5 Failed Venture Studios, Examined
Studio-built startups succeed roughly 30% more often than the traditional path, and the five studios in this report still closed. They did not fail at building ventures. They failed at the relationship with the parent company.
Get the free report
41 pages · PDF and online- Five corporate venture studios that closed, and what actually ended each one
- The five structural reasons studios fail, rather than the ventures inside them
- Eight practical takeaways to keep a studio alive long enough to deliver
By Joeri Van Cauteren, Director, Customer Success & Strategy, Sara Huysmans, Venture Architect, Ksenia Demina, Venture Architect and Giacomo Martini, Venture Architect
Venture studios rarely fail at building ventures.
The five studios here were well funded and well staffed. They closed for structural reasons: returns that did not arrive fast enough for corporate stakeholders, a change of priority upstairs, or a studio given either too much independence or far too little.
The model works. What fails is the relationship with the parent.
Five ways a studio dies, and eight ways to keep one alive.
Each failure is traced through the studios it closed, and each takeaway is the thing that would have prevented it.
Recognise the five endings before you reach one
- 1Unmet financial expectationsReturns that do not arrive fast enough for stakeholders
- 2Shifts in strategic focusA change upstairs that abandons the portfolio
- 3Operational misalignmentStudio and corporate structures pulling against each other
- 4The independence paradoxToo much autonomy, or far too little
- 5Innovation theatreVisible activity with no business impact
Have the eight things in place from the start
- 6Align the goalsThe studio's and the corporation's, explicitly
- 7Plan for strategic shiftsAssume the priority will change
- 8Maintain an antennaKeep a line into the core business
- 9Balance autonomy and supportIndependent enough to move, close enough to land
- 10Ensure healthy deal flowEnough coming in to be selective
- 11Embrace realistic timelinesSet the clock the venture actually runs on
- 12Prioritise product-market fitBefore anything is scaled
- 13Keep a strategic distanceClose to the core, but not inside it
Built to learn from, not to gloat over.
Get the report.
Five closed venture studios, the five reasons behind them, and eight things that would have helped. Free, and in your inbox in a minute.
Want a second opinion on your studio set-up?Talk to Thomas
