The Corporate Venturing Podcast
An Open Road Ventures Podcast - Powered by Bundl Venture Club
Made for all the corporate entrepreneurs out there. Informal discussions on Open Innovation and Corporate Venturing insights and trends.
🎙️ Hosted by Davide Ritorto, founder and author at Open Road Ventures.
⚡️ Powered by Bundl Venture Club: Digitally connecting senior corporate innovators from global companies across industries and borders in an inspiration, learning, and support network.
All Episodes
#16 - Corporate Venturing Backing the AI Transformation w/ Ji Hoon Kwon (Samsung Ventures)
<p>🎙️ <strong>AI Infrastructure, minus the buzzwords.</strong> </p> <p>In this episode, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jkwon1105/" rel="nofollow"><strong>Ji Hoon Kwon</strong></a> (Managing Director, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/samsung-venture-investment-america/posts/?feedView=all" rel="nofollow"><strong>Samsung Ventures</strong></a>) explains where AI data centers really choke (<strong>power, thermal, and networking) </strong>why <strong>baseload</strong> energy matters, and how a CVC can move at <strong>VC speed</strong> while creating value beyond capital. He also pressure-tests “future” ideas like <strong>floating</strong> and <strong>space</strong> data centers with an operator’s lens.</p> <p><br></p> <p><strong>Highlights</strong></p> <ul> <li><p>🔌 <strong>Power is bottleneck #1.</strong> GPU draw jumped to ~1–1.2 kW per chip; racks push ~120 kW, and lost power turns into heat.</p></li> <li><p>🌡️ <strong>Thermal follows power.</strong> More watts mean more heat; rethink electrical and cooling together.</p></li> <li><p>⚙️ <strong>Next wave: power electronics.</strong> Efficiency in conversion and distribution becomes the lever.</p></li> <li><p>🔋 <strong>Baseload beats intermittency.</strong> 24/7 AI favors <strong>SMR nuclear</strong> and <strong>geothermal</strong> over variable-only supply.</p></li> <li><p>🧪 <strong>Diligence that saves time.</strong> Run technical and financial checks in parallel; decide fast or pass fast.</p></li> <li><p>🤝 <strong>Value after the check.</strong> Open doors across BUs—manufacturing, customers, and design-ins—not just capital.</p></li> <li><p>🛟 <strong>Future formats, reality check.</strong> <strong>Floating</strong> and <strong>space</strong> DCs have promise, but corrosion, maintenance, connectivity, and launch costs are tough.</p></li> <li><p>📈 <strong>What makes a “good” CVC deal.</strong> Strategic fit matters, but <strong>financial returns</strong> still keep the engine running.</p></li> </ul> <p><strong>Resources:</strong></p> <ul> <li><p>📬 <a href="https://openroadventuress.substack.com/" rel="nofollow">Open Road Ventures Newsletter</a></p></li> <li><p>⚡ <a href="https://www.bundl.com/venture-club" rel="nofollow">Bundl Venture Club</a></p></li> </ul>
#14 - Scaling Venture Innovation in the AI Era w/ Jelena Joffe Weil (AWS)
<p>What is <strong>Venture Innovation</strong>? How can you scale it?</p> <p><br></p> <p>In this episode, I’m joined by <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jelena-joffe-weil-8456242a/" rel="nofollow"><strong>Jelena Joffe Weil</strong>,</a> Worldwide Leader for Venture Innovation at <strong>Amazon Web Services (AWS)</strong>. Jelena and her team sit at the intersection of <strong>enterprises and startups</strong>, matching real problems with the right founders and helping both sides move from idea to impact.</p> <p><br></p> <p>We explore how <strong>collaborative innovation</strong> is changing in the age of GenAI, and what it actually takes to make these partnerships work at scale.</p> <p><br></p> <p>In this episode, Jelena shares insights on:</p> <p><br></p> <p>⚙️ <strong>What venture innovation really is</strong></p> <p>How AWS Venture Innovation helps enterprises de-risk and scale innovation, while giving startups the one thing they value most: <strong>access to decision-makers, not more credits</strong>.</p> <p><br></p> <p>🤖 <strong>Why AI is forcing “outside-in” innovation</strong></p> <p>How the shift from “move to cloud” to “AI at the core” pushed corporates to accept they can’t build everything alone—and need the right partners instead.</p> <p><br></p> <p>🎯 <strong>Picking use cases that matter</strong></p> <p>The three filters she uses to choose where to start: a clear problem, measurable business impact, and a real team with budget behind it. </p> <p><br></p> <p>🏭 <strong>A concrete Next-Gen Lab example</strong></p> <p>How a global CPG company aligned 20+ leaders, met five pre-qualified startups in one day, and moved four of them to next steps—with one becoming the chosen partner for lab automation. </p> <p><br></p> <p>📌 <strong>The “never start without” rule</strong></p> <p>Why her team refuses to begin without three basics: a sponsor, a focused theme/use case, and actual decision-makers in the room—otherwise you just create another pilot that goes nowhere. </p> <p><br></p> <p>📈 <strong>KPIs for both sides of the table</strong></p> <p>How she separates business KPIs (time saved, costs cut, revenue uplift) from internal ones focused on ecosystem health, startup growth, and depth of relationships with business leaders.</p> <p><br></p> <p>🚀 <strong>Access = right person × right need ^ now</strong></p> <p>Her formula for startup go-to-market: getting founders in front of the right person, with the right need, at the right moment—and <strong>why building customer trust is the real secret sauce of “matchmaker magic”.</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>We close the episode on Jelena’s personal “why”: <strong>using emerging technology to make this world a little better by matching the work of courageous founders with the resources and scale of large organization.</strong></p> <p><br></p> <p><strong>Resources:</strong></p> <p>• <a href="https://openroadventuress.substack.com/" rel="nofollow">Open Road Ventures Newsletter</a></p> <p>• <a href="https://www.bundl.com/venture-club" rel="nofollow">Bundl Venture Club</a></p> <p><br></p> <p>🎧 Follow the podcast for grounded stories and practical lessons from inside the world of Open Innovation and Corporate Venturing.</p>
#8 - The Corporate Venturer: Diplomat, Therapist, Magician w/ Patricia Kroondijk (Canon Marketing Japan)
<p>🎙️ Welcome to a new episode of <em><strong>The Corporate Venturing Podcast!</strong></em></p> <p><br></p> <p>What does it take to lead Corporate Venturing in a global organisation, when the rules are shifting, and the real challenge is not building ventures… but making them stick?</p> <p><br></p> <p>In this episode, I sit down with <strong>Patricia Kroondijk</strong>, Head of Corporate Venture Capital and Venture Building at <strong>Canon</strong>, to explore what it means to drive innovation inside a company known for excellence and legacy, but hungry for transformation.</p> <p><br></p> <p>Patricia shares her personal framework of the three roles every corporate venturer must master:</p> <p>🎩 <strong>The Diplomat</strong> — navigating power structures and getting buy-in</p> <p>🧠 <strong>The Therapist </strong>— helping the organisation unlearn old habits</p> <p>🪄 <strong>The Magician</strong> — creating value where no one thought it was possible</p> <p>+ Of course, <strong>The Entrepreneur </strong>(quite obvious)</p> <p><br></p> <p>We also discuss:</p> <p>🧭 Why venturing is ultimately a cultural transformation tool</p> <p>⚖️ The power dynamics between core business and new ventures</p> <p>🚫 Why pushing too fast can trigger antibodies — and how to pace the journey</p> <p>🌐 How her team thinks globally but executes in alignment with local units</p> <p>🧱 The invisible work behind aligning stakeholders before a venture even launches</p> <p><br></p> <p>Whether you’re building a venture unit, managing a CVC fund, or trying to bring real innovation into a complex organisation, this episode is a masterclass in the nuance, realism, and persistence it takes to make it work.</p> <p><br></p> <p>Resources:</p> <p>• <a href="https://openroadventuress.substack.com/" rel="nofollow">Open Road Ventures</a></p> <p>• <a href="https://www.bundl.com/venture-club" rel="nofollow">Bundl Venture Club</a></p> <p><br></p> <p>🎧 Follow the podcast for more grounded stories from inside the world of <strong>Open Innovation </strong>and <strong>Corporate Venturing.</strong></p>
#17 - Inside Woven Capital: The Playbook for Growth-Stage Venturing w/ Nicole LeBlanc (Woven Capital)
<p>In this episode, I’m joined by <a href="https://jp.linkedin.com/in/neleblanc" rel="nofollow">Nicole LeBlanc</a>, Partner at <a href="https://woven.vc/" rel="nofollow">Woven Capital</a>, Toyota’s growth-stage venture fund. Nicole and her team manage a combined $1.6B across two funds, sitting at the critical junction where startups need to move from "move fast and break things" to global deployment.</p> <p>We explore the launch of their new $800M Fund 2, how they differentiate from early-stage investing, and what it really takes to integrate external innovation into the world’s largest automaker.</p> <p><br></p> <p>In this episode, Nicole shares insights on:</p> <p>💸 <strong>The $800M Signal </strong></p> <p>Why Woven Capital launched Fund 2 now , doubling down on AI and climate tech , and how in today’s geopolitical environment, corporates bring scale while startups bring the necessary speed.</p> <p><br></p> <p>🤝 <strong>Early vs. Growth Stage </strong></p> <p>The clear distinction between Toyota Ventures (early-stage "cousins") and Woven Capital (growth-stage) , and how they pass deal flow to ensure startups have support from seed to scale.</p> <p><br></p> <p>🧭 <strong>The "Portfolio Success" Superpower </strong></p> <p>Why writing the check is the easy part, and how Woven’s dedicated team guides startups through Toyota’s complex business units so they don’t get lost in the organization.</p> <p><br></p> <p>⚖️ <strong>Strategic Value vs. Financial Discipline</strong></p> <p>How to balance the dual mandate. Nicole explains why a deal must stand on its own financially first—even if the strategic story is perfect—to ensure long-term resilience.</p> <p><br></p> <p>🔋 <strong>Real-World Case Study: Weave Grid</strong></p> <p>A concrete example of how investing in Weave Grid allowed Toyota to solve the "3,000 utilities" problem while giving the startup the validation needed to unlock the rest of the OEM market.</p> <p><br></p> <p>🧠 <strong>AI Beyond the Hype</strong></p> <p>Why she sees AI not just as a buzzword, but as a foundational unlock for logistics, fleet management, and simulation—improving operations rather than just perception.</p> <p><br></p> <p>We close the episode on Nicole’s personal view: why corporate venturing is "not a 9-to-5 job" and why, despite the massive scale and deep tech, success ultimately comes down to human connection.</p> <p><br></p> <p><strong>Resources:</strong>• <a href="https://openroadventuress.substack.com/" rel="nofollow">Open Road Ventures Newsletter</a>• <a href="https://www.bundl.com/venture-club" rel="nofollow">Bundl Venture Club</a></p> <p><br></p> <p>🎧 <strong>Follow the podcast for grounded stories and practical lessons from inside the world of Open Innovation and Corporate Venturing.</strong></p>