🎙️ Welcome to a new episode of The Corporate Venturing Podcast!
In Venture Clienting: Lessons from the Field, I’m joined by Lisa Kratochwill (Startup Engagement, VERBUND X) and José “Pepe” Pascual (former Head, Cencosud Ventures).
Lisa runs a multi-corporate program that takes real business challenges to pilot and beyond. Pepe built a venture-client engine in Latin America with clear KPIs, budget ownership, and a bias to action.
Together, we unpack what makes venture clienting work in practice, and where it breaks.
In this episode, Lisa and Pepe share insights on:
🧭 The simple rule for tool choice: when to client, when to build, and when to invest, and how to decide fast.
🧩 From use case to pilot: framing the problem, scouting the right startup, and setting success upfront.
📑 Procurement that helps, not hurts: pilot T&Cs, fast-track onboarding, and who signs the invoice.
📊 KPIs you can read on one slide: cost savings or new revenue, time-to-pilot, SLA/quality, and a powerful input metric: number of challenges identified.
💸 Budget ownership = speed: why a dedicated pilot budget and a clear “pilot owner” reduce friction.
🛡️ Compliance early: how regulation can block a “successful” PoC, and how to prevent late surprises.
🤝 Multi-corporate as a force multiplier: sharing risk, budget, and skills on cross-industry topics (e.g., vehicle-to-grid).
🔁 From pilot to scale: land small, prove value, then expand, what changes between site #1 and rollout.
🚫 Common pitfalls: scope creep, “tourism” pilots, and fuzzy goals that kill conversion.
⚡ Culture-shifting moments: the small wins that flip skeptics into champions.
We close by reflecting on the moments when a startup solution made the value of this work obvious to everyone in the room.
Resources:
• Open Road Ventures Newsletter
🎧 Follow the podcast for grounded stories and actionable insights from inside Open Innovation and Corporate Venturing.