PoC Portfolio Management
Goal: Manage your pipeline of Proofs of Concept like an investment portfolio - balancing short-term wins with long-term strategic bets, while maximizing your overall success rate and business impact.
Why it matters:
When you’re running 10, 20, or even 50+ PoCs a year, you can’t just treat each one in isolation. Your PoC portfolio is a strategic asset that needs active management to:
- Ensure resource allocation matches priorities
- Avoid bottlenecks (e.g., too many PoCs in IT-heavy areas at the same time)
- Maintain a healthy mix of quick wins and big bets
- Optimize success rates and learn from failures
Build a balanced portfolio
Think like a venture capitalist: diversify.
- Quick wins: Low complexity, low cost, high likelihood of implementation → boost credibility & internal trust.
- Strategic bets: More complex, aligned with long-term strategic priorities → can create outsized impact, but require patience.
- Innovation enablers: PoCs that build capabilities or infrastructure for future PoCs (e.g., data pipelines, sensors).
Tip: A 60-30-10 mix works well for many units:
- 60% quick wins
- 30% strategic bets
- 10% enablers
Track and visualize the portfolio
Use a central dashboard (see vclOS by GlassDollar) to monitor:
- Status (e.g., Sourcing → Briefing → Demo → Decision → PoC Running → Completed)
- Owner (business unit or pain point owner)
- Start/end dates
- Budget used
- Success metrics progress
- Implementation likelihood (e.g., Green/Yellow/Red coding)
Why? Transparency makes it easier to spot bottlenecks, delays, or imbalances early.
Manage resource load
- Avoid IT overload: stagger PoCs that require heavy integration.
- Balance stakeholder time: don’t overload a single business unit with too many PoCs at once.
- Align with procurement capacity: space out contracting phases to avoid bottlenecks.
Review portfolio health quarterly
At least once a quarter, step back and review:
- Is the mix of PoCs still aligned with strategic goals?
- Are success rates improving or dropping?
- Which areas of the business are underserved?
- Where are the biggest delays occurring?
Use these reviews to reprioritize, cut low-potential PoCs early, and double down on high-impact ones.
Communicate portfolio impact
To secure budget and executive support, communicate not just individual success stories, but the portfolio’s overall ROI:
- Total business impact (cost savings, revenue gains, efficiency improvements)
- Implementation rate (% of PoCs moving to implementation)
- Strategic alignment (how many PoCs address top corporate priorities)
Key takeaway: POC Portfolio Management is about thinking beyond single projects. A well-managed portfolio ensures sustainable growth of your venture client unit, prevents resource burn-out, and maximizes your credibility as a strategic partner in the organization.
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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