The Rainforest: The Secret to Building the Next Silicon Valley

Here are some thought provoking Axiom's from Victor Hwang's book, "The Rainforest." We have his permission to quote him. This book is worth reading if you want to accelerate economic growth. If you think you know how to create business clusters then you must read this book. I would guess you are wrong. Comments are from Mike Franchell, Executive Director of the Community Based Business Incubator, Inc.(tm) How does your company compare to the Rainforest Axioms? The Rainforest by Victor w. Hwang and Greg Horowitt"When we think of innovation systems, we should not try to force individual innovations into existence, but we should try to design and shape the proper environment that cultivates such innovations to be born.""The oddballs are the game changers in the innovations systems. In Rainforests, we want to nurture the weeds to grow."First Rainforest Axiom #1: While plants are harvested most efficiently on farms, weeds sprout best in Rainforests.A Rainforest is a human ecosystem in which human creativity, business acumen, scientific discovery, investment capital and other elements come together in a special recipe that nurtures budding ideas so they can grow into flourishing and sustainable enterprises.Why did ProFusion fail. "The answer lies in their respective cultural environments. Yahoo---(Had) access --- to human relationships.All the raw science and engineering talent in the world does not necessarily produce companies that can grow and thieve in the market place.Rainforest Axiom #2: Rainforests are built from the bottom up, where irrational economic behavior reigns.Rainforest Axiom #3: What we typically think of as free markets are actually not free.Rainforest Axiom #4: Social barriers- caused by geography, networks, culture, language, and distrust - create transaction cost that stifle valuable relationships before they can be born.Rainforest Axiom #5: The vibrancy of a Rainforest correlates to the number of people in a network and their ability to connect to with one anotherRainforest Axiom #6: High social barriers outside of close circles of family and friends are the norm in the world."we focus on ideas, talent and capital"Key Stone - integrative, influential, impactfulRainforest Axiom #7: Rainforests depend on people who actively bridge social distances and connect disparate parties together.Rainforest Axiom #8: People in Rainforests are motivated for reasons that defy traditional economic notions of "rational" behavior.Rainforest Axiom #9: Innovations and human emotion are intertwined.Rainforest Axiom #10: The greater the diversity in human specialization, the greater the potential value of exchanges in a systemRainforest Axiom #11: The instincts that once helped our ancestors survive are hurting our ability to maximize innovation today.Rainforest Axiom #12: Rainforest have replaced tribalism with a culture of informal rules that allow strangers to work together efficiently on temporary projectsRainforest Axiom #13: The informal rules that govern Rainforest cause people to restrain their short-term self-interest for long-term mutual gain.Rainforest Axiom #14: Rainforests function when the combined value of social norms and extra-rational motivations outweigh the human instincts to fear.

As someone who has been involved in public policy, venture capital and economic development for over a decade, I only wished this book was available to me when I started. The joke we often used = 'the only place not trying to be Silicon Valley in this world is Silicon Valley itself.' Thats because we focussed only on the tangibles and the first thing we could put a finget to was money as in "Lets have more VC dollars." This is somewhat like 'let them eat cake instead' when the basics have not been thought out.Victor and Greg have done an incredibly fine job in shaping the content to change this mindset. A chapter in this book "Capital in the Rainforest" points out that mutualism (where both sides benefit) and that V is always bigger than C (as in the entrepreneur matters more than the money). At the heart of this book, the authors are deeply spiritual thought leaders. They say that "making more by owning less" is possible. They essentially debunk the VC approach that early stage means more ownership = higher IRR. They offer elegant and fresh solutions like subsidized capital and 'balancing of interests.'Strongly recommended for policy makers, economic developers and VCs alike - it will change the way you see startups and your ecosystem. It will make you a responsible member of the forest.

Innovation authors generally tend to present concepts and theories which interest many audiences; however, a number of my colleagues have grown weary of non-actionable theories and have looked forward to the publication of this book. It has delivered against all the authors promised.For those that work in Venture Capital, Research, Corporate Development, and other Entrepreneurial endeavors, cycles wax and wane with the next great theory that will explain what delivers success and what leads to failure. The RainForest creates not only a compelling theory backed by quantitative logic, but also weaves the most important element of human dynamics into an actionable narrative.Long ago Kevin Kelley talked about innovation taking place on the edge of biological ecosystems and sustaining innovation required catalysts be introduced to provide the necessary nutrients for growth. The authors have demonstrated this insight applies to all ecosystems. Additionally, they share their insights on the process by which this occurs and built a compelling roadmap for the journey.I'm looking forward to sharing this book with all my colleagues who live in the innovation ecosystem both in large enterprises and in the start-up community.

This book delves into the core of what spawns true innovation--or rather innovative environments--the human element. Innovation is not defined by technology or scientific discoveries or brilliant ideas. It is true that these elements are essential components of the process, but they are far from sufficient. A successful innovation culture requires people, people from all walks of life, all backgrounds and expertises--people are the glue that hold it all together.This book speaks to changes in culture, in the importance of lowering social barriers and alterations of perspective that are required to bring about the extensive (and often prohibitively difficult) collaboration that is necessary to create self sustaining innovative environments. It challenges ideas that innovation can be "engineered" from the top down and rather presents it as an organic growth, a symbiosis of tacit social contracts. True innovation comes from maximizing serendipity, it cannot be predicted, it cannot be engineered, but its conditions can be fostered. This book will change your perspective on how to enter into collaborative environments, how to interact with diverse parties, and how to change your attitude and behavior to benefit a system (and consequently yourself) that spawns truly revolutionary innovations.

Its almost looks new to say the least

As advertised - Shipped right to my house, no problems.

É um livro interessante sobre a formação de ecossistemas inovadores. Explica as diferenças de mentalidade nesse sistema. Colaboração é chave e eu recomendo para quem pensa em formar qualquer tipo de comunidade de negocios ou mastermind

Veramente un ottimo libro, intreressante, etico. Da una visione del Business legato alle startup (e non solo...) veramente bella, quasi utopica. Ma se vogliamo veramente fare del buon Business e vogliamo, nel nostro perimetro di influenza, fare la differenza, rappresenta in pieno come dovremmo comportarci ed agire. Istruttivo, utile anche dal punto di vista pratico. Ottimo acquisto!!!!

Livro que ajuda muito a entender esse novo ambiente no qual vivemos e que precisamos cada mais de colaboracao e atencao para nao perdermos oportunidades.