Agile Giants: Lessons from Corporate Innovators
by Sean Ammirati
Fundamentally, a startup within a company is the same as one inside the proverbial garage: a group of entrepreneurs trying to make the world a better place using new ideas and inventions. Each week, join Sean Ammirati, Co-Founder & Director of the Carnegie Mellon Corporate Startup Lab, as he interviews guests who are doing the important work creating startups inside large corporations. If you already are a corporate entrepreneur, want to become one or are just looking for some advice around commercializing transformative innovation, this podcast is for you.
Episodes
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Episode 68: Moderna's AI Journey into Generative AI with Andrew Giessel, Executive Director of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence
Episode description: In the season finale of Agile Giants, we're thrilled to welcome Andrew Giessel, Executive Director of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence at Moderna. I first crossed paths with Andrew when Moderna's AI Academy was launched in collaboration with CMU. I can attest to the...
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Episode 67: Decoding Analytics: Richard Clarke Unveils Highmark Health's Strategic Approach to AI in Healthcare
Episode description: In this podcast episode, we engage in an insightful discussion with Richard Clarke, Chief Data and Analytics Officer at Highmark Health. With an impressive 8-year tenure, Richard offers a unique and seasoned perspective on the evolution of analytics and data science. He and…
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Episode 66: Corporate Innovation Reimagined: Karsten Rönner's Vision of AI and Emerging Technologies at Bosch's grow platform
Episode description: In this podcast episode, we welcome Karsten Rönner from Bosch's grow platform, who shares his journey and insights into AI and emerging technologies. Discover how Karsten's entrepreneurial background influences his leadership at Bosch, shaping the company's innovative…
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Episode 65: Pitching Generative AI to the C-Suite with Melissa Murphy
Episode description: In this episode of Agile Giants, we are joined by Melissa Murphy, a distinguished service professor at the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University. Melissa, a seasoned educator and dynamic force in business education, sits down with us to share her insights on...
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Episode 64: Improve your LLM Prompts: Decoding the TELeR Taxonomy with Santu Karmaker and Dongji Feng
Episode description: In this episode, we sit down with Santu Karmaker and Dongji Feng, creators of the TELeR Taxonomy. This pivotal framework is revolutionizing the way computer scientists benchmark complex tasks in Large Language Models (LLMs). Our conversation goes beyond the academic realm as…
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Episode 63: A Deep Dive on Leveraging Generative AI with Marshall Kirkpatrick
Episode description: Explore the transformative power of AI as special guest Marshall Kirkpatrick, Editor of AI Time to Impact, unravels creative ways of integrating artificial intelligence into different facets of your professional life. We discuss Marshall's journey and gain valuable insights...
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Episode 62: Karl Ulrich on Using Generative AI to Generate Startup Ideas
Episode description: In this episode, we sit down with Karl Ulrich, CIBC Endowed Professor at the Wharton School, as we dissect his recent research experiment comparing startup ideas from Penn Students from those generated by ChatGPT. We discuss the experiment's goals, key takeaways, and the...
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Episode 61- Piotr Mirowski on Google DeepMind's Dramatron: Redefining Creativity in the Age of AI
Episode description: Piotr Mirowski, Staff Research Scientist at Google DeepMind and co-creator of Dramatron shares his insights on the future of human-machine co-creativity especially with all the recent developments in Generative AI. Piotr's been exploring this space for years and his thought...
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Season 4 Finale- Q&A
Episode description: As we wrap up an incredible season of the podcast, we're going out with a special episode. Join us for a Q&A where we turn the spotlight on YOU, our dedicated audience. Your questions have poured in and they fell into three broad categories: Corporate-Startup Collaboration:...
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Episode 59: Navigating Innovative Collaborations with Joel Krikston of Merck Global Health Innovation Fund and Michael Meucci of Arcadia
Episode description: In this week's episode, join us as we uncover the dynamics and strategies behind fostering successful collaborations between established corporations and innovative startups in the digital health industry. We delve into a real-world example of strategic partnership as we sit...
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Episode 58: Sari Kaganoff on Navigating Innovation and Partnerships for Digital Health Startups
Join us on this week's episode of Agile Giants as we dive into the world of digital health startups and the crucial role of partnerships in driving innovation. Our guest, Sari Kaganoff, General Manager of Consulting at Rock Health shares her expertise on how enterprises and startups should…
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Episode 57: Chris Carde on the Crucial Role of Corporate-Startup Partnerships in Driving Innovation for the EV Industry
Episode description: In this week's episode of Agile Giants, Chris Carde, the CEO and Founder of HeyCharge, joins the show to discuss the importance of corporate-startup collaborations in advancing the EV industry. As an industry veteran, Chris provides valuable insights into how startup…
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Episode 56: David Rogers on Overcoming Barriers to Digital Transformation
In this episode, we are joined by David Rogers, a professor at Columbia University, and the author of The Digital Transformation Playbook and The Digital Transformation Roadmap. We dive deep into digital transformation and explore why so many businesses are struggling to adapt. Drawing on his...
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Episode 55: Ed Rakiewicz on the Importance of Corporate-Startup Collaboration in the Evolving Landscape of the Materials Industry
In this podcast episode, we delve into the history and transformation of PPG, a global maker of coatings, paints, and specialty materials that has been around for over 140 years. We are joined by Ed Rakiewicz, a Corporate Fellow at PPG, as he shares insights and experiences on the importance of...
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Episode 54: Kevin Acklin on Driving Innovation in Sports and Business
In this episode, we are joined by Kevin Acklin, President of Business Operations for the Pittsburgh Penguins, to discuss the team's collaboration with startups to solve real problems in sports and business. The conversation touches on the concept of open-source problem-solving and the team's...
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Episode 53: Nick Ellis on Amazon Climate Pledge Fund's Approach to Collaborating with Startups
In this episode, we sit down with Nick Ellis, Principal of the Amazon Climate Pledge Fund, to discuss their approach to investing in startups and how they work with their portfolio companies beyond just providing capital. Learn about Amazon's approach to open-sourcing their expertise and how...
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Episode 52: Chirag Patel on Cultivating the Startup Spirit in a Corporate Environment
Join us for a fascinating conversation with Chirag Patel, Leader of EY Foundry, as we explore how this corporate venturing unit is driving transformational growth for one of the world's largest companies. Discover how EY Foundry identifies new markets and develops new businesses, with a focus on...
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Episode 51: Greg Coticchia on the Importance of Partnerships on Scaling Startups
This season will be a series of interesting conversations about how large companies and startups can partner to deliver transformative innovation together. In our first episode of the fourth season of Agile Giants, we sit down with Greg Coticchia, CEO of Sopheon. Earlier in Greg's career, he was…
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Episode 50: Open Innovation Challenges with Josh Gould, Head of Duquesne Light Innovation Center
Josh Gould is the Director of Innovation at the Duquesne Light Company. He & his team have kicked off a $750k open innovation challenge around monitoring underground electrical cables. He talks a little bit more about this on the episode. The submissions are due March 15th so we wanted to get…
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Episode 49: David Schonthal author of The Human Element
We'll be back later this fall with another full season of Agile Giants, but I wanted to interrupt our break to share a conversation I had with David Schonthal. David is the Clinical Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Northwestern's Kellogg School of Business, and the reason I'm...
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Episode 47: Testing Business Ideas with David Bland, CEO & Founder of Precoil
David is probably best known as the co-author of Testing Business Ideas which he co-authored with Alexander Osterwalder. However, he's had an incredible impact on innovation both at startups and large companies. He helped GE develop their infamous FastWorks program in partnership with Eric Ries.…
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Episode 46: Optimizing Your Team for Innovation Impact with Stefano Mastrogiacomo
There may be no more important topic in 2021 to innovation leaders than how to think about managing and organizing your team. On this week's episode of Agile Giants, I sit down with Stefano Mastrogiacomo to talk about his new book High-Impact Tools for Teams. Show Links: High Impact Tools for…
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Episode 45: Operationalizing an Innovation Mandate with Tendayi Viki
How do you truly operationalize a mandate to become more innovative? There are plenty of resources that talk about the importance of innovation, but over the year's I've really grown to appreciate author & innovation consultant Tendayi Viki's pragmatic advice. On this week's episode, we talk…
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Episode 44: Applying the Lean Startup Methodology to the Military with Peter Newell - Retired US Army Colonel & CEO of BMNT
How do you apply the lean startup methodology to the military? Well, that's the subject of this week's episode of Agile Giants. Pete Newell, whose name may sound familiar because Steve Blank mentioned him at the Corporate Entrepreneurship Forum as the co-author of his upcoming book, Innovation...
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Episode 44: Business Model Transformation & Data Based Corporate Startups at Philips with Tim Murphy
Tim Murphy leads the One SRC Services group within Philips Sleep and Respiratory Care. He joined our Forum to discuss his experience with data based corporate startups and more generally business model transformation. As mentioned last week, we are in the process of sharing all of the videos from...
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Episode 43: Steve Blank & Alexander Osterwalder on The Keys to Successfully Driving Innovation in Established Companies
Steve Blank & Alexander Osterwalder are world famous entrepreneurs and authors whose work in many ways launched the Lean Startup movement. We had a great conversation at CSL's Corporate Entrepreneurship Forum. We are in the process of sharing all of the videos from this year's Forum on the 2020...
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Episode 42: Re-Inventing the Convenience Store Chain - Mary Beth Green, Chief Innovation Officer @ Sheetz
If you live in Pennsylvania or one of the surrounding six states, you've likely pulled into a Sheetz Gas Station not to get gas, but to order & eat food. That's right high-quality quick serve food customized to your preferences. Sheetz pioneered this "made to order" quick-serve style food in a…
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Episode 41: Innovation at Johnson & Johnson with Michal Preminger and Stephen Pitt
I'm sure you are familiar with Johnson & Johnson, but do you know their innovation strategy? On this episode we're joined by 2 Corporate Innovators within J&J Michal Preminger and Stephen Pitt to discuss their innovation strategy.
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Episode 40: Entrepreneur Turned 2x Corporate VC - Pradeep Tagare of National Grid Partners
After transitioning from an entrepreneur to CVC at Intel Capital, Pradeep spent the last two years setting up and leading National Grid's CVC group. We talk about both his experiences launching a new corporate fund in the energy space as well as his experiences and lessons from a career at the...
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Episode 39: Innovation Pathways (including CVC) with Joseph Cabral from LSU
Joseph's papers have been some of the most interesting academic research on corporate venture capital in recent years. We do (eventually) get to this at the second half of the podcast, but honestly I could have talked to him for hours and kept going down fascinating tangents around how innovation...
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Episode 38: Wil Morgan's Approach to Making Connections Across Jaguar Land Rover's Innovation Ecosystem
Wil Morgan has been an investment manager, entrepreneur and venture capitalist. Now he has a fascinating role inside Jaguar Land Rover around corporate innovation. We have an awesome conversation to start Season 3 of Agile Giants, both focusing on his current work at JLR as well as lessons across...
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Episode 37: Q&A Season 2 Finale
On the last episode of Season 2, we do another Q&A episode - focusing on specific questions you the audience have for me. The questions fell into four categories: There were a lot of questions about this unprecedented time we're living in, and especially how it relates to the overall economy,...
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Episode 36: Innovation from Inside Accelerators to the Fortune 500
When you think about "academic thought leadership" in entrepreneurship, Yale Hochberg is at the top of most lists. For me, as a VC, she is best known for her work on the Seed Accelerator Rankings. But as you'll hear on this week's episode of Agile Giants - Yael has done a ton of interesting work...
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Episode 35: Growing & Innovation Through Transitions
Friend & collaborator Laurie Barkman comes back as the first repeat guest on Agile Giants. Since our first recording, she has launched a consulting firm (SmallDotBig), launched a podcast and returned the Tepper classroom as an instructor. We have a great conversation on growth and innovation...
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Episode 34: Corporate Startup Lab Public Demo Day
As a special episode this week, we're broadcasting the full audio of our annual CSL Demo Day. If you would prefer to watch the video, you can see the full video of Demo Day on the Corporate Startup Lab site. You can also learn more about the project course there.
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Episode 33: Platform Business Model Transformation
In the last few years, companies have made huge investments in digital transformation. Companies need to leverage these investments to unlock business model transformation. One of the most common business models that we see is this platform model. My guest this week, Alex Moazed, the founder and...
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Episode 32: Investing CVC Dollars into Frontier Tech Startups
Frontier tech - emerging technologies such as robotics, computer vision and machine learning - are transforming so many of our industries. Established companies need to understand and figure out the right way to react. On this episode of Agile Giants, I sit down with Vin Tang, the Co-Founder of...
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Episode 31: Innovation in Investment Management with Warren Pennington from Vanguard
Most people probably know Vanguard as the firm that you can buy index and mutual funds from. They were the first investment group to offer index funds to individual investors. On this week's episode, we look at how they are continuing to innovate. Warren leads a group that is doing both…
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Episode 30: Innovation in Healthcare
Optum is probably the largest software company that you've never heard of. It does over $100 billion a year in revenue, but is part of United Healthcare Group. United is one of the six largest companies in the United States and the largest health insurance company in the US. On this week's…
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Episode 29: Data as Fuel for Innovation
One of the thing's I've observed over and over again from the best corporate innovation leaders is how data can be fuel for their innovation programs. On this episode of Agile Giants, I bring on a true academic thought leader on this issue - Rebecca Nugent. Rebecca is a chaired professor in...
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Episode 28: Returning to Corporate Venture Capital
About 18 months ago, Bill Pescatello returned to corporate venture after a stint in a traditional VC fund (Lightbank). Evolv is a $100 million firm created in partnership with Kraft Heinz. Bill already had CVC experience as he started his career post business school working at NBC's Corporate...
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Episode 27: Song Ma - Assistant Professor of Finance at the Yale School of Management
We are continuing our conversation for another week on Corporate Venture Capital (CVC). This time returning to academia and having a conversation with Professor Song Ma from Yale. He has written three papers that influenced my thinking significantly. We talk about each in this week's episode. You...
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Episode 26: Matt Carbonara - Managing Director, Venture Investing at Citi Ventures
This week our conversation continues to focus on corporate venture capital. However, we go from Harvard Business School to a "serial CVC" as Matt has been at 3 different corporate venture groups — Comcast, Cisco and now Citi Ventures. Matt has a great perspective from all three of those…
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Episode 25: Josh Lerner Unit Head, Entrepreneurial Management at Harvard Business School
Professor Josh Lerner is an academic giant. His 2013 article in HBR on Corporate Venturing is constantly being referenced in conversations as companies explore setting up their own Corporate Venture Capital group. He also has written a number of best selling books, which we reference on today's...
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Episode 24: Matt Fleckenstein - Sr. Director, Azure Innovation Microsoft
I'm excited to start a second season of Agile Giants with my friend Matt Fleckenstein. Matt has been a VC, traditional entrepreneur and corporate entrepreneur inside Microsoft and Salesforce. Matt & I talk about his observations generally across those experiences as well as his current role where...
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Episode 23: Dave Knox Author of "Predicting the Turn"
Dave & I have known each other for a long time. We first got to know each other through his involvement helping lead a Cincinnatti based startup accelerator, The Brandery. More recently, Dave came out with a book a couple of years ago called Predicting the Turn. There's a ton I enjoyed about this...
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Episode 22: Rita McGrath Author of "Seeing Around Corners"
Rita McGrath is a legend in the field of corporate innovation. She developed the methodology used by so many companies today "Discovery Driven Planning" and has written numerous best-selling books. She recently had a new book come out "Seeing Around Corners: How to Spot Inflection Points in...
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Episode 21: Don't Fall into the Trap of "build vs buy" instead think"build AND buy"!
On this week's episode, I respond to a question I'm getting more and more from you on social media & via email is: How does each of these different techniques highlighted in Agile Giants fit into a company's overall growth strategy? (Or if not that exact question a version of it) I try to provide...
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Episode 20: Rich Grant Founder & Managing Director - Touchdown Ventures
After helping start Comcast Ventures, Rich left with 2 other partners to start Touchdown Ventures. On this week's episode, we have a great conversation about his perspective on CVC as well as unpacking the model that Touchdown Ventures is pioneering. I've asked you for feedback on email, Twitter,...
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Episode 19: Keith Berry Executive Director - Moody's Analytics Accelerator
After 8-years, working in various roles across the organization, three years ago Keith Berry founded the Moody's Analytics Accelerator at the directive of the Board. This is a group inside Moody's focused on launching innovative products typically via a partnership with a FinTech startup. As many...
About this show
Fundamentally, a startup within a company is the same as one inside the proverbial garage: a group of entrepreneurs trying to make the world a better place using new ideas and inventions. Each week, join Sean Ammirati, Co-Founder & Director of the Carnegie Mellon Corporate Startup Lab, as he interviews guests who are doing the important work creating startups inside large corporations. If you already are a corporate entrepreneur, want to become one or are just looking for some advice around commercializing transformative innovation, this podcast is for you.
Hosted by
Sean Ammirati
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