In corporate innovation, the process between identifying a need and delivering a solution can take years. Internal processes, complex governance, and the pursuit of “perfect” often delays impact. However, what if there was a way of bypassing bureaucratic action, skipping the equity negotiations and delivering measurable results in months or even weeks? That is where venture clienting comes in.
We’ve spoken with leading voices in innovation about why venture clienting matters, how to get started, and where it’s headed. Their insights tell a compelling story, one of speed, focus, and creating real business value without the burden of ownership.
The big advantage: Why venture clienting works
Solving real problems faster
Ask ten innovation leaders about the biggest advantage of venture clienting and you’ll hear one theme again and again: speed.
For Sofia Brazzola, Senior Venture Architect at Sennheiser, the benefit is clear: solving complex challenges fast by partnering with startups instead of building everything in-house. This agility reduces risk and gets cutting-edge solutions to market sooner.
Matthias Vaterrodt, Project Lead Venture Clienting at TÜV Nord Group, says speed and transparency are the key differentiators. “It’s about tangible results with manageable effort,” he describes.
Alice Repetti of HITS (Generali) also mentions that venture clienting delivers faster ROI by focusing on solutions for real needs and it’s a “true win-win,” with startups gaining insights and corporates gaining agility.
Risk reduction without compromising
Maria Zazo, Head of Open Innovation at AXA, refers to the flexible, scalable nature of the model: immediate access to market-tested innovations proven in actual business settings.
For Guillermo Forteza of Tenity, it's immediate business value: solving real problems with less risk than building in-house or investing in early-stage ventures.
Volkswagen's Stefan Cuelter puts it bluntly: “No innovation theatre. If a startup solves a problem better, use it now.”
And for Juan Carlos Alonso, former CSO at Bekaert, the real benefit is achieving proof of concept in real-world environments with minimal risk.
The message is consistent: venture clienting is not about innovation for innovation’s sake, it’s about solving real problems faster and with quantifiable return.
Starting strong: Lessons from the field
An effective venture clienting program must be well-designed. Our experts agree: it starts with the right problem.
Begin with the right problem
For Sofia Brazzola, that means focusing on high-priority challenges that can’t be solved internally or quickly. Keep the process lean and decision-focused, traction is more important than documentation.
Matthias Vaterrodt recommends acting like a startup in the early days, despite the process being far from perfect. He describes venture clienting as building an “Organizational API”, a smooth interface between startups and corporates, where success depends as much on the people as on the problem itself.
Design for speed, not bureaucracy
Alice Repetti suggests starting with real business needs, testing early in low-risk sandboxes and involving enablers like legal from the start to avoid bottlenecks later.
For Maria Zazo, the most important element is the involvement of business units from day one, they need to define the problem, initiate the process and own scaling if a solution works.
Guillermo Forteza warns that without ownership, speed, and strategic alignment, a venture clienting program will struggle to scale.
Stefan Cuelter prioritizes avoiding hype: “Don’t start with the startup, start with your problem.” Overcomplicated processes, like demanding 100 signatures for a 50K pilot, are venture clienting killers.
Guarantee ownership and buy-in from day one
Juan Carlos Alonso emphasizes openness about solution maturity, visibility of risks and well-defined objectives and milestones.
In short: start with the problem, design for speed, and make sure someone owns the outcome.
Looking ahead: The next five years of venture clienting
From pilots to scaling
Venture clienting is evolving from pilot projects to a mainstream corporate innovation model.For Sofia Brazzola, the future is “owning less, enabling more” a shift from ownership to strategic influence where corporates co-create and scale startups they don’t own.
Matthias Vaterrodt believes venture clienting will become a corporate innovation best practice, but also warns it is not a silver bullet: it works best as part of a suite of innovation approaches.
Tying venture clienting to business KPIs
Alice Repetti foresees venture clienting becoming vital in the AI era, where corporates can’t build everything in-house but must remain agile at startup speed.
Maria Zazo expects it to be well-established as a way to integrate innovation directly into the core business.
Guillermo Forteza predicts it will be strongly integrated with business KPIs and procurement, serving as a bridge between commercial needs and strategic venture capital goals.
The role of AI and industrial scale
For Stefan Cuelter, the focus is shifting from proof-of-concepts to scaling up real solutions and European corporations must make processes fit to support start-ups to industrial scale.
And Juan Carlos Alonso leaves us with a challenge: will companies stay focused and act, or will uncertainty slow progress?
A strategic shift worth making
From the voices we’ve heard, the verdict is clear: venture clienting isn’t just another innovation buzzword. It’s a proven, scalable approach to bringing external innovation into the business with speed, relevance, and impact.
For corporates navigating rapidly changing markets, especially in an age of AI, sustainability challenges and shifting customer expectations, the ability to integrate startup solutions without the burden of ownership can be transformative.
The question is: are you ready to include venture clienting in your strategic playbook strategic playbook next to CVC, M&A and Venture Building?
If you're curious about learning more about how venture clienting could work for your organization, learn further about our corporate innovation services or connect with Bluemorrow. You can also look at our related insights on open innovation and corporate venture building. Let's turn real problems into real results faster.
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