BANKEN
April 17, 2019 | GUEST AUTHOR
In a recent podcast we discussed with Steve Gotz of Silicon Foundry how banks are increasingly creating new environments and structures to pursue innovative ideas and build new capabilities. Based upon the questions we received after the recording, we asked Steve to come back and write a guest post exploring one specific kind of innovation structure: the Venture Studio (also known as a Company Builder).
Several weeks ago TechStars officially announced the launch of TechStars Studio which they describe as an environment for corporates “to rapidly envision, validate, and launch disruptive new startups.” In addition to TechStars Studio the industry has seen a burgeoning number of Venture Studios launching on a regular basis. Suffice to say, I believe it is time to declare that Studios have become the new Accelerators, which means it probably makes sense for corporate strategy and innovation executives to start thinking about how Studios may be an important new capability in their strategic arsenal.
Venture Studios, as we know them today, have existed in one form or another for at least a decade, but up until recently only a handful existed such as IdeaLab, RocketInternet and Betaworks. Studios are different from traditional accelerators in one significant way: identification of the opportunity. Accelerators generally wait for an entrepreneurial team to form and pitch an idea whereas a venture studio generally relies upon a core team to constantly explore and validate new opportunities. When a viable one is identified, the Studio then goes out and recruits a team to pursue the opportunity.
Starting with a Team vs. Starting with an Idea
It may seem like a small difference, but in reality the advantages of this model quickly become apparent. Traditional accelerator programs need to wait for a team of entrepreneurs to organically find each other, mobilize around a shared idea and start validating an opportunity, a complex process that is fraught with inefficiencies and a multitude of existential threats to the team and company. Venture Studios are an attempt to eliminate the inefficiencies of that startup process, to the greatest extent possible.
Venture Studios have an additional key quality the ability to intentionally create exceptionally talented teams of entrepreneurial operators and point them, with a laser-like focus, at the most pressing challenges and largest growth opportunities. The best venture studios I’ve seen are focused and intentional about validating an opportunity and then methodically finding the best team of entrepreneurial athletes to maturely and methodically pursue the opportunity.
Beyond these core qualities, Venture Studios start to quickly take on customized properties…
Based on early data, it appears that some of these tweaks can have significant impact upon the ultimate success or failure of the Studio itself and the companies which it has a hand in creating. It’s for this reason that executives from some of America’s leading venture studios (High Alpha, IDEO CoLab, expa, TechStars, Pioneer Square Labs, Human Ventures, Union Labs, Science) recently gathered in San Francisco for the first ever meeting of the Venture Studio Collective. They came together with the goal of exploring ways to share best practices but accomplished much more. By the end of the meeting the walls were covered with ideas to better communicate Venture Studio value propositions, operating principles for engaging with entrepreneurs and most importantly ways to create uniform standards and KPIs so that performance can be accurately measured by entrepreneurs, corporate clients and institutional investors.
So what does this mean for an executive today?
Think about the possibilities. As the CEO of a bank, what would you do if you knew you had at your disposal a world-class team of entrepreneurs that was obsessed with staying one step ahead of the competition? BBVA asked that question and in response they setup Denizen, an innovative cross-border bank account designed for expatriates. Standard Chartered asked that question and in response they are building a new Digital Bank in Hong Kong. We are only scratching the surface with these examples; in every bank I have spoken with there are a broad range of areas ripe for reinvention.
We have entered a period where technology and impatient capital markets accelerate market change through the lowering of traditional barriers to entry and emergence of unexpected rivals from previously disparate markets. In this market you can either be the disruptor (sometimes of yourself), or you'll be disrupted. While it is still early, Venture Studios appear to be one of the most sure-fire ways to preempt irrelevance and catalyze growth. I don’t think it’s provocative to say that in the not-too-distant future most corporations will add Venture Studio capabilities to their strategic toolkit (in much the same way that accelerators have proliferated); the most forward thinking organizations are already experimenting with the model. So should you.
Guest Author:
After more than 25 years working with corporate executives in a range of industries across five continents, Steve Gotz knows a bit about emerging corporate ventures and advanced technology initiatives. Over the course of his career he has worked with a diverse group of international organisations to develop and launch emerging technologies and new ventures including: AT&T, Microsoft, IBM, Huawei, GE, Symantec, Nationwide UK, Oxford University, Umpqua Bank, Trinity College Dublin, Science Foundation Ireland and the Irish Economic Development Agency (Enterprise Ireland).
Steve is a Partner at Silicon Foundry, where he continues to work with some of the world’s leading corporations (AmorePacific, Barrick, British Petroleum, Deutsche Telekom, Majid Al Futtaim, SK Hynix, Standard Chartered Bank, UPS, and the Royal Bank of Scotland) to create more impactful commercial structures and strategies to maintain and further enhance customer relevancy in the digital age.