GROW - Expanding reach and building momentum
Goal: Increase the volume of PoCs, refine your process, and broaden organizational awareness.
Mindset: Grow reach before you tighten efficiency.
Timeline: 12-24 months
Budget: 200-500k
Key actions & success factors:
- Target 5–10 PoCs in the first full year: after your initial 6-month START phase, ramp up to a higher volume.
- Prioritize higher-impact problems: focus on challenges with strong business value, while still allowing smaller wins that build trust.
- Formalize your process with core functions: align with procurement, IT, legal, and compliance early to streamline PoCs and reduce friction.
- Refine the operational workflow: keep improving sourcing, briefings, demos, decision-making, and PoC execution.
- Strengthen stakeholder relationships: build on early trust to expand your network of supportive business units.
- Tell success stories loudly: celebrate your first PoC business units as heroes and use their wins to inspire others.
- Develop stronger business cases: collect richer data from each PoC to clearly demonstrate ROI.
- Train internal ambassadors: equip more colleagues to spot pain points and channel them into the venture clienting process.
- Don’t get too selective yet: this stage is about broad exposure. If a problem has clear business impact, take it on to create momentum and new champions.
Lead generation at scale:
- Go beyond the existing network: test multiple lead generation channels (internal roadshows, intranet campaigns, challenge competitions, direct outreach, etc.).
- Build a constant flow of leads: avoid “batch mode” (lots of leads at once, then long gaps). Instead, aim for steady inflow throughout the year.
- Plan for conversion rates:
- 10 PoCs/year usually requires at least 40–50 needs assessments
- That means 70-80+ POC leads to start with (some leads won’t qualify or will drop out).
- Account for delays: there’s always a lag from lead → needs assessment → PoC start (often 8–12 weeks). This means early lead generation fuels your success later in the year.
Watch out for:
- Underestimating the lead volume needed to hit your PoC target.
- Pausing lead generation once you feel “full” - this risks creating a dry pipeline for the next year.
- Over-optimizing processes too soon - focus on growth first, efficiency later (that’s the SCALE phase).
Hi, I'm Madlen, and I lead the Venture Clienting solutions at GlassDollar. At GlassDollar, we empower corporations to quickly identify and test cutting-edge startup technology. Our outstanding team of Venture Clienting experts is committed to helping corporations harness startup innovations and drive growth at any stage. Whether you need strategic consulting, support in establishing a Venture Clienting unit, or assistance in operating and scaling it, we are your ideal partner.
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The potential of Venture Clienting, on the one hand, is full of opportunity; it allows startups to receive direct feedback, resources, and support for their projects. On the other hand, it also contains risks, with potential for a startup to lose its way in bureaucracy or, worse, fail to meet expectations. This article shares perspectives as an startup’s experience in this way of operating and optimising for better outcomes.
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The potential of Venture Clienting, on the one hand, is full of opportunity; it allows startups to receive direct feedback, resources, and support for their projects. On the other hand, it also contains risks, with potential for a startup to lose its way in bureaucracy or, worse, fail to meet expectations. This article shares perspectives as an startup’s experience in this way of operating and optimising for better outcomes.
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The potential of Venture Clienting, on the one hand, is full of opportunity; it allows startups to receive direct feedback, resources, and support for their projects. On the other hand, it also contains risks, with potential for a startup to lose its way in bureaucracy or, worse, fail to meet expectations. This article shares perspectives as an startup’s experience in this way of operating and optimising for better outcomes.
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The potential of Venture Clienting, on the one hand, is full of opportunity; it allows startups to receive direct feedback, resources, and support for their projects. On the other hand, it also contains risks, with potential for a startup to lose its way in bureaucracy or, worse, fail to meet expectations. This article shares perspectives as an startup’s experience in this way of operating and optimising for better outcomes.