The Intrapreneurship Gap

Intrapreneurship sounds easy to celebrate: “Act like an owner,” “Think like a founder,” “Drive change from within.” These phrases inspire, yet inside most companies, they remain little more than empty slogans. Employees try to live by them—and hit walls. They spot real user problems—and get told to stay in their lane. They pitch promising ideas—and get buried in months-long approval loops. The result? The company says “Innovate.” The system says “Not that way.”

Where intrapreneurship actually begins

Real intrapreneurship rarely sparks in a strategy session. It starts when someone close to the work spots something broken: a recurring workaround, a user friction point long normalized, or a small hack that could unlock a big opportunity. That moment is the spark: “This is worth fixing.” From there, the journey mirrors a startup: assume the opportunity is real, run small experiments, gather signals, and recruit help as momentum grows. But unlike a startup, the intrapreneur lacks full autonomy. They’re stuck inside a system built for efficiency, not discovery. That’s where most ideas go silent or end up in complex corporate innovation programs.

“Innovation doesn’t die from a lack of ideas. It dies from a lack of entrepreneurism.”

Two types of innovation—Only one gets funded

Most organizations run two parallel innovation streams: top-down initiatives and bottom-up signals. Top-down initiatives are strategic, budgeted, and aligned with leadership priorities. These get project codes and executive sponsors. Bottom-up signals are spotted by those closest to the customer. Raw, early, and often closer to real needs. Guess which become meaningful products? And which get ignored? Not because bottom-up ideas are wrong—because they don’t fit the plan.

Why intrapreneurship dies without systemic support

Telling employees to “think like founders” while confining them to rigid organizational logic isn’t empowerment—it’s demoralization. If you want intrapreneurship to work, you need more than slogans. You need systemic shifts. Without slack time—space beyond daily tasks—nothing new gets built. Without air cover, leaders must protect and finance early ideas before they “make sense.” Blocking user access to testing guarantees guessing. Old processes kill new ideas, so fast-tracks and exceptions are critical. And internal bets need legitimacy; treat them as real work, not side hustles.

Quick self-test: Are you really supporting intrapreneurs?

• Can employees run real experiments without first asking for budget?

• Do early ideas have clear pathways—or just portals?

• Is pivoting seen as learning—or failure?

• Have any bottom-up ideas recently become products or features?

• Do people know who to talk to when they spot non-obvious opportunities?

If you hesitated on more than one, you’re not alone. But that hesitation is your signal.

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From criticism to capability: Changing the architecture