Agile Giants: Lessons from Corporate Innovators: Recent Episodes
Sean Ammirati
Fundamentally, 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.
Episode 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.
His involvement hasn’t stopped with this current Generative AI revolution. He played a crucial role in quickly helping all of Moderna start incorporating it into their workflows through a tool he conceived and launched called mChat.
We talk about all of this and where AI is heading in healthcare in this season finale.
Show links:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/giessel/
X: https://twitter.com/giessel
AlphaGo Paper: https://www.pnas.org/doi/epdf/10.1073/pnas.2214840120
Episode 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 of data science and analytics projects.
This episode isn’t just pivotal for those at the forefront of healthcare organizations; it's also packed with valuable insights for leaders across a range of industries looking to harness the power of data and analytics in their own businesses.
Show links:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-clarke-data-analytics/
Highmark Health website: https://www.highmarkhealth.org/
Episode 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 the world of AI-driven innovation at Bosch.
Show links:
Bosch's grow platform website: www.growplatform.com
Aquaeasy: www.aquaeasy.life
Bosch Industrial Additive Manufacturing: www.bosch-industrial-am.com/de
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/karsten-rönner-8542a
Episode 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-level executives. Today, she generously shares this wealth of knowledge with our podcast audience.
Show links:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissamurphy16/
Email: mmurphy1@andrew.cmu.edu
You can also watch the full workshop session here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVdDvLl3jxM
Episode 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 you're a researcher, developer, or just LLM-curious, this episode promises to offer valuable perspectives and strategies. As many of you know, I've frequently referenced the TELeR Taxonomy in past discussions. Now, I'm thrilled to offer you a firsthand account from the creators themselves. Prepare to be enlightened by their journey and vision for the future of LLMs.
Show links:
Access the TELeR Taxonomy paper here: https://arxiv.org/abs/2305.11430
Episode 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 now to discover how AI can be a game-changer and how we can strategically use it to our advantage.
Show links:
X- https://twitter.com/marshallk
LinkedIn- https://www.linkedin.com/in/marshallkirkpatrick
Website- https://marshallk.com/ Subscribe to the newsletter- https://aitimetoimpact.com/
Episode 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 future where both AI and humans play crucial roles in the ideation process.
Don't miss this exploration of AI's impact on creativity and the evolving landscape of collaboration between machines and humans.
Show links:
X- https://twitter.com/ktulrich
LinkedIn- https://linkedin.com/in/ktulrich/
Website- https://ktulrich.com/
Episode 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 writing. Learn more about the system's functionality, and delve into specific examples that shed light on the benefits and challenges of co-creativity with AI.
Don’t miss out on valuable insights and perspectives in the realm of creative writing and beyond.
Show links:
Dramatron article- https://arxiv.org/abs/2209.14958
Github page- https://github.com/google-deepmind/dramatron
Theater company- https://improbotics.org
X- https://twitter.com/MirowskiPiotr
LinkedIn- https://linkedin.com/in/piotrmirowski
Website- https://piotrmirowski.com/
Episode 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 innovation strategy.
- Current Trends: Business is changing faster than ever, and there were queries that reflected an interest in my perspective on a few pressing current issues.
- Personal Insights: On a more personal note, several of you were curious about my own professional journey and what's on the horizon for "Agile Giants." So we finish with a glimpse behind the curtain.
Show Links:
- About Blank Street Coffee https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/29/dining/blank-street-coffee.html
- More about AI investment gems https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/ai-startup-buzz-is-facing-a-reality-check-e34babfe?st=sj9qkpqhfmoapnr&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
- Listen more about corporate-startup collaborations https://agilegiants.seanammirati.com/open-innovation-challenges-duquesne-light-innovation-center/ https://agilegiants.seanammirati.com/priscilla-beal%E2%80%8A-%E2%80%8Aglobal-head-digital-health-ecosystem-engagement-at-bayer/ https://agilegiants.seanammirati.com/paul-nielsen-vp-strategic-programs-at-optum/
Episode 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 intricate terrain of corporate-startup collaboration -- both raising capital and value add beyond that capital.
Drawing from their 6-year partnership, Joel and Michael shed light on the intricacies of fostering symbiotic relationships between startups and seasoned corporate giants. We explore both parties' shared values, mutual goals, and their unyielding commitment to innovation.
This conversation perfectly encapsulates the theme that has threaded through the current season of Agile Giants. Tune in now and be inspired by their wisdom, experience, and a shared vision for a brighter future in healthcare and beyond.
Show links
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/joel-krikston-06013618/
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelmeucci/
- https://www.linkedin.com/company/arcadia-io/
WEBSITE
- https://www.merckghifund.com/
- https://arcadia.io/
Join 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 enterprises.
Drawing from Rock Health's extensive network, Sari provides real-world examples of companies they work with and the diverse ways they engage with them. These insights shed light on the dynamic nature of corporate-startup partnerships in the digital health industry.
Tune in for a thought-provoking conversation on the future of digital health startups and the role of corporate-startup partnerships in driving innovation.
Show links:LINKEDIN- https://www.linkedin.com/company/rock-health/, https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarik/ WEBSITE- https://rockhealth.com/ TWITTER- https://twitter.com/KaganoffSari, https://twitter.com/Rock_Health
Episode 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 his extensive experience leading HeyCharge's partnership efforts with established companies in the automotive and energy sectors.
Tune in for an enlightening conversation on the future of EV charging and the role of corporate-startup partnerships in driving innovation.
Show links LINKEDIN- https://www.linkedin.com/company/heycharge/
WEBSITE-https://www.heycharge.com/
TWITTER- https://twitter.com/HeyChargeHQ
In 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. Through real-world case studies and insightful analysis, he sheds light on the challenges and opportunities faced by leaders in today's dynamic business environment.
Tune in to this captivating episode to gain a wealth of knowledge and actionable strategies for achieving digital transformation success.
Show links:
- Pre-order “The Digital Transformation Roadmap: Rebuild Your Organization for Continuous Change” here: https://www.amazon.com/Digital-Transformation-Roadmap-Organization-Continuous/dp/023119658X/
- LINKEDIN- https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidrogersdigital
- WEBSITE-https://davidrogers.digital/
- TWITTER- https://twitter.com/david_rogers?lang=en
In 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 that can arise. Ed also discusses some of the key trends and technologies shaping the industry, and how PPG is leveraging innovation to stay ahead of the curve.
Tune in to learn more about the evolving landscape of coatings and materials, and the role of corporate-startup collaboration in shaping the future of the industry.
Show links LINKEDIN- https://www.linkedin.com/company/ppg/, https://www.linkedin.com/in/ed-rakiewicz-0597a218/ WEBSITE- https://www.ppg.com/TWITTER- https://twitter.com/PPG
In 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 offers valuable insights into the benefits of collaboration and the importance of leveraging existing platforms to drive innovation for sports organizations.
Show links
WEBSITE- https://www.nhl.com/penguins LINKEDIN- https://www.linkedin.com/company/pittsburgh-penguins/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-acklin-9372771/ TWITTER- https://twitter.com/kevinacklin https://twitter.com/penguins YOUTUBE- https://www.youtube.com/PENGUINS
In 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/
- LINKEDIN- https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickellis/, https://www.linkedin.com/company/amazon/
Join 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 an external startup into EY's services.
Tune in now to discover the challenges of bringing a startup into a large corporation and the strategies for achieving short-term successes that lay the foundation for long-term innovation.
Show links:
- WEBSITE- EY Foundry
- LINKEDIN- https://www.linkedin.com/in/chirag-patel-33425/
This 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 successful company through innovative partnerships with large players in the industry. We start off with a deep dive into a case study of eBillingHub, where Greg shares insights on how the company rapidly scaled and eventually got acquired by Thomson Reuters. We will also explore the importance of partnerships and innovation in entrepreneurship, and how eBillingHub was able to stand out in a crowded market.
In his current role at Sopheon, Greg advises companies on their innovation approaches. We dive into his perspective as a CEO, discussing the challenges and opportunities in helping businesses innovate and stay ahead of the curve.
Whether you're a startup founder or a corporate innovator, this episode offers valuable insights on how to create meaningful partnerships and drive innovation in your industry. Tune in to learn more!
Show links
- WEBSITE- https://www.sopheon.com/
- LINKEDIN- https://www.linkedin.com/company/sopheon/, https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregcoticchia/
- TWITTER- https://twitter.com/GregCott
Josh 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 innovation.
Show Links:
https://www.herox.com/DLCCableChallenge
https://www.herox.com/TreeOfLights
We'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 think there are applications obviously, for introducing new products and services, but there are also a ton of applications around how you just create change in many of your larger established organizations, and really drive towards transformation.
Get the book here: humanelementbook.com
David 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 his career at technology startups, and he stays connected to the startup scene today through his work at several Silicon Valley accelerators.
Show Links * Precoil (David’s consulting firm) * Testing Business Ideas (Amazon) * David’s Twitter Account * David’s Instagram Account
There 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
How 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.
How 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 Equipping Force. You'll hear on this week's episode a little bit about what Pete's been doing both with BMNT and in the classroom with Steve Blank. And again, just like we did on Steve's episode, teasing this book coming out that I know so many of you are excited about, Innovation Doctrine.
Tim 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.
Steve 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.
If 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.
I'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.
After 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.
Joseph'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.
Wil 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 across the innovation ecosystem for Jaguar Land Rover.
On 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 corporate venture this season, I did have some questions around that as a strategy and how companies should think about CVC.
- And then the last topic was actually a personal one, but a number of you asked, about my professional plans between now and the start of season 3. I'll talk about some of my plans at the end of this episode, if that's interesting to you.
Show Links:
- CSL CVC Sentiment Research
- HBR: Roaring Out of Recession
When 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 Homepage
- Yael's Consulting Firm: Flywheel Innovation
- Yael's Twitter
- Yael's Rice Website
- Seed Accelerator Rankings website
Friend & 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
As 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.
In 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.
Frontier 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 Electronic Show in Las Vegas.
This is clearly a different type of venture fund, but there are a lot of lessons for other corporate venture investors.
Most 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 collaborations.
- The synergies experienced between outside-in and inside-out.
- How they think about talent and mindset.
Optum 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 agent internally and helping the company rediscover their entrepreneurial vision.
We've worked together on a number of projects (including the Optum Startup Studio we chat about on the episode). While I knew a lot about Paul and his role, it was a fun conversation about enabling change and driving innovation.
Show Links:
- Optum Startup Studio
- Paul's LinkedIn Page
One 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 with me on some interesting executive education programs. As you listen to this week's episode, let me challenge you to think about how data can be fuel for your innovation programs.
Show Links:
Integrated Statistics Learning Environment
Rebecca's Faculty Page
About 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 Ventures Medium
We 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
This 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 & LinkedIn
Citi Ventures Homepage
Professor 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.
Josh's HBS Site: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/profile.aspx?facId=9961
I’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 co-founded together with two other founders.)
Dave & 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 and has two more traditional financially driven VC work experiences as well. And so his perspective on how to do CVC I thought was quite interesting and relevant for a lot of you who have been reaching out to learn more on the topic, dovetailing nicely into the podcast we did earlier this year with Rich from the Touchdown Ventures team.
Show Links:
Dave on Twitter & LinkedIn
Dave's book
The Brandery
Rita McGrath is a legend in the field of corporate innovation. She developed the methodology used by so many companies today “Discovery Driven Planning” and has written numerous best-selling books.
She recently had a new book come out “Seeing Around Corners: How to Spot Inflection Points in Business Before They Happen”
On this episode, we talk about her new book as well as observations on how corporate’s perspectives on innovation have evolved and the arc of her career.
Show Links: * Seeing Around Corners: How to Spot Inflection Points in Business Before They Happen (Rita’s new book) * Valize (Rita’s software company) * RitaMcGath.com (Rita’s personal site)
On this week’s episode, I respond to a question I’m getting more and more from you on social media & via email is:
How does each of these different techniques highlighted in Agile Giants fit into a company’s overall growth strategy?
(Or if not that exact question a version of it)
I try to provide some context in this quick episode, but the biggest point is there are synergies across these tactics so it isn’t "build vs buy" but instead "build AND buy"!
After helping start Comcast Ventures, Rich left with 2 other partners to start Touchdown Ventures. On this week’s episode, we have a great conversation about his perspective on CVC as well as unpacking the model that Touchdown Ventures is pioneering. I’ve asked you for feedback on email, Twitter, LinkedIn & Instagram about the kind of content you’re looking for. I remain interested in that feedback, but one thing I’m consistently hearing is that you want more information about Corporate Venture Capital as a growth strategy. Rich is a great person to kick off these conversations. Show Links: Touchdown Ventures Focus Areas
Want to Break Into VC? Try CVC! by David Horowitz
Can Corporate Venture Capitalists Help Startups Go Public? by Selina Troesch
After 8-years, working in various roles across the organization, three years ago Keith Berry founded the Moody’s Analytics Accelerator at the directive of the Board. This is a group inside Moody’s focused on launching innovative products typically via a partnership with a FinTech startup.
As many of you are thinking through how to set up your own innovation lab or accelerator, there are a ton of lessons from Moody’s Analytics experience including: (1) how they partner with Fintechs, (2) how trends influencing their thesis and (3) specifically how they’ve approached AI/ML as a big trend influencing so much of their work today.
On this week’s episode of Agile Giants, we’re going to do something just a little different. There’s a lot of questions that I’m regularly asked when it comes to corporate innovation and agile product development. I’ve combined some of those questions with questions that I heard from you on social media and I’ve come up with five common questions that I get.
We’ll see how this works, but if this is interesting to you let me know other questions that you might have and maybe we’ll start weaving these in about once a quarter.
Christina has had executive roles in a number of types of healthcare companies. In most of these organizations, at least part of her time was focused on leading innovation.
Healthcare is a sector that seems to naturally lend itself to corporate innovation, given balance sheet and incumbency advantages that are often necessary for transformative innovation.
This is likely why we've had so many health care companies collaborate at the Corporate Startup Lab.
Christina has a great perspective on this, having worked for a number of different types of players in the sector.
Show Links:
* Christina's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christina-weir-ripley-90941329/
* Tepper Exec Ed Course on Leading Innovation: https://www.cmu.edu/tepper/executive-education/innovation/leading-innovation/index.html
Tanya Baker is the Global Head of GS Accelerate. A new initiative inside Goldman Sachs that is “ a platform for people at Goldman Sachs to be able to apply, submit an idea, and go through various rounds of pitching and ultimately they get funded, be an intrapreneur, as we call it within Goldman Sachs.” In many ways, this is similar to many other corporate startup labs being set up at other Fortune 500 companies but they also are taking a very Goldman Sachs approach.
Show Links:
- Tanya Baker's LinkedIn
- GS Accelerate Career Page
- Measure What Matters: How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World with OKRs (book by John Doerr)
This is something a little unique for Agile Giants. I was at the IRI Conference and got just a few minutes to sit down with Peter. As you’ll hear on the interview, Peter’s part of a team at NASA that has quite an ambitious mission: to get people back to the moon and then ultimately to Mars.
I’m sure when you think about the projects you’re working on in your organization, they may be characterized as “moonshots” but probably not literally attempts to get to the moon.
Show Links:
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center - https://www.nasa.gov/goddard
- Peter Hughes LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-hughes-b19997/
On this week’s episode of Agile Giants, I’m joined by Eric Chaniot, the Chief Digital Officer of Michelin. Most people probably know Michelin as a tire company, but as you’ll hear in the interview, they actually have a number of different divisions focused on mobility.
Eric runs a group that’s responsible for digital transformation across each of these different divisions. Eric had some great perspective on innovation and transformative innovation.
Show Links:
- Eric’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericchaniot/
- Eric’s Book: https://www.amazon.com/Force-Within-Technology-Innovation-innovations-ebook/dp/B01NAELV02
This week’s episode of Agile Giants is a little different. A few weeks ago I had a chance to moderate a panel at the 3 Rivers Venture Fair in Pittsburgh, PA.
The panel focused on corporation venture capital, and specifically the corporate venture capital value proposition. We had guests from Covestro, Bayer and UPMC, each participated as panelists talking about how each of their individual companies approached corporate venture.
If you’re interested in talking more about Corporate VC, feel free to reach out. It’s an area I’m continuing to explore myself and would love to get other people’s perspective on Corporate VC.
After the last two episodes interviewing two individuals I’d never met but respected from a distance (Beth Comstock & Jeff Sutherland), this week is a little different. I sit down with Dr. Richard Florida — someone who has shaped my career very significantly and I’ve known for over 17 years. Richard is one of the world’s leading urbanist. He’s a researcher and professor. He has written multiple best-selling books. He wrote the forward to my book “The Science of Growth” but our connection goes back to when he was a professor and I was a research fellow at Carnegie Mellon. Richard thinks deeply and while his area of expertise is often looked at as focusing simply on location and how cities shape culture, life and work. I believe his research has wide-reaching implications around a bunch of topics. Including how corporations should look at innovation. Our conversation was after a multi-hour brunch at a local restaurant in Miami Beach. I jump around some trying to hit some of the highlights from things we’d already discussed, plus make sure to cover a few points on his research that I think corporate executives should spend more time thinking about. Hope you enjoy this week’s episode of Agile Giants! Show Links: * The Rise of the Creative Class * The New Urban Crisis * The Breakthrough Illusion * City Lab: America’s Tech Hubs Still Dominate, But Some Smaller Cities Are Rising
Jeff's work has really had a profound impact on the way I approach a lot of problems. I remember when one of the companies I ran switched to Scrum (mSpoke) and it was like a light switch went on in the organization.
I can't really talk enough about how positive Scrum's impact was on that organization and a lot of the companies I've worked with since then.
It was really amazing to meet Jeff. He's a brilliant guy and I took away a ton from our conversation.
If you're thinking about how to operationalize Agile philosophies in your organization regardless of the size, I think Scrum is a great technique. And if you're already using Scrum, hopefully, there'll be new things you can learn from our conversation. I know there are a few things I've already changed in terms of how I recommend deploying Scrum based on this conversation.
Show Links:
https://www.scrumatscale.com/
http://iriannual.com/
Detecting Aigle BS: https://media.defense.gov/2018/Oct/09/2002049591/-1/-1/0/DIB_DETECTING_A
For this tenth episode of Agile Giants, we have quite a treat.
I'm joined this week by Beth Comstock. Beth is probably best known as the former Vice Chair of GE, specifically leading innovations. She wrote a really transparent book called Imagine It Forward: Courage, Creativity, and the Power of Change, which is a really interesting blend of a reflection on her time at GE, the good and the bad, almost a memoir, as well as a nice set of best practices and observations for corporate leaders responsible for innovation.
We use her book as a jumping off point for the discussion, but I can't recommend strongly enough you pick it up yourself if you're interested in digging in further. It's available wherever books are sold.
Show Links:
- Imagine It Forward: Courage, Creativity, and the Power of Change (Amazon) (Barnes & Nobel)
- Beth's Personal Website
Peter Steinberg is rapidly becoming a key partner of ours at the Carnegie Mellon Corporate Startup Lab.
He is a well know Rugby coach as well as a leader in thinking through executive education. I’m more focused on the later, but the synergy between these is interesting.
The first part of the interview gives you a lens into how Pete approaches exec ed and innovation. Then, the second half of this interview focuses on our collaboration at the Corporate Startup Lab.
Show Links:
Innovative Thought (Peter's Firm)
Carnegie Mellon Corporate Startup Lab
Every time I sit down with Priscilla, I come away so impressed. The work she’s doing at Bayer partnering with startups to solve internal challenges is a great model for any large company.
We first met at a local (Pittsburgh) roundtable discussion and then she recently participated in a reverse pitch the CMU Swartz Center which my lab did in partnership with another local organization Innovation Works.
If you are trying to figure out how to work with startups in your organization, I’d strongly consider you to look to Bayer’s G4A program. If you are startup working in industries (pharma, consumer and agriculture) that Bayer is involved in pls check out their new challenges for the year live April 1st.
Show Links:
- Connect with Priscilla on LinkedIn
- Follow Priscilla on Twitter
- G4A Site
On this week’s episode of Agile Giants, I’m joined by Gustavo Lopez a general manager at MS The Safety Company. MSA is over 100-years old. They historically have sold safety devices, things like portable gas detectors.
Over the last few years, those devices have started throwing off more and more data about the detection that they’re doing. Two years ago made a decision to launch a new startup within the company called Safety IO. Their corporate startup does big data analytics from the data that those devices are throwing off.
I should say for full disclosure, January through May of 2018, a team of my graduate students in my Corporate Startup Lab project course actually worked with MSA to refine the ideas for Safety IO. And at the end of that course, when an MSA decided to push forward, I joined their advisory board. Also, Laurie Barkman (on last week’s episode) is also on their advisory board.
While I admittedly am slightly conflicted, I do think this is an amazing story and it’s a perfect illustration of how large established companies are able to leverage their brand and customer relationships to build a new startup inside an existing company. It really would have been challenging for two entrepreneurs inside a startup accelerator to do what Safety IO has done, yet MSA has had a ton of success with it and I’m really excited to be part of it. So even with the conflict, it just felt like a perfect episode to add into our conversation about how large companies can do transformative innovation. I hope you enjoyed this week’s conversation.
Episode Links: SafetyIO: https://www.safetyio.com/
CMU Corporate Startup Lab Project Course: https://www.corporatestartuplab.com/course
On this week’s episode of Agile Giants, I’m joined by Laurie Barkman. I’ve known Laurie for a long time. She ran marketing for a startup that I invested in years ago and more recently she’s been an advisor and mentor at the Corporate Startup Lab that I run at Carnegie Mellon.
We’re also — for full disclosure — on an advisory board together of Safetyio, a corporate startup within MSA, that will actually be featured in next week’s episode of Agile Giants.
Laurie has some really interesting insights into the similarities and differences between startups and large corporate innovation because she’s built startups inside companies as well as worked at startups. I hope you enjoy this week’s episode.
Disrupt Book - https://www.amazon.com/Disrupt-Think-Unthinkable-Transformation-Business/dp/0137025149/
On this week’s episode of Agile Giants, I sit down with Sylvia Vogt. Sylvia is the President of the Carnegie Bosch Institute, and a co-instructor of the leading innovation executive education course that I talked with last week at the beginning of Dennis Boecker’s interview.
Show Links:
- Tepper Executive Education Leading Innovation Course (the executive education course Sylvia & I teach together)
- About Damian Killen
- About The Carnegie Bosch Insitute
I enjoyed the entire interview, but particularly would call out:
- Her definition of innovation vs creativity (starting at 3:03)
- How different personalities approach creativity and innovation (6:43)
- How team leaders should approach innovation? (13:02)
- How culture impacts innovation? (26:34)
On this week's episode of Agile Giants, I have Dennis Boecker. In some ways, this is really a continuation of last week's conversation with Terry Lonier.
Dennis built one of the innovation labs that she talked a little bit about, the Chicago Connectory. It's a fascinating coworking space and innovation center that I would encourage you to check out if you're in the Chicago area.
Show Links:
Chicago Connectory - https://chicagoconnectory.com/
Tepper Executive Education Leading Innovation - https://www.cmu.edu/tepper/executive-education/innovation/leading-innovation/index.html
Follow Dennis on Twitter: https://twitter.com/boecker_dennis?lang=en
On this episode, host Sean Ammirati, Co-Founder and Director of the Carnegie Mellon Corporate Startup Lab, sits down with an advisor to Cheif Innovation Officers Terri Lonier.
Terri and Sean have a great conversation, including Terri's insights on:
- opportunities and traps around companies setting up innovation labs (starting at 9:07)
- the Creative Canvas she developed (starting at 12:01)
- the importance of having a diverse set of thinkers involved in innovation (starting at 15:47)
Show Links:
You can learn more about Terri here: https://terrilonier.com/
You can download the Creative Canvas she developed here: http://creativecanvas.org/
Carnegie Mellon Corporate Startup Lab https://www.corporatestartuplab.com/
Learn more about Sean https://www.seanammirati.com/
Host Sean Ammirati, Co-Founder and Director of the Carnegie Mellon Corporate Startup Lab, sits down with Ryan Thomas Vice President, Innovation at The J.M. Smucker Company.
As a leader of innovation within a $8B Food, Beverage & Pet company, Ryan provides great perspective. There's a ton of lessons here both for how to do innovation inside a consumer-facing brand like Smucker's, as well as just generally how large companies should approach these processes. You'll also see many similarities if you're a traditional entrepreneur to the lean startup methodology and design thinking.
Show Links:
Carnegie Mellon Corporate Startup Lab https://www.corporatestartuplab.com/
Learn more about Ryan https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-thomas-0960831/
Learn more about Sean https://www.seanammirati.com/
The premiere episode of Agile Giants. Host Sean Ammirati, Co-Founder and Director of the Carnegie Mellon Corporate Startup Lab, sits down with author and entrepreneur Neil Soni.
Author of the book "The Startup Goldmine," Neil and Sean discuss the hidden innovation agendas of large companies to grow your business and how Neil's insights apply to both startups and Fortune 500 companies alike.
Show Links:
Carnegie Mellon Corporate Startup Lab https://www.corporatestartuplab.com/
The Startup Gold Mine: How to Tap the Hidden Innovation Agendas of Large Companies to Fund and Grow Your Business on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Startup-Gold-Mine-Innovation-Companies-ebook/dp/B07C622VRY
Learn more about Neil http://www.neilsoni.com/
Learn more about Sean https://www.seanammirati.com/
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.