GARAGE

THE GARAGE

Besides being the place where we keep cars and store old things that nobody uses anymore, the garage of a house is also the place to work with tools and, most significantly (and quite literally), where many companies start.

The House Model analyzes the Garage area from two perspectives. From one point of view, the Garage represents both the period of time and the place where a business starts from scratch. From the other point of view, especially for a company that has been in the market for some years, it represents the organization’s drive to experiment, design, prototype, test and act in its attempt to constantly improve and innovate processes and products.

In essence, the Garage area of the House Model represents the organization’s attitude, energy, passion, curiosity and commitment to its business. The House Model bundles all of these attributes together in referring to the Garage as the organizational spirit which either helps start a new business or bolster an existing one.

A PLACE TO START A BUSINESS FROM SCRATCH

Although you can start a company from a wide array of locations, the garage of your house is the right place to do so as it allows you to start small, with as little investment and overhead as possible. The first stages of any startup involve a lot of prototyping, testing, modifying, experimenting, seeking feedback, changing ideas and so on, meaning that it is not a smart decision to work with a huge inventory and high fixed costs until your product fits the market need.

Many successful enterprises such as Google, Apple, Disney, Amazon, Harley-Davidson and more, started their operations in a literal garage that the founder owned or rented. This is real-life proof that in order to start a prosperous company, you need a solid business idea and a strong conviction in what you are doing more than you need a huge investment.

A PLACE TO BOLSTER AN EXISTING BUSINESS

As soon as companies start to grow, so does the complexity of their processes, activities and decision-making. Drawn into the maelstrom of growth, many leaders seem only concerned with sales and revenues, focusing their attention exclusively on operational effectiveness while leaving no time for experimentation or innovation, and finding no more time to work in the Garage as the founder used to do.

In this regard, the Garage is an invitation for an organization to remember the reasons why the founder started the enterprise, to recall the original passionate commitment to the business, and to think of the many times the company has tried, failed and learned. The Garage is a call to return to the company’s roots.

So, How Can Organizations Grow While Retaining the Positive Characteristics of Startups?

The House Model proposes keeping the flame of innovation alive in every corner of the organization. The Garage of an organization has to be the laboratory within which experiments are performed and mistakes made. The essence of experimentation lies in the permission to fail and learn from that failure. In scenarios of hyper-competition, the spirit of innovation is more crucial than ever.

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