If the Shoe Fits: Can a Leopard Change Its Spots?
by Miki SaxonA Friday series exploring Startups and the people who make them go. Read all If the Shoe Fits posts here
Passion is good.
But passion unchecked yields freely to fanaticism.
Fanaticism paves the road to a closed mind.
Fanaticism in business leads directly to ‘not invented here’ syndrome.
Software giant SAP is known for its passion; not for its ability to play well with others, especially startups.
An attitude that is coming home to roost and motivating co-founder Hasso Plattner to change.
It was “jealousy,” he said, and a “not-invented-here” mentality. “We always worked with other companies, but when they did not do exactly what we wanted them to do, then we developed all kinds of animosities.”
Now, the growing popularity of HANA, SAP’s new database, along with realization that the world has changed is driving change at the software giant.
Along with the normal things large corporations do to connect with startup—venture arm, pitching forums, hacking contests—Plattner is opening a 24-hour café complete with food, coffee, alcohol and even stand-up comedy.
“You know University Drive … the main drag … in Palo Alto [Calif.]? We have acquired a nice location there and we will open the HANA Cafe by [our tech conference] Sapphire, so in three months.
“… We created it for these [startup] companies. They can come in. They can connect there. We’ll have all the electronic connections to 1,250 companies in the world. They want to have contact to Beijing, they can. … Startup companies can collaborate there. … This is what we want to support.”
SAP plans two more, in Berlin and Shanghai, all running 24 hours a day and fully connected.
New world. New product. New attitude.
The results won’t be in for months, but if stogy SAP does change it will be proof positive that any company can.
In the meantime you have a great, new place to work and hangout.
Image credit: HikingArtist
