In collaboration with BNEW, EIT Urban Mobility, moderated a talk entitled ‘Collaboration between Startups and Corporations: New Business Models’. Do all startups want to be unicorns? And are corporates the dark side? These and more insights were shared by the three panelists when discussing the roles and functions both startups and corporates play in partnership.
Raul Feliu, Programmes Manager at EIT Urban Mobility, moderated the discussion and was joined by Candace Saffrey Neufield, CEO & Founder of Bia, Julia de Pedro, Partner and Head of Building & Strategy at Byld and Diego Gea, Startup Ecosystem Leader, Corporate Innovation at Cap Gemini.
The benefits of collaboration
The core question to be addressed was the need, if any, for startups and corporations to collaborate. From Bia’s perspective, Candace began, when you are a startup, you have agility and a pulse on the market with the ability to meet that on the market, but it is through corporations that startups can gain credibility in the market and access to scale. In entering this process, however, it is important to have patience and be weary of not getting stuck in an ‘innovation loop’ but to push to be a part of the core corporate strategy. This means targeting corporations which your service or product fits with their core market.
David Geo from Capgemini explained that the nature of the startup – corporate relationship is complimentary. Corporations realise, like any company or business should, that “It is impossible to be an expert in all fields”. The access to a variety of specialist expertise that startups have is to the benefit to corporations to complete an offering. This belief is reflected in the 20-30 startups who are currently piloting in Cap Gemini’s labs and if successful bringing those solutions to the market.
Venture building: The role and function
Citing these benefits, venture building is a function which can provide them to startups and corporates alike. Considering the difficulties startups face in several areas, gaining investment and struggling to find a market fit are two significant factors according to Byld’s Julia de Pedro. This results in not having the capacity to compete in the market, the solution of which can be the assets which corporates possess – investment muscle, customers, intellectual property, network – which can help accelerate startups.
How they come together depends on the maturity of the corporation. The difference between running pilots and venture building is substantial and holds an increase in opportunity. A corporate may know they want to tackle an issue in urban mobility, but they do not know how to do it. They also know if they put it in the corporate world and processes, they will kill it, because of a lack of expertise and resources to be successful. From there within 8 months a venture building can solve these issues and launch a new venture.
Myths and how to succeed
In a closing question, panelists were asked about common myths regarding corporate and startup collaborations. For Bia, it is understanding your footing within this relationship and that corporates not only need startups but more specifically their ideas, it is in this understanding you will have a strong relationship more conducive to success. From Cap Gemini and the corporate perspective, the time to market is the key factor which defines potential success. The myth that startups are all targeting to be the next unicorn falls short of reality for Byld. Julia stating rather that in her experience startups are businesses who are, like others, are seeking ways to finance themselves through their own operations – corporate collaboration being an avenue to do so.
If you would like to know more about EIT Urban Mobility’s Mobility Corporate Venture Builder, follow this link. To view the talk in full, click here.
