The Challenges of Becoming an Intrapreneur
My Name is Cyril Dugard and I work for Continental Toulouse since 2015. Currently I am working in the BU PSS-ECC as Marketing and Strategy Manager.
On July 15, 2019, I finished my intrapreneurship program which was a wonderful experience. It started at the end of 2018, when I won the “Intrapreneuriat Program Challenge” launched by Continental France aiming to develop and accelerate a project as a startup would do.
Before beginning the incubation phase of my project, I had to create a team around it which took me a lot of energy. I was excited and worried if I could take on the challenge and adapt myself to this new environment. Finally, the adaptation period was very quick. After a couple of days, I felt very familiar with all the startups around me and we all benefited from sharing our experiences with each other.
In total, I spend 6 months out of the Continental building in a business incubator with my team to develop our project. During this time, I was facing many new work habits and a new way of thinking. I learned how to collaborate and share while working with the other startups, especially when problems had to be solved. Further, the perception of time is different than in my past job at Continental. Every day an entrepreneur asks himself if the day after, his company will still be operating or not.
The next significant point is that, contrary to popular belief, it is definitely possible to work together in a large international team. Providing an alternative to the traditional and sometimes
inflexible methods the startup model has proven its effectiveness. In this agile market, there is always the challenge to find innovations and adapt to new circumstances.
The last point is, most of the people believe that you become a startup with three beanbags and a tabletop football in a room. During the past six months I learned that a startup is based on a mindset, a culture, a real motivation because people are passioned about a joint project which they implement and bring value to!!!
At the end of this adventure, I will keep on only positive. This experience allowed me to acquire intrapreneurial skills and great values for the success of new projects.
This article was written by our employee.
