The Day I Realized I was an Intrapreneur

I have always wanted to be an entrepreneur. In a world where college dropouts become mega-successful disruptors, my vision of creating a product from scratch with an impassioned team of like-minded people has always felt so sexy and exciting.

A while back, I was contemplating my next career move, and decided to take a personality test. When I received my results, a big glaring “desires stability and job security” popped up on the screen. Now, this could have been the end to my big dreams of being the next Whitney Wolfe Herd, but it was not.

It suddenly hit me — maybe I’m meant to be an intrapreneur.

That’s when I decided to take a role at I.G. Advisors, heading up the company’s new division (to be named The Mesa), focused on the intersection of philanthropy, community and technology. I, along with a lean, brilliant team, have created a solution that combines community strategy services and a tech platform that is focused on helping (U)HNWIs reach their giving potential by coming together to connect, learn and give. We’ve created a brand, a business model, and a product — just like any other startup — yet we have a company behind us.

Simply put, an intrapreneur is the act of behaving like an entrepreneur while working within an existing organization. Being an intrapreneur has its own set of challenges and opportunities. It comes with the support of an existing (and in my case, thriving) business with institutional knowledge and funding, but also the need to meet the expectations and objectives of an already established company with set processes, stakeholders, KPIs and reputation.

While we are still very much on our startup journey, I thought I’d take a moment to pause and reflect on what I’ve learned — and what I think others, especially in the philanthropy and social impact space, can learn from being an organizational intrapreneur.

• Treating every moment as a learning experience is critical. Learn fast and make changes even quicker. Some decisions are exceptionally big and hard, and others feel big and hard but aren’t. It will take practice to know which is which — and it is a muscle that must be flexed (believe me, I’m still working on this one). When I feel like I’m having decision paralysis, I lean on my team to assess whether we are talking about a big issue and crowdsource ways to handle it.
• Prioritize bringing your senior leaders on the journey alongside you. The ambiguity and ever-changing days of startup life — even one that lives in an established organization — can feel incredibly scary or uncomfortable. Having a board and/or a senior leadership team that understands this and offers solidarity and sound guidance at key moments is critical. Try your best to cultivate an open and transparent relationship with them to ensure they have your back, but that they also trust that you and the team can spearhead the work.
• Operations might look different from other parts of the business. Learning, as an organization, how to tap into the talents and approaches of the other parts of the business, but also knowing the right moments to advocate for an alternative direction, is a complex but important part of any new venture. One area where this has been really relevant for us at The Mesa is when hiring strong tech talent who have different salary expectations and require different recruiting practices than the other parts of the wider organization. In order to advocate for our particular needs, we always conduct benchmarking and talk to as many external people as possible.
• Hire a diverse, lean team that is as excited as you are about the concept is a must. Each member of this team needs to have entrepreneurial qualities and feel excited to get their hands dirty to achieve your mission. And, when you have a skills gap on the team, make sure to fill it with heavy hitters who can serve as Advisors. We are lucky enough to have trusted advisors supporting us in immeasurable ways as we get up and running.
• Burnout will happen if you do not take care of yourself (or your team). Every day can feel like a crisis moment or that there are a million and one product-related priorities that are all the most important. At the end of the day, however, your people are everything, and ensuring their wellbeing with a healthy workplace culture is critical. When things feel overwhelming or workload appears to be too much, the Eisenhower Framework is a good friend of mine and I encourage my team to use it.
• Find your pioneering customers is crucial. At The Mesa, we are focused on the powerful role that community (in our case, peer-to-peer interactions via tech) plays when it comes to transforming the way people with wealth give. This is a new and exciting concept focused on an untapped, and at times risk-averse, market. Unlike startups that focus on existing markets, we are trying something new — which is both a daunting and exciting opportunity. This means it is critical we find early customers who are also willing (or better yet, energized!) to take risks and lead the way. In our case, other industries have already proved that The Mesa’s concept works, but we still need brave souls in the impact space to take hold of it.

If you are an aspiring intrapreneur, I challenge you to reflect on whether the skills, experience and desire you have are well suited for this type of role. Then, if you’re already at an organization, have a chat with your boss. Bring an idea to them and assess their level of excitement around it. Make sure to provide clear ways in which your ambitions and thinking will have organizational value. If you are looking to change roles to find a company that is more suited to support your intrapreneurial spirit, make sure to probe during the interview process to better understand the organization’s appetite for outside-the-box ideas and new ways of working.

For organizational leaders, I challenge you to think about the role intrapreneurs could have in your company. So many organizations are facing staffing shortages, which has a long-term impact on staff morale, productivity and, of course, ability to meet goals. Creating an enabling environment for intrapreneurship can not only unlock your existing employees’ skills and interest levels, but it can also bring in new talent who otherwise would not have considered your organization. Reflect on what having a culture that encourages creative thinking and pushing of boundaries means for the way your employees work and approach issues and solutions? How can you empower hungry self-starters who have the passion and nature to transform the way your organization works? By doing so, you are sure to see more innovation, better recruitment and retention, and greater impact.