March 5, 2025
In our recent conversation with Amar Varma on Beyond The Core, we explored the nuances of corporate venturing through the lens of someone who's mastered it from multiple angles – as the co-founder of Hatch Labs (where Tinder was born), the architect behind Ford X, and now the founder of Mantle.
One insight that particularly stuck with us was Amar's counter-intuitive approach to securing corporate buy-in. Most founders try to get their foot in the door with small-budget initiatives, but Amar revealed why this frequently backfires:
"When you work with a company at that scale, like Ford did $180 something billion last year in revenue... a hundred grand is a lot of money, but it's not a lot of money to them."
Instead, Amar recommends making your corporate partner commit to a budget that's just beyond their approval threshold, "forcing them to justify it to their boss, add it to their OKRs, and track it weekly." Without that level of organizational commitment, your innovation project becomes "nice to have" instead of "must succeed."
Amar shared a framework that has guided his corporate venturing approach across industries: the distinction between revolutionary technology and tech-enabled innovation.
"What are industries that could be revolutionized by technology and what are industries that can be tech-enabled?" he explained. Revolutionary innovation creates entirely new business units or opportunities – like when IAC leveraged mobile to transform their web properties. Tech-enabled innovation uses technology to make existing businesses more efficient or slightly vary the business model.
After working with dozens of Fortune 500s, we've noticed most companies fixate exclusively on the second path because it feels safer and more tangible. But as Amar's success with Tinder and Ford demonstrates, it's often the revolutionary path that delivers the greatest returns.
When we asked Amar about AI's impact on corporate innovation, his perspective was illuminating: "There's the tech-enabled, the business AI-enabled, and then there's the AI replacing a bunch of existing processes. The latter is like a cost reduction and the other one's a revenue augmentation."
Many corporations remain fixated on using AI primarily for cost reduction. However, Amar believes AI's true potential lies in augmentation. He emphasizes how AI can enhance human capabilities, enabling people to accomplish more high-quality work while maintaining customer focus. The key questions become: What are the customer's genuine needs, and how can we fulfill them efficiently? AI's real value comes from augmenting employees to deliver these outcomes effectively.
Perhaps the most critical lesson from Amar's experience is the absolute necessity of CEO-level support for corporate innovation initiatives.
"You have to have the CEO of the company infinitely excited and positive about these things. Because if there's no support at the CEO level, you might as well not do it," he explained.
Without that executive air cover, internal politics can quickly derail innovation efforts: "Never underestimate people's desires to have things as an agenda and have things in a negative context of an agenda."
Amar's latest venture, Mantle, addresses one of the most significant barriers to corporate venturing – tracking and managing investments. As corporations make more bets on startups and innovation, they need systems to maintain transparency and governance.
“If you work at a large company and are involved in making investments or owning equity in startups, perhaps as part of the board or part of a committee involved in governance, you need a system of record, written down, to track and manage things." Amar explained.
To hear our full conversation with Amar Varma, including his insights on turning Ford's iconic vehicles into platforms for innovation and the surprising story behind Tinder's creation, listen to the complete episode of Beyond The Core.
We always enjoy conversations about innovation and startup building so please get in touch.
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