An important outcome of corporate entrepreneurship is to facilitate Idea champions. These go by a variety of names, including advocate, entrepreneur, or change agent. Idea champions provide the time and energy to make things happen. They fight to overcome natural resistance to change and to convince others of the merit of a new idea. The importance of the idea champion is illustrated by a fascinating fact discovered by Texas Instruments: When TI reviewed 50 successful and unsuccessful technical projects, it discovered that every failure was characterized by the absence of a volunteer champion. There was no one who passionately believed in the idea, who pushed the idea through every obstacle to make it work. TI took this finding so seriously that now its number-one criterion for approving new technical projects is the presence of a zealous champion. Similarly, at SRI International, a contract research and development firm, managers use the saying “no champion, no product, no exception.”46 Research confirms that successful new ideas are generally those that are backed by someone who believes in the idea wholeheartedly and is determined to convince others of its value. Numerous studies support the importance of idea champions as a factor in the success of new products