At the start of 2020, Telefónica launched Wayra Builder with the aim of adding value to their portfolio of startups. We wanted to create a vehicle that could not only invest in new companies but also generate them. This marked the beginning of our venture builder journey within a corporation. However, the path we ended up taking was different from what we initially expected.

In this presentation, I will take you through this journey, highlighting the various turning points and pivots we had to make to overcome the challenges we faced. I will also share the results and lessons we learnt along the way.

Susana’s professional career has been focused for more than 20 years on innovation. She is currently Head of Wayra Builder, Telefónica’s venture builder, the vehicle to create startups and invest in them. Previously she was Head of Telefónica Open Innovation Campus, which aims to explore and implement collaboration models that allow generating impactful innovation together with the academic world, also providing ways to address challenges and opportunities in the company. Before this role, for more than 7 years she was Head of Innovation Portfolio at Core Innovation (Telefónica), her role was managing and evolving Telefónica’s intrapreneurship program and carrying out the internal ventures portfolio.

She is co-author of the Harvard Business Review case study “Telefonica: A Lean Elephant” and two books (both in Spanish) ""The agile company"" and ""Lean Startup: application for entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs"".