Glossary: Speak like a pro

Glossary: Speak like a pro

Here are the key terms you’ll encounter in Venture Clienting. Let’s make sure we all understand what they mean. No jargon allowed.

We update this glossary regularly here: https://www.glassdollar.com/glossary

Key Terms

• Adoption: When a solution moves from pilot to full rollout across the organization.
• Business Unit (BU): A department or division within the company—your internal customers and problem owners.
• Challenge Description: A clear write-up of a specific problem or opportunity, created by the pain-point owner.
• Corporate Venture Building (CVB): When a company builds its own startup(s), either internally or with partners.
• Corporate Venture Capital (CVC): When a company invests money into external startups for potential financial and strategic returns.
• Lead: Can mean:
  1. A pain-point owner inside the organization,
  2. A startup solution, or
  3. A topic that might become a PoC .
• Pain Point Owner (PPO): The internal person responsible for the problem you’re trying to solve.
• Proof-of-Concept (PoC): A short test to show a startup solution works, typically 4–8 weeks and around €20k.
• Pilot: A larger-scale trial that follows a PoC, often 6+ months and with real internal users.
• Startup Scouting / Sourcing: The search for startups that could address your defined problem.
• Venture Clienting (VCL): The practice of buying and testing startup products to solve internal business problems.
• Venture Clienting Unit (VCU): The team or department that runs Venture Clienting within your company.
• Venture Manager / Partner / Associate: Roles within the VCU:
  • Associate/PoC Manager: Runs individual PoCs
  • Innovation Manager: Oversees a set of PoCs
  • Innovation Partner: Heads up the Venture Clienting strategy

Tip: Keep this glossary handy! Whenever you see a term like PoC, PPO, or VCU, you can refer back here to make sure everyone’s on the same page.