreneurs, and intrapreneurs. The most successful products and companies solve a major pain-point for users. As needs evolve, these products must be iterative in nature. If you’re not solving a real problem, it’s not worth building. The most value will be derived from solving challenges, products should be built with this in mind, always.
- Executive support is paramount for any innovation program success. I’ve spoken to other corporate innovation leaders and often find there is either a lack of support or misalignment of expectations from their executive leadership. Indeed Incubator was designed with executive support built in from day one. The program enables senior leaders to advise on product direction, serving as sponsors to each of our teams. Not only does this align with business objectives, but it enables our team to access the best and brightest minds in our organization when developing new products.
- Cross functional collaboration is key. When we built Incubator, it was intentionally designed to be cross functional in nature. Multidisciplinary teams yield better outcomes and provide a versatile approach to product development. Having access to marketing, global product commercialization, UX, program, and legal, in addition to product and engineering, make for a much more viable product and provide stronger scaling opportunities.
4. Challenge the status quo. One of my greatest difficulties transitioning from entrepreneur to employee at a large corporation was learning to accept the status quo, or being told to do something a certain way simply because “this is how we’ve always done it.” At times, I’m sure I ruffled a few feathers, but I’m confident that challenging a system and disrupting the norm led to greater impact and forward strides in innovation.
One of my colleagues once told me that I was known for “breaking through brick walls”. I wasn’t sure how to take this at the time (I didn’t love the imagery), but when I look back at my tenure at Indeed and the values I instilled in my team, I am proud of the difference made because I chose to question the status quo and did my part to enact real organizational change.
5. Share learnings along the way. At Incubator we have the privilege of serving as the innovation arm at Indeed, a real-life R&D lab. We run and test experiments, build new products, develop at high velocity, and operate as a scrappy startup within a large corporation. Given the nature of our work, we are exposed to a plethora of learnings and invaluable education every day. Our team launched the learning initiative as a mechanism to increase the knowledge-base and imbue lean startup principles to anyone at the company. This program has not only cultivated a sense of intrapreneurship but also democratized innovation, providing valuable insights and lessons to thousands of employees across Indeed globally.
6. Be your own biggest advocate. I learned this early in my career as an ambitious woman in a predominantly male tech industry. You are responsible for your own career and must advocate for yourself if you want to progress in your profession. Whether it’s a promotion, raise, title change, or larger scope, speak up and show your value (preferably with data and impact evidence). Do not wait for opportunities to appear, you must seize them whenever possible. A little shameless self-promotion goes a long way.
7. A good leader must be malleable. Leadership and management should never be treated as a “one size fits all” methodology. It is your job as a leader to adjust to the needs of your team and to understand how they work most effectively, what motivates them, and how to empower them to succeed. I’ve been fortunate to have incredible teammates at Indeed, both with my direct reports (here’s looking at you Kevin, Genesis, Megan, Claire, Cat, and Rose) as well as my peers on the Incubator leadership team (Hi Dustin, RC, Alexander, Dan, Fareed, Kristen, Ann, Joe & Nate!)
8. People are a company’s greatest asset. This comes as no secret, especially to a company like Indeed that really does put people first.
Lastly, an enormous acknowledgement of gratitude to: Kevin, Genesis, Megan, Claire, Dustin, Alexander, Kristen, Connie, Naveed, Jeremy, my mentors Lisa R, Kumar, & Wendy, my mentees Jess & Yulia, Evan, Mackenzie, Priya, Jack, Britni, Incubator Women’s group, Incubator Leadership, and last but certainly not least, the entire Incubator team in Austin, Seattle & Tokyo.
If you’ve gotten this far, I bet you’re wondering why I would leave such an incredible job at a company I deeply respect and a role I absolutely love. I assure you this decision was not easy. I not only enjoyed my life at Indeed but saw a long term future there. As meaningful as my work has been at Indeed, it’s time for me to move outside of the bounds of comfort to something new and different.
Working with startups and entrepreneurs has been a passion of mine for over a decade. I appreciate the grit and dedication it takes to build something new and risk your entire livelihood to do so. I vividly remember the blood, sweat, and tears I poured into my startup and the people who contributed to our success each step of the way. When I received the call, I knew it was time to jump back into the startup ecosystem and work side by side with entrepreneurs once again.
I’m excited to announce I’ve accepted the role as Managing Director of Expa VC, and will be charged with spearheading their early stage startup accelerator program. Expa was founded by Uber & StumbleUpon founder Garrett Camp. They are a VC of builders, of former-entrepreneurs who understand the challenges, obstacles, and opportunities of entrepreneurship.
I look forward to taking the valuable lessons learned at Indeed and bringing them to my next role. I am honored to have had the opportunity to contribute to Indeed’s Incubator and I am excited for this next chapter, to invest in entrepreneurs and startups that could potentially one day change the world.
With love and gratitude,
Lisa
