Accelerated by the recent pandemic, building new businesses that reach beyond a corporate‘s core scope has become a priority in corporate innovation. While some companies pursue those initiatives internally, others argue it would be largely impossible to build businesses inside their corporate settings and choose to spin them out.
Rather than thinking ‚black-and-white‘, Ralph-Christian, Manfred and Christian suggest considering a more differentiated ‚Spin-Out/Spin-In‘ approach. Taking three perspectives - consultant, venture builder and corporate manager - we discussed the following questions:
- Why and when to pick a ‚Spin-Out/Spin-In‘ approach?
- How can it be effectively implemented?
- What are specific corporate requirements and challenges?
Dr. Ralph-Christian Ohr is a corporate innovation expert, looking at modern approaches for future-proof companies. Specialized in Dual Innovation and Scaling-Up, he is passionate about helping companies overcome 'Innovation Theater' by generating impact from innovation activities. Ralph is co-author of the book „Scaling-Up Corporate Startups“, awarded blogger as well as top voice on LinkedIn and Twitter. Prior to his consulting work, he held various positions in Corporate Innovation, Corporate Development and Product Management at Corporates and SMEs across different industries.
Manfred is a serial entrepreneur by heart. Right after starting his studies of business economics and computer science he founded mantro, which developed from a software consultancy into a unique and financially independent long-term digital company builder and joint venture partner for established organizations. In his role as CEO he introduces new ventures to mantro‘s portfolio and acts as contact for mantro‘s well-known partners. A core element of mantro‘s approach to create new ventures is that mantro matches the early stage investment of its partners and therefore creates a true eye to eye relationship with shared risk and aligned motivation. Together with his team at mantro he is currently running 14 successful ventures together with both corporates and SMEs. The proven mantro innovation approach and their unique track record has made mantro a regular visitor to German top-media outlets like Handelsblatt or Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
Christian (“Chris”) Lindener is the Head of Airbus Scale, Airbus’ startup accelerator and corporate venturing arm. In this capacity, Chris leads the company’s business-building and venturing activities and drives innovation partnering across technology hotspots worldwide.Prior to joining Airbus in November 2019, Chris worked as Managing Director for Wayra Germany, a technology innovation corporate venture capital (CVC) based in Munich focused on startup scaling and pre-scale investing. In this role, he oversaw the strategic direction of the organisation and managed the selection of startups and young technology corporations to be integrated into the Telefonicà investment portfolio. Chris lives in Munich with his wife and two children and in his free time enjoys surfing the European swells.
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