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Amid easing inflation and potential interest rate cuts, it’s an opportune time for CEOs to consider new-venture building as a strategic growth driver. The latest McKinsey survey reveals that 50% of CEOs view this approach as a top-three priority, with companies that have prioritized venture building seeing greater resilience and growth—even in challenging conditions.
For CEOs looking to capture this momentum, investing over 20% of growth capital in new ventures could yield a 2% revenue growth uplift.
Gen-AI-enabled ventures are a high-potential focus, especially in sectors like healthcare and finance, where innovations such as AI-driven advisory services or personalized insurance underwriting can create new market opportunities.
According to the authors, building a successful venture requires a well-planned approach, and mature organizations are seeing strong results by implementing the following strategies:
- Take a Portfolio Approach: Diversify investments across several ventures to balance risk and reward.
- Secure Dedicated Funding: Allocate growth capital specifically for venture-building to avoid competition with core business budgets.
- Maintain Independence with Core Connections: Allow ventures operational autonomy while leveraging core assets to accelerate growth.
- Gain C-Suite Sponsorship: Ensure top-level support to align the organization’s strategic focus on venture growth.
- Build Specialized Teams: Develop a dedicated venture team with clear responsibilities, incentives, and talent flexibility.
- Establish External Partnerships: Fill capability gaps through partnerships or acquisitions to enhance venture-building effectiveness.
With 21% of the Global Fortune 500 having Corporate Venture VPs in their executive team as of October 31, 2024 (Source The Official Board), it’s clear that venture building is gaining serious traction.
This could be the right time to explore or expand your own approach, bringing dedicated leadership into the mix to unlock fresh growth opportunities.
Thank you to Belkis Vasquez-McCall, Daniel Aminetzah, Markus Berger-de León and Paul Jenkins for their in-depth survey, which inspired this synthesis.
