A large global industrials company spun up multiple new ventures teams to explore and capture the multi-billion dollar potential of priority technologies. However, after 2 years of work, most were “stuck in the funnel”.

To understand the problem, OneLeap embedded with the Venture teams, interviewed senior management, and analysed the innovation process guiding the teams. We discovered:

1) Teams worked hard, but there was little accountability: they reported regularly, but there were no decision-points or imperatives for necessary pivot, persevere or perish decisions. 

2) Teams often pursued inconsistent and contradictory innovation objectives. This made decision-making even harder, and prevented innovation portfolio management.

3) Teams were technically strong, but uncomfortable with the imperfection needed to move rapidly and emotional risk-taking needed to test desirability with customers.

OneLeap clarified the objectives and co-designed a simple process with transparent decision-points that everyone understood. Next, we rapidly prototyped a hybrid innovation system that combined the accountability of internal VCs (who we trained), with the support of dedicated, expert coaches to both prompt and hand-hold around emotionally risky activities.

Immediate $Ms gains were delivered as teams tested for desirability before producing expensive and time-consuming technical prototypes. In 3-months, we had doubled ”speed to value” as ventures moved through and out of the funnel. 

* Name changed for confidentiality

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