Agile Giants: Lessons from Corporate Innovators
73 episodes - English - Latest episode: 5 months ago - ★★★★★ - 24 ratingsFundamentally, a startup within a company is the same as one inside the proverbial garage: a group of entrepreneurs trying to make the world a better place using new ideas and inventions. Each week, join Sean Ammirati, Co-Founder & Director of the Carnegie Mellon Corporate Startup Lab, as he interviews guests who are doing the important work creating startups inside large corporations. If you already are a corporate entrepreneur, want to become one or are just looking for some advice around commercializing transformative innovation, this podcast is for you.
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Episodes
Episode 68: Moderna's AI Journey into Generative AI with Andrew Giessel, Executive Director of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence
February 22, 2024 21:01 - 38 minutes - 52.7 MBEpisode description: In the season finale of Agile Giants, we're thrilled to welcome Andrew Giessel, Executive Director of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence at Moderna. I first crossed paths with Andrew when Moderna’s AI Academy was launched in collaboration with CMU. I can attest to the incredible work he's been doing for years at Moderna. Andrew was the first member of Moderna’s Data Science team and he has been at the forefront of Data Science and AI at Moderna for years. ...
Episode 67: Decoding Analytics: Richard Clarke Unveils Highmark Health's Strategic Approach to AI in Healthcare
February 15, 2024 19:07 - 38 minutes - 53.4 MBEpisode description: In this podcast episode, we engage in an insightful discussion with Richard Clarke, Chief Data and Analytics Officer at Highmark Health. With an impressive 8-year tenure, Richard offers a unique and seasoned perspective on the evolution of analytics and data science. He and his team have built a remarkable foundation at Highmark, skillfully leveraging it during the recent surge in Generative AI, while simultaneously investing in high ROI projects across the spectrum ...
Episode 66: Corporate Innovation Reimagined: Karsten Rönner's Vision of AI and Emerging Technologies at Bosch’s grow platform
January 25, 2024 22:01 - 32 minutes - 45.2 MBEpisode description: In this podcast episode, we welcome Karsten Rönner from Bosch's grow platform, who shares his journey and insights into AI and emerging technologies. Discover how Karsten's entrepreneurial background influences his leadership at Bosch, shaping the company's innovative approach in adopting advanced generative AI. The episode highlights how AI has revolutionized Bosch startups, showcasing its impact in the competitive tech market. Join us for a fascinating dive into t...
Episode 65: Pitching Generative AI to the C-Suite with Melissa Murphy
January 04, 2024 22:04 - 22 minutes - 30.7 MBEpisode description: In this episode of Agile Giants, we are joined by Melissa Murphy, a distinguished service professor at the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University. Melissa, a seasoned educator and dynamic force in business education, sits down with us to share her insights on "Pitching Generative AI to the C-Suite." Melissa recently presented this canvas at our Corporate Entrepreneurship Forum, focusing on the intricacies of presenting Generative AI concepts to high...
Episode 64: Improve your LLM Prompts: Decoding the TELeR Taxonomy with Santu Karmaker and Dongji Feng
December 23, 2023 17:17 - 41 minutes - 57.8 MBEpisode description: In this episode, we sit down with Santu Karmaker and Dongji Feng, creators of the TELeR Taxonomy. This pivotal framework is revolutionizing the way computer scientists benchmark complex tasks in Large Language Models (LLMs). Our conversation goes beyond the academic realm as we explore how the TELeR Taxonomy is not just a theoretical construct but a practical tool. I've personally leveraged this taxonomy to significantly enhance the prompts I'm crafting. Whether yo...
Episode 62: Karl Ulrich on Using Generative AI to Generate Startup Ideas
December 14, 2023 19:31 - 32 minutes - 75.5 MBEpisode description: In this episode, we sit down with Karl Ulrich, CIBC Endowed Professor at the Wharton School, as we dissect his recent research experiment comparing startup ideas from Penn Students from those generated by ChatGPT. We discuss the experiment's goals, key takeaways, and the game-changing speed of AI in idea generation. Explore the motivation behind this experiment and the collaborative dynamics between AI and humans. Karl highlights the teamwork aspect, envisioning a fu...
Episode 63: A Deep Dive on Leveraging Generative AI with Marshall Kirkpatrick
December 14, 2023 19:31 - 56 minutes - 77.9 MBEpisode description: Explore the transformative power of AI as special guest Marshall Kirkpatrick, Editor of AI Time to Impact, unravels creative ways of integrating artificial intelligence into different facets of your professional life. We discuss Marshall's journey and gain valuable insights into the inspiration that propelled him to initiate his newsletter. Don't miss this thought-provoking episode on the Agile Giants Podcast, where innovation meets practicality. Tune in n...
Episode 61- Piotr Mirowski on Google DeepMind's Dramatron: Redefining Creativity in the Age of AI
November 30, 2023 21:45 - 32 minutes - 44.6 MBEpisode description: Piotr Mirowski, Staff Research Scientist at Google DeepMind and co-creator of Dramatron shares his insights on the future of human-machine co-creativity especially with all the recent developments in Generative AI. Piotr’s been exploring this space for years and his thought leadership continues to have a profound impact on my thinking. In this episode, we explore the brilliance behind the language models driving Dramatron and the innovative use of AI in creative...
Season 4 Finale- Q&A
September 22, 2023 14:37 - 23 minutes - 21.8 MBEpisode description: As we wrap up an incredible season of the podcast, we're going out with a special episode. Join us for a Q&A where we turn the spotlight on YOU, our dedicated audience. Your questions have poured in and they fell into three broad categories: Corporate-Startup Collaboration: Given this season's exploration of the corporate-startup collaboration landscape, it's no surprise that many of you were curious about partnerships, their impact, and their role in a company's i...
Episode 59: Navigating Innovative Collaborations with Joel Krikston of Merck Global Health Innovation Fund and Michael Meucci of Arcadia
August 25, 2023 19:19 - 41 minutes - 37.7 MBEpisode description: In this week's episode, join us as we uncover the dynamics and strategies behind fostering successful collaborations between established corporations and innovative startups in the digital health industry. We delve into a real-world example of strategic partnership as we sit down with Joel Krikston, Managing Director at Merck Global Health Innovation Fund and Michael Meucci, CEO at Arcadia. Listen closely as they provide an invaluable roadmap to navigate the int...
Episode 58: Sari Kaganoff on Navigating Innovation and Partnerships for Digital Health Startups
July 21, 2023 21:38 - 32 minutes - 30.7 MBJoin us on this week's episode of Agile Giants as we dive into the world of digital health startups and the crucial role of partnerships in driving innovation. Our guest, Sari Kaganoff, General Manager of Consulting at Rock Health shares her expertise on how enterprises and startups should approach partnerships as part of their overall innovation strategy. Beyond the obvious benefits of resource access, she reveals the hidden advantages that startups can gain through collaboration with en...
Episode 57: Chris Carde on the Crucial Role of Corporate-Startup Partnerships in Driving Innovation for the EV Industry
June 23, 2023 14:39 - 24 minutes - 23.8 MBEpisode description: In this week's episode of Agile Giants, Chris Carde, the CEO and Founder of HeyCharge, joins the show to discuss the importance of corporate-startup collaborations in advancing the EV industry. As an industry veteran, Chris provides valuable insights into how startup companies should approach partnerships as part of their overall innovation strategy. He also shares his perspective on how to measure the success of a collaboration with a corporation, drawing from h...
Episode 56: David Rogers on Overcoming Barriers to Digital Transformation
June 09, 2023 21:21 - 35 minutes - 32.6 MBIn this episode, we are joined by David Rogers, a professor at Columbia University, and the author of The Digital Transformation Playbook and The Digital Transformation Roadmap. We dive deep into digital transformation and explore why so many businesses are struggling to adapt. Drawing on his extensive expertise and research, David shares practical strategies and actionable steps that leaders can implement to empower their organizations to thrive amidst the constant waves of change. Throug...
Episode 55: Ed Rakiewicz on the Importance of Corporate-Startup Collaboration in the Evolving Landscape of the Materials Industry
April 21, 2023 14:02 - 31 minutes - 29.2 MBIn this podcast episode, we delve into the history and transformation of PPG, a global maker of coatings, paints, and specialty materials that has been around for over 140 years. We are joined by Ed Rakiewicz, a Corporate Fellow at PPG, as he shares insights and experiences on the importance of corporate-startup collaboration in driving innovation and growth in the industry. He talks about PPG's approach to partnering with startups, the benefits of such collaborations, and the challenges tha...
Episode 54: Kevin Acklin on Driving Innovation in Sports and Business
March 31, 2023 20:27 - 50 minutes - 46.3 MBIn this episode, we are joined by Kevin Acklin, President of Business Operations for the Pittsburgh Penguins, to discuss the team's collaboration with startups to solve real problems in sports and business. The conversation touches on the concept of open-source problem-solving and the team's willingness to share their solutions with other companies. They also discuss the social impact of these collaborations and how this helps in their vision of the city of Pittsburgh. This episode off...
Episode 53: Nick Ellis on Amazon Climate Pledge Fund's Approach to Collaborating with Startups
March 17, 2023 16:49 - 28 minutes - 25.7 MBIn this episode, we sit down with Nick Ellis, Principal of the Amazon Climate Pledge Fund, to discuss their approach to investing in startups and how they work with their portfolio companies beyond just providing capital. Learn about Amazon's approach to open-sourcing their expertise and how collaborations can benefit both the company and the entrepreneur. Don't miss out on valuable insights and actionable advice for entrepreneurs! Show links WEBSITE- https://www.theclimatepledge.com/ ...
Episode 52: Chirag Patel on Cultivating the Startup Spirit in a Corporate Environment
March 03, 2023 20:00 - 29 minutes - 27 MBJoin us for a fascinating conversation with Chirag Patel, Leader of EY Foundry, as we explore how this corporate venturing unit is driving transformational growth for one of the world's largest companies. Discover how EY Foundry identifies new markets and develops new businesses, with a focus on digital ventures that rely less on human capital. In this episode, we also dive into the success story of EYTaxChat, an on-demand mobile tax preparation service, and learn how EY Foundry integrated...
Episode 51: Greg Coticchia on the Importance of Partnerships on Scaling Startups
February 17, 2023 16:20 - 30 minutes - 27.9 MBThis season will be a series of interesting conversations about how large companies and startups can partner to deliver transformative innovation together. In our first episode of the fourth season of Agile Giants, we sit down with Greg Coticchia, CEO of Sopheon. Earlier in Greg’s career, he was a serial entrepreneur and participated as an executive in fourteen start-ups (founding four) including being the co-founder & CEO of eBillingHub. We will discuss his experience scaling a successf...
Episode 50: Open Innovation Challenges with Josh Gould, Head of Duquesne Light Innovation Center
February 16, 2022 16:25 - 28 minutes - 25.8 MBJosh Gould is the Director of Innovation at the Duquesne Light Company. He & his team have kicked off a $750k open innovation challenge around monitoring underground electrical cables. He talks a little bit more about this on the episode. The submissions are due March 15th so we wanted to get this out there, make you aware of it in case it fits any of your startups. I also think for anybody listening to this, it’s really a great perspective around how to do outside in kind of external innova...
Episode 49: David Schonthal author of The Human Element
October 19, 2021 22:29 - 28 minutes - 26 MBWe'll be back later this fall with another full season of Agile Giants, but I wanted to interrupt our break to share a conversation I had with David Schonthal. David is the Clinical Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Northwestern's Kellogg School of Business, and the reason I'm interrupting this is he's got a book that came out on October 5th called The Human Element It looks at how resistance to innovation and change can be overcome using some really interesting techniques. I...
Episode 47: Testing Business Ideas with David Bland, CEO & Founder of Precoil
April 08, 2021 21:52 - 30 minutes - 28 MBDavid is probably best known as the co-author of Testing Business Ideas which he co-authored with Alexander Osterwalder. However, he’s had an incredible impact on innovation both at startups and large companies. He helped GE develop their infamous FastWorks program in partnership with Eric Ries. He also coached emerging product teams at Adobe and even helped Toyota apply the Lean Startup practices to their innovation groups. Before his transition into consulting, David spent over 10 years of...
Episode 46: Optimizing Your Team for Innovation Impact with Stefano Mastrogiacomo
February 25, 2021 17:15 - 35 minutes - 49.1 MBThere may be no more important topic in 2021 to innovation leaders than how to think about managing and organizing your team. On this week's episode of Agile Giants, I sit down with Stefano Mastrogiacomo to talk about his new book High-Impact Tools for Teams. Show Links: High Impact Tools for Teams (Amazon) Stefano on Twitter Team Alignment website
Episode 45: Operationalizing an Innovation Mandate with Tendayi Viki
January 26, 2021 20:07 - 33 minutes - 31.1 MBHow do you truly operationalize a mandate to become more innovative? There are plenty of resources that talk about the importance of innovation, but over the year's I've really grown to appreciate author & innovation consultant Tendayi Viki's pragmatic advice. On this week's episode, we talk about his work and walk through companies at different points in their innovation evolution and Tendayi offers practical advice he'd offer their leadership teams.
Episode 44: Applying the Lean Startup Methodology to the Military with Peter Newell - Retired US Army Colonel & CEO of BMNT
January 06, 2021 10:00 - 34 minutes - 31.3 MBHow do you apply the lean startup methodology to the military? Well, that's the subject of this week's episode of Agile Giants. Pete Newell, whose name may sound familiar because Steve Blank mentioned him at the Corporate Entrepreneurship Forum as the co-author of his upcoming book, Innovation Doctrine. Pete is the CEO of BMNT Inc., a Silicon Valley based innovation consultancy and early stage tech accelerator. He's a retired US Army colonel and the former director of the US Army Rapid Equ...
Episode 44: Business Model Transformation & Data Based Corporate Startups at Philips with Tim Murphy
December 23, 2020 15:06 - 22 minutes - 20.9 MBTim Murphy leads the One SRC Services group within Philips Sleep and Respiratory Care. He joined our Forum to discuss his experience with data based corporate startups and more generally business model transformation. As mentioned last week, we are in the process of sharing all of the videos from this year’s Forum on the 2020 Forum Website. But I also wanted to share a few highlights here on Agile Giants.
Episode 43: Steve Blank & Alexander Osterwalder on The Keys to Successfully Driving Innovation in Established Companies
December 16, 2020 22:09 - 54 minutes - 50 MBSteve Blank & Alexander Osterwalder are world famous entrepreneurs and authors whose work in many ways launched the Lean Startup movement. We had a great conversation at CSL's Corporate Entrepreneurship Forum. We are in the process of sharing all of the videos from this year's Forum on the 2020 Forum Website. But I also wanted to share a few highlights here on Agile Giants.
Episode 42: Re-Inventing the Convenience Store Chain - Mary Beth Green, Chief Innovation Officer @ Sheetz
October 22, 2020 09:00 - 32 minutes - 29.4 MBIf you live in Pennsylvania or one of the surrounding six states, you've likely pulled into a Sheetz Gas Station not to get gas, but to order & eat food. That's right high-quality quick serve food customized to your preferences. Sheetz pioneered this "made to order" quick-serve style food in a gas station. On this week's episode of Agile Giants Mary Beth Green shares her experiences building a team and putting an innovation process that is working to re-invent the category again.
Episode 41: Innovation at Johnson & Johnson with Michal Preminger and Stephen Pitt
October 14, 2020 09:00 - 44 minutes - 40.9 MBI'm sure you are familiar with Johnson & Johnson, but do you know their innovation strategy? On this episode we're joined by 2 Corporate Innovators within J&J Michal Preminger and Stephen Pitt to discuss their innovation strategy.
Episode 40: Entrepreneur Turned 2x Corporate VC - Pradeep Tagare of National Grid Partners
October 07, 2020 09:00 - 30 minutes - 28.2 MBAfter transitioning from an entrepreneur to CVC at Intel Capital, Pradeep spent the last two years setting up and leading National Grid's CVC group. We talk about both his experiences launching a new corporate fund in the energy space as well as his experiences and lessons from a career at the storied Intel Capital. We also talk about how CVC needs to react during this Covid crises.
Episode 39: Innovation Pathways (including CVC) with Joseph Cabral from LSU
September 30, 2020 09:00 - 45 minutes - 41.7 MBJoseph's papers have been some of the most interesting academic research on corporate venture capital in recent years. We do (eventually) get to this at the second half of the podcast, but honestly I could have talked to him for hours and kept going down fascinating tangents around how innovation really works in the early part of the episode. Each of these topics could have been their own podcast. I hope to have Joseph back on Agile Giants again soon.
Episode 38: Wil Morgan's Approach to Making Connections Across Jaguar Land Rover's Innovation Ecosystem
September 23, 2020 09:00 - 25 minutes - 23.1 MBWil Morgan has been an investment manager, entrepreneur and venture capitalist. Now he has a fascinating role inside Jaguar Land Rover around corporate innovation. We have an awesome conversation to start Season 3 of Agile Giants, both focusing on his current work at JLR as well as lessons across his career for traditional and corporate entrepreneurs. One of the things I really appreciated about our conversation was focused on making connections (both internally and externally) Wil was acros...
Episode 38: Wil Morgan's Approach to Making Connections Across Jaguar Land Rover's Innovation Ecosystem
September 23, 2020 09:00 - 25 minutes - 23.1 MBWil Morgan has been an investment manager, entrepreneur and venture capitalist. Now he has a fascinating role inside Jaguar Land Rover around corporate innovation. We have an awesome conversation to start Season 3 of Agile Giants, both focusing on his current work at JLR as well as lessons across his career for traditional and corporate entrepreneurs. One of the things I really appreciated about our conversation was focused on making connections (both internally and externally) Wil was acros...
Episode 37: Q&A Season 2 Finale
July 17, 2020 20:23 - 23 minutes - 21.2 MBOn the last episode of Season 2, we do another Q&A episode - focusing on specific questions you the audience have for me. The questions fell into four categories: There were a lot of questions about this unprecedented time we're living in, and especially how it relates to the overall economy, companies commitment to innovation, and to education. I also got a few questions on one of the CSL, the Corporate Startup Lab tools, the Option-Gate. Next, not surprising, given the focus on ...
Episode 36: Innovation from Inside Accelerators to the Fortune 500
July 01, 2020 16:36 - 37 minutes - 34.6 MBWhen you think about "academic thought leadership" in entrepreneurship, Yale Hochberg is at the top of most lists. For me, as a VC, she is best known for her work on the Seed Accelerator Rankings. But as you'll hear on this week's episode of Agile Giants - Yael has done a ton of interesting work around innovation and entrepreneurship including recently starting a firm focused on corporate innovation. It was a highlight to have her join me on Agile Giants Show Links: Yael's Personal Homep...
Episode 35: Growing & Innovation Through Transitions
June 18, 2020 18:41 - 32 minutes - 37.1 MBFriend & collaborator Laurie Barkman comes back as the first repeat guest on Agile Giants. Since our first recording, she has launched a consulting firm (SmallDotBig), launched a podcast and returned the Tepper classroom as an instructor. We have a great conversation on growth and innovation especially in times of transition. Laurie's LinkedIn SmallDotBig website Succession Stories webpage LinkedIn Succession Stories Podcast Community Mission statement generator
Episode 34: Corporate Startup Lab Public Demo Day
June 03, 2020 20:27 - 44 minutes - 50.8 MBAs a special episode this week, we're broadcasting the full audio of our annual CSL Demo Day. If you would prefer to watch the video, you can see the full video of Demo Day on the Corporate Startup Lab site. You can also learn more about the project course there.
Episode 33: Platform Business Model Transformation
May 26, 2020 21:37 - 30 minutes - 35.3 MBIn the last few years, companies have made huge investments in digital transformation. Companies need to leverage these investments to unlock business model transformation. One of the most common business models that we see is this platform model. My guest this week, Alex Moazed, the founder and CEO of Applico wrote the definitive book on platform businesses, "Modern Monopolies". And now his firm operationalizes these insights inside incumbent businesses.
Episode 32: Investing CVC Dollars into Frontier Tech Startups
May 19, 2020 17:24 - 25 minutes - 29.6 MBFrontier tech - emerging technologies such as robotics, computer vision and machine learning - are transforming so many of our industries. Established companies need to understand and figure out the right way to react. On this episode of Agile Giants, I sit down with Vin Tang, the Co-Founder of Samsung's Q Fund. The fund's tagline is: "we're more CVPR, less CES." Referencing the annual research event, the Conference Of Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition versus the Consumer Electro...
Episode 31: Innovation in Investment Management with Warren Pennington from Vanguard
May 13, 2020 14:46 - 30 minutes - 34.8 MBMost people probably know Vanguard as the firm that you can buy index and mutual funds from. They were the first investment group to offer index funds to individual investors. On this week's episode, we look at how they are continuing to innovate. Warren leads a group that is doing both inside-out and outside-in innovation. It's a great conversation, three things I encourage you to specifically focus on as you listen: The way they approach startups and how they think about those collaborat...
Episode 31: Innovation in Investment Management with Warren Pennington from Vanguard
May 13, 2020 14:46 - 30 minutes - 34.8 MBMost people probably know Vanguard as the firm that you can buy index and mutual funds from. They were the first investment group to offer index funds to individual investors. On this week's episode, we look at how they are continuing to innovate. Warren leads a group that is doing both inside-out and outside-in innovation. It's a great conversation, three things I encourage you to specifically focus on as you listen: The way they approach startups and how they think about those collaborat...
Episode 30: Innovation in Healthcare
May 05, 2020 19:05 - 29 minutes - 33.5 MBOptum is probably the largest software company that you've never heard of. It does over $100 billion a year in revenue, but is part of United Healthcare Group. United is one of the six largest companies in the United States and the largest health insurance company in the US. On this week's episode of Agile Giants, I'm joined by Paul Nielsen from Optum. Paul has had a storied career as an entrepreneur and now has brought that mindset to Optum and United Healthcare. He's really a change agen...
Episode 30: Innovation in Healthcare
May 05, 2020 19:05 - 29 minutes - 33.5 MBOptum is probably the largest software company that you've never heard of. It does over $100 billion a year in revenue, but is part of United Healthcare Group. United is one of the six largest companies in the United States and the largest health insurance company in the US. On this week's episode of Agile Giants, I'm joined by Paul Nielsen from Optum. Paul has had a storied career as an entrepreneur and now has brought that mindset to Optum and United Healthcare. He's really a change agen...
Episode 29: Data as Fuel for Innovation
April 28, 2020 20:06 - 35 minutes - 40.6 MBOne of the thing's I've observed over and over again from the best corporate innovation leaders is how data can be fuel for their innovation programs. On this episode of Agile Giants, I bring on a true academic thought leader on this issue - Rebecca Nugent. Rebecca is a chaired professor in statistics and data science at CMU. She's built some really amazing programs both at the undergrad and graduate level around data science and really across the entire university. She also has partnered wi...
Episode 28: Returning to Corporate Venture Capital
April 16, 2020 01:50 - 32 minutes - 36.6 MBAbout 18 months ago, Bill Pescatello returned to corporate venture after a stint in a traditional VC fund (Lightbank). Evolv is a $100 million firm created in partnership with Kraft Heinz. Bill already had CVC experience as he started his career post business school working at NBC’s Corporate Venture group. We talked on the episode about why Bill decided to return to CVC and how Evolv Ventures is set up. Show Links: Bill's Twitter Bill's LinkedIn Evolv Ventures Homepage Evolv Ventu...
Episode 28: Bill Pescatello - Founder and Managing Partner at Evolv Ventures
April 16, 2020 01:50 - 32 minutes - 36.6 MBAbout 18 months ago, Bill Pescatello returned to corporate venture after a stint in a traditional VC fund (Lightbank). Evolv is a $100 million firm created in partnership with Kraft Heinz. Bill already had CVC experience as he started his career post business school working at NBC’s Corporate Venture group. We talked on the episode about why Bill decided to return to CVC and how Evolv Ventures is set up. Show Links: Bill's Twitter Bill's LinkedIn Evolv Ventures Homepage Evolv Ventu...
Episode 27: Song Ma - Assistant Professor of Finance at the Yale School of Management
April 09, 2020 15:33 - 43 minutes - 49.7 MBWe are continuing our conversation for another week on Corporate Venture Capital (CVC). This time returning to academia and having a conversation with Professor Song Ma from Yale. He has written three papers that influenced my thinking significantly. We talk about each in this week’s episode. You can follow the links to all three from Professor Ma’s Faculty page and also encourage you to follow him on Twitter. https://som.yale.edu/faculty/song-ma https://twitter.com/ProfSongMa
Episode 26: Matt Carbonara - Managing Director, Venture Investing at Citi Ventures
April 01, 2020 17:08 - 26 minutes - 30 MBThis week our conversation continues to focus on corporate venture capital. However, we go from Harvard Business School to a “serial CVC” as Matt has been at 3 different corporate venture groups — Comcast, Cisco and now Citi Ventures. Matt has a great perspective from all three of those experiences and we also talk about specific things unique to the approach Citi Ventures takes given reporting structure and overall strategic objectives of the fund. Show Links: Matt's Twitter & Linke...
Episode 25: Josh Lerner Unit Head, Entrepreneurial Management at Harvard Business School
March 25, 2020 18:47 - 28 minutes - 32.9 MBProfessor Josh Lerner is an academic giant. His 2013 article in HBR on Corporate Venturing is constantly being referenced in conversations as companies explore setting up their own Corporate Venture Capital group. He also has written a number of best selling books, which we reference on today’s episode and talk about the impact for each of you as corporate innovators. I think this week’s conversation will put into context a lot of the work you’re doing, from a real academic thought leader. ...
Episode 24: Matt Fleckenstein - Sr. Director, Azure Innovation Microsoft
March 18, 2020 14:47 - 29 minutes - 34 MBI’m excited to start a second season of Agile Giants with my friend Matt Fleckenstein. Matt has been a VC, traditional entrepreneur and corporate entrepreneur inside Microsoft and Salesforce. Matt & I talk about his observations generally across those experiences as well as his current role where he really leads innovation across an interesting portfolio of Microsoft Products including IoT, mixed reality and quantum computing. (Full Disclosure: One of those traditional startups Matt & I...
Episode 23: Dave Knox Author of "Predicting the Turn"
October 02, 2019 18:00 - 30 minutes - 42.5 MBDave & I have known each other for a long time. We first got to know each other through his involvement helping lead a Cincinnatti based startup accelerator, The Brandery. More recently, Dave came out with a book a couple of years ago called Predicting the Turn. There’s a ton I enjoyed about this week’s episode, but actually probably the thing I enjoyed the most was the detour we took into corporate venture capital. Dave’s actually been a corporate venture capitalist twice in his career ...