Investing in startups without a tech strategy.Corporate venture stays disconnected from the roadmap
You invest in startups to innovate, but the technology synergies never materialise. The investment stays financial, not strategic.
Signs you'll recognise
If more than one sounds familiar, it isn't a coincidence — it's a pattern.
Investing in startups without a tech strategy is venture capital. With a tech strategy, it's open innovation.
Why it happens
Corporate venture often copies the VC model: financial investment with passive governance. But for a company, the biggest value isn't the financial return — it's the technology synergies.
Without a tech investment thesis, the portfolio is just a random set of startups. There's no thread connecting them to the company's technology roadmap.
Synergies only materialise with an active integration process: tech assessment, joint pilots, an integration path. Investing isn't enough — you have to collaborate.
Our approach combines financial evaluation with technical assessment to identify the startups that generate strategic value.
How we step in
We work inside your organisation, not from the outside. Change happens in the code and in the teams.
Defining the tech thesis
We define the technology investment thesis: which areas, which technologies, which synergies you're after.
Tech assessment of startups
We assess architecture, team, scalability and integrability of target startups — not just the business model, the technical foundations too.
Integration pilots
We run joint pilots to validate the technology synergies before scaling the integration.
Portfolio management
We manage the portfolio with a tech lens: monitoring, support and continuous integration.
What changes afterwards
Real synergies
Portfolio startups generate technology value for the core business.
Reduced risk
Tech assessment identifies risks before the investment is made.
Strategic portfolio
Investments follow a clear thesis that complements the roadmap.
Accelerated innovation
Startup technology gets integrated into the core product.
Do you recognise these signs in your organisation?
How we can help
The services we use to tackle this kind of problem.
Related problems
These warning signs tend to show up together. Explore the related topics.
Tell us where you're stuck
A fragile prototype, a burdensome legacy codebase or unpredictable delivery: that's where we start