March 12, 2025
Over the past four weeks of Beyond the Core, we’ve been getting a ton of questions about how corporate venture studios actually operate—how to measure progress, structure governance, and avoid common pitfalls in venture building. In this episode, we’re tackling some of the toughest questions we’ve received from innovation leaders and venture studio teams.
Let’s dive in.
Marcus Daniels: This is a critical challenge in corporate venture building. The reality is that venture studios need speed, but they also need internal support.
The key is structuring balanced governance:
Too often, governance leans too far in one direction. Either the studio moves too fast and loses corporate alignment, or it gets bogged down by internal bureaucracy and loses momentum.
Ben Yoskovitz: Exactly. Governance is really about decision-making ownership. Who owns what, and at what stage? A business unit might want control early, but the more control they take, the slower the venture moves. The best way to avoid that is ensuring incentives are aligned.
If the studio is solving a business unit’s pain point, there’s a natural trade—resources in exchange for solutions. This way, governance emerges as a bottom-up process rather than being forced top-down.
Ben Yoskovitz: This is one of the biggest mistakes corporate innovation teams make. They track revenue too early, which doesn’t align with how early-stage startups work.
The most important KPI pre-revenue? Stickiness.
Engagement is a proxy for value creation. If people keep using your product, you’re onto something. If not, you need to rethink the problem you’re solving.
Marcus Daniels: I like to break it down into three categories: People, Product, and Progress.
If a corporate team doesn’t understand how venture KPIs work, they’ll shut down high-potential ideas too early.
Ben Yoskovitz: The best way to avoid tipping your hand is to test off-brand.
If you’re running early validation experiments, don’t slap a massive corporate logo on it. You don’t need to make it obvious that a Fortune 500 company is behind the test.
A lot of corporates overestimate how much competitors are watching. Most of the time, no one cares about your early-stage idea. The real challenge isn’t secrecy—it’s execution.
Marcus Daniels: Exactly. And I’d add that stealth doesn’t protect bad execution.
The better approach is to run controlled pilots and see what actually works. Competitors can copy your idea, but they can’t copy your execution speed.
Marcus Daniels: You have to balance startup upside with corporate constraints.
There are two things that top entrepreneurs want:
Corporate comp structures don’t support either. The key is getting creative:
Ben Yoskovitz: If the venture is being spun out, it’s easier—there’s actual equity. But if the venture stays inside the company, you have to be careful.
We’ve had executives say, “I can’t have a startup leader making more than our CEO.” That’s the tension. So you have to structure incentives relative to corporate salary bands while still making it attractive for founders.
Ben Yoskovitz: The first mistake? Assuming that a “successful venture” means the same thing to both the studio and the core business.
There are different ways to transition:
The big question is: What stage is the business unit comfortable acquiring the venture? If they only do late-stage acquisitions, they may not be ready to absorb an early-stage business.
Marcus Daniels: The best way to de-risk this transition is to test integration through partnerships first.
If a business unit is going to acquire a venture, they should have already tested selling or using it. If that hasn’t happened, the transition is probably premature.
Ben Yoskovitz: The biggest challenge in the first 90 days isn’t execution—it’s setting the right expectations.
Most corporate leaders expect immediate results. But the first 90 days in a venture studio should be about rapid experimentation and validation. The key is proving speed:
If you show speed, executives will see value, even before revenue.
Ben Yoskovitz: A lot of people avoid shutting down ventures because it feels like personal failure.
The best way to stay objective is to predefine kill criteria:
Marcus Daniels: And you need to decide what happens when something dies.
Do you recycle the talent into another venture? Do you repurpose the IP? If people know shutting something down doesn’t mean losing their job, they’ll be more honest about when it’s time to move on.
Corporate venture studios are fundamentally different from internal innovation teams. They require a different approach to governance, KPIs, acquisitions, and talent.
The best studios move fast, measure the right things, and aren’t afraid to shut things down. If more companies understood this, they’d avoid a lot of wasted time and money.
Have more questions? Reach out to us at ben@highlinebeta.com or marcus@highlinebeta.com.
We always enjoy conversations about innovation and startup building so please get in touch.
