Insights from Our Experience on Building 100+ Corporate Ventures

The primary reasons for failure often revolve around people and markets, not products or technologies. Here’s what we’ve learned over the last 14 years, building ventures for large corporations around the world.

Focus On Recruiting Early Customers

The most important initial objective is reaching a happy group of early customers who can vouch for your product or service. These customers should be from a specific use case and belong to a scalable segment that can demonstrate how they are better off with your innovation. Reaching a happy cohort of initial customers signifies the establishment of a predictable, repeatable, and scalable business model.

When identifying early customers, it's crucial to focus on recruitment rather than sales. The goal is to find individuals who share your vision and are willing to contribute their time and honesty. These early customers become your partners, investing their resources to provide you with the time and insight you need. They join you on your journey toward success, offering valuable support and guidance. By prioritizing these relationships, you can gain the necessary input and collaboration to drive your business forward.

Avoid Creating A Lot Of Buzz Around Your Idea

When it comes to sharing your idea, it's not always necessary to create a lot of buzz. Instead, focus on targeting the right audience who will appreciate and benefit from your story.

By keeping your idea under the radar for longer, you give yourself more freedom to execute your vision without unnecessary external pressure. When the time comes to share your story, let the market data and customer feedback speak for themselves. Their perspective holds more credibility than your own, so allow them to tell the story from their own experiences.

Hiring The Right People

Finding the right people with the right attributes is essential to implement ambidextrous innovation.

While finding them, look for qualities such as embracing ambiguity, a love for learning, having a growth mindset, and being willing to tackle challenges. In addition to this, these individuals should also possess relevant skill sets, particularly in digital product management and leadership.

One common issue in organizations is a lack of digital product management and commercialization leadership. It is crucial to consider sales and customer acquisition strategies early on. Acquiring early customers before a product is fully developed can help de-risk the process. This requires a commercialization leader (and later, a team) that can utilize the resources within the organization and its ecosystem to find and attract customers.

So when building a team for a new venture, the first key hire is a commercialization leader, who is essentially the mini version of the business co-founder. This leader understands how to determine whether an idea has the potential to gain traction or if it will not be successful. All team members report to this leader, who then reports to the higher-ups.

Besides the commercialization leader, various roles exist to form the team needed to execute the idea effectively. These roles include product design, tech, research, DevOps, and others that may be relevant to the specific project. By carefully composing a team that encompasses these different skills and expertise, the idea can be executed with a greater chance of success.

Structure for Accountability and Quick Decision Making

It is important to establish a system that promotes accountability and allows for quick decision-making. One way to achieve this is by implementing innovation as a shared service. By doing so, innovation becomes a responsibility that is shared by all stakeholders, ensuring that the process runs smoothly and efficiently.

To ensure effective collaboration, it is crucial to have accountable stakeholders on board. These individuals should be willing to support and facilitate the innovation process, allowing teams to move quickly and make progress. It is important to work with stakeholders who understand the value of innovation and are committed to its success.

Furthermore, it is essential to adopt an agile approach to innovation. Teams working on innovative projects should have regular stand-up meetings, lasting about 15 minutes, where they discuss their progress and address any obstacles they may be facing. This tactical approach helps keep the team informed and focused on achieving their goals.

In addition to these daily stand-ups, it is also important to have weekly insights and reviews. These sessions provide an opportunity to reflect on the work done during the week, identify any challenges or blockers, and share the lessons learned. By constantly evaluating and adjusting their approach, teams can ensure continuous improvement and maximize their chances of success.

Create steering committees with relevant stakeholders, which act as guiding forces, helping to steer the innovation projects in the right direction. By involving stakeholders early on and keeping them informed about the progress being made, it becomes easier to gain their support and address any concerns they may have. Over-communication is crucial in this process, as it helps avoid misunderstandings and ensures that everyone is on the same page.

Avoid Working With Internal It Teams

Internal IT teams are not equipped to build new businesses and are focused on supporting existing ones. They often have a backlog of tasks, which can make it difficult for them to prioritize new projects. Business leaders may instinctively turn to their IT team for help, but just because they understand technology doesn't mean they understand how to build a business around it. The most successful relationships occur when the business takes ownership of the project and makes the decisions.