Author: Ian MacMillan
Publisher: CreateSpace
ISBN: 9781475275285
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 44
Book Description
This report examines corporate venture capital (CVC) as a model of innovation. CVC programs in established corporations invest in and partner with entrepreneurial companies. By doing so, established companies are able to identify and source new emerging technologies from entrepreneurial companies. CVCs typically make a financial investment and receive a minority equity stake in an entrepreneurial company. CVCs also facilitate investment of in-kind resources into portfolio companies. In return, the parent corporation gains a window on new technologies and strategically complementary companies that could become strategic partners. CVCs generally invest with a combination of financial and strategic objectives. Strategic objectives include leveraging external sources of innovation, bringing new ideas and technologies into the company, and taking "real options" on technologies and business models (by investing in a wider array of technologies or business directions than the company can pursue itself). Corporate venture capital may be viewed in the broader context of corporate venturing, including both internal and external venturing. Internal venturing programs "go inside" the firm and create entrepreneurial ventures from within the corporation. External venturing programs "go outside" the firm and tap external sources of innovation, whether through research collaborations with universities, strategic alliances with other firms, or partnerships with entrepreneurial companies. Often, the firm's internal and external venturing efforts are closely related and interact with each other. CVC programs in established corporations face both inward and outward. They face outward to build relationships with the entrepreneurial venture community, learn about new technology and business directions, and make investments that create new strategic opportunities for the corporation. They face inward to interact with the firm's R&D and business operating units, in order to identify operating units' interests and priorities. CVCs support the corporation's existing businesses by introducing new technologies and partnerships to its operating groups. At the same time, CVCs help identify technologies and opportunities that fall between or beyond the corporation's existing businesses. This report uses industry data and original survey data to describe trends and characteristics of CVC organizations and investments. These data provide insight on a range of issues relating to CVC operations and investments. U.S. Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology. NIST GCR 08-916
Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) Seeking Innovation and Strategic Growth
Author: Ian MacMillan
Publisher: CreateSpace
ISBN: 9781475275285
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 44
Book Description
This report examines corporate venture capital (CVC) as a model of innovation. CVC programs in established corporations invest in and partner with entrepreneurial companies. By doing so, established companies are able to identify and source new emerging technologies from entrepreneurial companies. CVCs typically make a financial investment and receive a minority equity stake in an entrepreneurial company. CVCs also facilitate investment of in-kind resources into portfolio companies. In return, the parent corporation gains a window on new technologies and strategically complementary companies that could become strategic partners. CVCs generally invest with a combination of financial and strategic objectives. Strategic objectives include leveraging external sources of innovation, bringing new ideas and technologies into the company, and taking "real options" on technologies and business models (by investing in a wider array of technologies or business directions than the company can pursue itself). Corporate venture capital may be viewed in the broader context of corporate venturing, including both internal and external venturing. Internal venturing programs "go inside" the firm and create entrepreneurial ventures from within the corporation. External venturing programs "go outside" the firm and tap external sources of innovation, whether through research collaborations with universities, strategic alliances with other firms, or partnerships with entrepreneurial companies. Often, the firm's internal and external venturing efforts are closely related and interact with each other. CVC programs in established corporations face both inward and outward. They face outward to build relationships with the entrepreneurial venture community, learn about new technology and business directions, and make investments that create new strategic opportunities for the corporation. They face inward to interact with the firm's R&D and business operating units, in order to identify operating units' interests and priorities. CVCs support the corporation's existing businesses by introducing new technologies and partnerships to its operating groups. At the same time, CVCs help identify technologies and opportunities that fall between or beyond the corporation's existing businesses. This report uses industry data and original survey data to describe trends and characteristics of CVC organizations and investments. These data provide insight on a range of issues relating to CVC operations and investments. U.S. Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology. NIST GCR 08-916
Publisher: CreateSpace
ISBN: 9781475275285
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 44
Book Description
This report examines corporate venture capital (CVC) as a model of innovation. CVC programs in established corporations invest in and partner with entrepreneurial companies. By doing so, established companies are able to identify and source new emerging technologies from entrepreneurial companies. CVCs typically make a financial investment and receive a minority equity stake in an entrepreneurial company. CVCs also facilitate investment of in-kind resources into portfolio companies. In return, the parent corporation gains a window on new technologies and strategically complementary companies that could become strategic partners. CVCs generally invest with a combination of financial and strategic objectives. Strategic objectives include leveraging external sources of innovation, bringing new ideas and technologies into the company, and taking "real options" on technologies and business models (by investing in a wider array of technologies or business directions than the company can pursue itself). Corporate venture capital may be viewed in the broader context of corporate venturing, including both internal and external venturing. Internal venturing programs "go inside" the firm and create entrepreneurial ventures from within the corporation. External venturing programs "go outside" the firm and tap external sources of innovation, whether through research collaborations with universities, strategic alliances with other firms, or partnerships with entrepreneurial companies. Often, the firm's internal and external venturing efforts are closely related and interact with each other. CVC programs in established corporations face both inward and outward. They face outward to build relationships with the entrepreneurial venture community, learn about new technology and business directions, and make investments that create new strategic opportunities for the corporation. They face inward to interact with the firm's R&D and business operating units, in order to identify operating units' interests and priorities. CVCs support the corporation's existing businesses by introducing new technologies and partnerships to its operating groups. At the same time, CVCs help identify technologies and opportunities that fall between or beyond the corporation's existing businesses. This report uses industry data and original survey data to describe trends and characteristics of CVC organizations and investments. These data provide insight on a range of issues relating to CVC operations and investments. U.S. Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology. NIST GCR 08-916
Corporate Venturing
Author: Dado Van Peteghem
Publisher: Die Keure Publishing
ISBN: 2874035076
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 201
Book Description
Different strategies and tactics to accelerate innovation and growth through collaboration. This is not the hype story of how cool startups are and why you should invest in them with a fund or setup an accelerator. Corporate Venturing is so much more than CVC - Corporate Venture Capital. The aim of this book is to provide insights in the different strategies and tactics to accelerate innovation and growth through collaboration, as well as plenty of cases as examples where these models are successfully applied. This is not a book for people that are looking for complex innovation theories around venturing. Rather it’s a no-nonsense, ready-to-apply comprehensive guide for creating and reviewing your corporate venturing strategy as strategic growth. The book will provide guidance, insights, perspective and inspiration for anyone that has intrests in corporate venturing as a strategy to accelerate growth. Whether you are a large corporate or an upcoming player in the market. With cases from Ricolab, BNP Paribas Fortis, Roularta Media Group, SNCF and Cartamundi. Discover a ready-to-apply comprehensive guide for creating and reviewing your corporate venturing strategy as strategic growth. EXTRACT Attract a-typical ventures For starters, you will attract ventures that you may not have found yourself, because you’re too focused on specific fields. While a company may not fit the profile you’re looking for at first sight, digging deeper may reveal that they are solving the same problem in a different industry, or that they are doing breakthrough work that you hadn’t even considered yet. It’s a more passive approach than scouting, but you will need to keep creating content to keep it going, so don’t underestimate the work. ABOUT THE AUTORS Dado Van Peteghem is one of the leading experts in the digital sector. He is a frequent keynote speaker and entrepreneur. Dado is Founding partner at the consulting firm Duval Union Consulting, co-founder of several startups including Social Seeder, Speakersbase and TrendBase, giving more than 150 speeches per year internationally on topics as digital disruption and transformation, corporate innovation and startup thinking. Omar Mohout, currently Entrepreneurship Fellow at Sirris, is a former technology entrepreneur, a widely published technology author, C-level advisor to high growth startups as well as Fortune 500 companies and Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Antwerp, the Antwerp Management School, ULB and Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management.
Publisher: Die Keure Publishing
ISBN: 2874035076
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 201
Book Description
Different strategies and tactics to accelerate innovation and growth through collaboration. This is not the hype story of how cool startups are and why you should invest in them with a fund or setup an accelerator. Corporate Venturing is so much more than CVC - Corporate Venture Capital. The aim of this book is to provide insights in the different strategies and tactics to accelerate innovation and growth through collaboration, as well as plenty of cases as examples where these models are successfully applied. This is not a book for people that are looking for complex innovation theories around venturing. Rather it’s a no-nonsense, ready-to-apply comprehensive guide for creating and reviewing your corporate venturing strategy as strategic growth. The book will provide guidance, insights, perspective and inspiration for anyone that has intrests in corporate venturing as a strategy to accelerate growth. Whether you are a large corporate or an upcoming player in the market. With cases from Ricolab, BNP Paribas Fortis, Roularta Media Group, SNCF and Cartamundi. Discover a ready-to-apply comprehensive guide for creating and reviewing your corporate venturing strategy as strategic growth. EXTRACT Attract a-typical ventures For starters, you will attract ventures that you may not have found yourself, because you’re too focused on specific fields. While a company may not fit the profile you’re looking for at first sight, digging deeper may reveal that they are solving the same problem in a different industry, or that they are doing breakthrough work that you hadn’t even considered yet. It’s a more passive approach than scouting, but you will need to keep creating content to keep it going, so don’t underestimate the work. ABOUT THE AUTORS Dado Van Peteghem is one of the leading experts in the digital sector. He is a frequent keynote speaker and entrepreneur. Dado is Founding partner at the consulting firm Duval Union Consulting, co-founder of several startups including Social Seeder, Speakersbase and TrendBase, giving more than 150 speeches per year internationally on topics as digital disruption and transformation, corporate innovation and startup thinking. Omar Mohout, currently Entrepreneurship Fellow at Sirris, is a former technology entrepreneur, a widely published technology author, C-level advisor to high growth startups as well as Fortune 500 companies and Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Antwerp, the Antwerp Management School, ULB and Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management.
The Founder's Dilemmas
Author: Noam Wasserman
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691158304
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 490
Book Description
The Founder's Dilemmas examines how early decisions by entrepreneurs can make or break a startup and its team. Drawing on a decade of research, including quantitative data on almost ten thousand founders as well as inside stories of founders like Evan Williams of Twitter and Tim Westergren of Pandora, Noam Wasserman reveals the common pitfalls founders face and how to avoid them.
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691158304
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 490
Book Description
The Founder's Dilemmas examines how early decisions by entrepreneurs can make or break a startup and its team. Drawing on a decade of research, including quantitative data on almost ten thousand founders as well as inside stories of founders like Evan Williams of Twitter and Tim Westergren of Pandora, Noam Wasserman reveals the common pitfalls founders face and how to avoid them.
The Business of Venture Capital
Author: Mahendra Ramsinghani
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1118130405
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 297
Book Description
The definitive guide demystifying the venture capital business The Business of Venture Capital covers the entire spectrum of a venture capital business, from raising venture funds to structuring investments, value creation as board member and assessing exit pathways. Author Mahendra Ramsinghani covers the distinct aspects of the venture capital fund raising and investment process with insights and perspectives from leading experts. Interviewees include Limited Partners (LPs) such as Credit Suisse, Grove Street Advisors and General Partners (GPs) from Foundry Group, Spark Capital, Benchmark Capital, Norwest Venture Partners, Shasta Ventures and Bessemer Venture Partners. If you’re curious about venture capital businesses, you’ve found the only book that covers it all. • The first book to address the full investment cycle of the venture capital business • Demystifies the key aspects of the business - raising venture funds, fund-level due diligence and fund terms, structuring investments, value creation, and exits • Foreword by Mark Heesen, President, National Venture Capital Association • Benefit from the experiences of the best-in-class practitioners, who have made investments in leading companies like Zynga, Twitter & Foursquare • Describes how venture capital is an art as well as a science In-depth and thorough, The Business of Venture Capital is the one book that includes insights, tools and real world examples every practitioner can benefit from.
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1118130405
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 297
Book Description
The definitive guide demystifying the venture capital business The Business of Venture Capital covers the entire spectrum of a venture capital business, from raising venture funds to structuring investments, value creation as board member and assessing exit pathways. Author Mahendra Ramsinghani covers the distinct aspects of the venture capital fund raising and investment process with insights and perspectives from leading experts. Interviewees include Limited Partners (LPs) such as Credit Suisse, Grove Street Advisors and General Partners (GPs) from Foundry Group, Spark Capital, Benchmark Capital, Norwest Venture Partners, Shasta Ventures and Bessemer Venture Partners. If you’re curious about venture capital businesses, you’ve found the only book that covers it all. • The first book to address the full investment cycle of the venture capital business • Demystifies the key aspects of the business - raising venture funds, fund-level due diligence and fund terms, structuring investments, value creation, and exits • Foreword by Mark Heesen, President, National Venture Capital Association • Benefit from the experiences of the best-in-class practitioners, who have made investments in leading companies like Zynga, Twitter & Foursquare • Describes how venture capital is an art as well as a science In-depth and thorough, The Business of Venture Capital is the one book that includes insights, tools and real world examples every practitioner can benefit from.
Masters of Corporate Venture Capital
Author: Andrew Romans
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781530088690
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 280
Book Description
Andrew Romans captured wisdom from interviews with 100+ Corporate Venture Capitalists (CVCs), independent VCs, CEOs of startups, bankers and lawyers to write the definitive book on the topic of CVC. Masters of Corporate Venture Capital is packed with invaluable advice about how to best raise capital from CVCs, unlock synergies of partnering startups with large corporations for rapid international growth and avoid potential disasters and other dangers related to CVC.More than 20% of all Venture Capital financings include at least one CVC and thus startups need to understand this previously misunderstood area of funding. Corporations need to establish their own CVC arms to access external innovation and learn how to bring this inside via VC investing, partnerships and M&A. We work in a very complex ecosystem and this book captures stories that bring the complexity to life with simple lessons.This book is for:* Entrepreneurs* VCs* Angel investors* Family offices* CVCs* Corporates thinking about launching a CVC* Anyone advising startups.
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781530088690
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 280
Book Description
Andrew Romans captured wisdom from interviews with 100+ Corporate Venture Capitalists (CVCs), independent VCs, CEOs of startups, bankers and lawyers to write the definitive book on the topic of CVC. Masters of Corporate Venture Capital is packed with invaluable advice about how to best raise capital from CVCs, unlock synergies of partnering startups with large corporations for rapid international growth and avoid potential disasters and other dangers related to CVC.More than 20% of all Venture Capital financings include at least one CVC and thus startups need to understand this previously misunderstood area of funding. Corporations need to establish their own CVC arms to access external innovation and learn how to bring this inside via VC investing, partnerships and M&A. We work in a very complex ecosystem and this book captures stories that bring the complexity to life with simple lessons.This book is for:* Entrepreneurs* VCs* Angel investors* Family offices* CVCs* Corporates thinking about launching a CVC* Anyone advising startups.
Venture Capital
Author: Douglas Cumming
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0470599758
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 604
Book Description
An essential guide to venture capital Studies have shown that venture capital backed entrepreneurial firms are on average significantly more successful than non-venture capital backed entrepreneurial firms in terms of innovativeness, profitability, and share price performance upon going public. Understanding the various aspects of venture capital is something anyone in any industry should be familiar with. This reliable resource provides a comprehensive view of venture capital by describing the current state of research and best practices in this arena. Issues addressed include sources of capital-such as angel investment, corporate funds, and government funds-financial contracts and monitoring, and the efficiency implications of VC investment, to name a few. Opens with a review of alternative forms of venture capital Highlights the structure of venture capital investments Examines the role venture capitalists play in adding value to their investee firms This informative guide will help you discover the true potential of venture capital.
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0470599758
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 604
Book Description
An essential guide to venture capital Studies have shown that venture capital backed entrepreneurial firms are on average significantly more successful than non-venture capital backed entrepreneurial firms in terms of innovativeness, profitability, and share price performance upon going public. Understanding the various aspects of venture capital is something anyone in any industry should be familiar with. This reliable resource provides a comprehensive view of venture capital by describing the current state of research and best practices in this arena. Issues addressed include sources of capital-such as angel investment, corporate funds, and government funds-financial contracts and monitoring, and the efficiency implications of VC investment, to name a few. Opens with a review of alternative forms of venture capital Highlights the structure of venture capital investments Examines the role venture capitalists play in adding value to their investee firms This informative guide will help you discover the true potential of venture capital.
Entrepreneurship
Author: Marc H. Meyer
Publisher: SAGE Publications
ISBN: 1412992656
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 473
Book Description
This book shows students how to build successful new enterprises: to conceive, plan, and execute on a new venture idea. Based on research findings, the authors' own experiences and their work with dozens of young entrepreneurial companies, the book shows how innovation is inextricably linked with entrepreneurship. It breaks down all the key steps necessary for success, provides in-depth cases of companies from a variety of industries (with a focus on technology firms), and includes Reader Exercises at the end of each chapter that can be used for team activities.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
ISBN: 1412992656
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 473
Book Description
This book shows students how to build successful new enterprises: to conceive, plan, and execute on a new venture idea. Based on research findings, the authors' own experiences and their work with dozens of young entrepreneurial companies, the book shows how innovation is inextricably linked with entrepreneurship. It breaks down all the key steps necessary for success, provides in-depth cases of companies from a variety of industries (with a focus on technology firms), and includes Reader Exercises at the end of each chapter that can be used for team activities.
The Oxford Handbook of Venture Capital
Author: Douglas Cumming
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199942617
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 1126
Book Description
Venture capital (VC) refers to investments provided to early-stage, innovative, and high growth start-up companies. A common characteristic of all venture capital investments is that investee companies do not have cash flows to pay interest on debt or dividends on equity. Rather, investments are made with a view towards capital gain on exit. The most sought after exit routes are an initial public offering (IPO), where a company lists on a stock exchange for the first time, and an acquisition exit (trade sale), where the company is sold in entirety to another company. However, VCs often exit their investments by secondary sales, wherein the entrepreneur retains his or her share but the VC sells to another company or investor buybacks, where the entrepreneur repurchases the VC`s interest and write-offs (liquidations). The Oxford Handbook of Venture Capital provides a comprehensive picture of all the issues dealing with the structure, governance, and performance of venture capital from a global perspective. The handbook comprises contributions from 55 authors currently based in 12 different countries.
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199942617
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 1126
Book Description
Venture capital (VC) refers to investments provided to early-stage, innovative, and high growth start-up companies. A common characteristic of all venture capital investments is that investee companies do not have cash flows to pay interest on debt or dividends on equity. Rather, investments are made with a view towards capital gain on exit. The most sought after exit routes are an initial public offering (IPO), where a company lists on a stock exchange for the first time, and an acquisition exit (trade sale), where the company is sold in entirety to another company. However, VCs often exit their investments by secondary sales, wherein the entrepreneur retains his or her share but the VC sells to another company or investor buybacks, where the entrepreneur repurchases the VC`s interest and write-offs (liquidations). The Oxford Handbook of Venture Capital provides a comprehensive picture of all the issues dealing with the structure, governance, and performance of venture capital from a global perspective. The handbook comprises contributions from 55 authors currently based in 12 different countries.
Mergers and Acquisitions, Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Author: Yaakov Weber
Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing
ISBN: 1786353717
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 187
Book Description
This volume of Technology, Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Competitive Strategy is devoted to research aimed at understanding success and failure factors of mergers and acquisitions in entrepreneurial firms. Contributions are multidisciplinary and cross-cultural, and tackle key issues from a variety of theoretical and empirical perspectives.
Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing
ISBN: 1786353717
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 187
Book Description
This volume of Technology, Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Competitive Strategy is devoted to research aimed at understanding success and failure factors of mergers and acquisitions in entrepreneurial firms. Contributions are multidisciplinary and cross-cultural, and tackle key issues from a variety of theoretical and empirical perspectives.
Innovation Casino
Author: Eisaiah Engel
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 120
Book Description
Are you ready to outperform the competition in the digital economy-but are dissatisfied with how internal initiatives never get you far enough, fast enough? Innovation Casino is a new playbook on how executives at large firms can grow digital revenue in the 2020s. Challenged with COVID-19 at the outset, the 2020s are also poised for higher taxes and higher borrowing costs. In this new decade, large corporates will need to change course from betting on big acquisitions (a strategy used by "players" in the innovation casino) to growing organically by creating new reasons for customers to pay a premium and stay loyal. The "innovation casino" is a metaphor for the odds of delivering financial returns from innovation. To beat the odds, large firms must transform their core products into digital ecosystems-much like the App Store on the Apple iPhone. Digital ecosystems give large firms the opportunity to participate in thousands of bets on digital innovation produced by outside startups-rather than trying to innovate by themselves. By focusing on their core platforms and incentivizing startups to build everything else, large firms can play to their natural strengths as the "house" in the innovation casino. In his work with leading companies, digital innovator and best-selling author Eisaiah Engel has seen firsthand how innovation investments can be hampered by internal roadblocks and complexities. Engel founded three companies in the digital advertising space, including one that generated over $1 million annually with an initial investment of $25,000. Curious to learn the machinery of large organizations, Engel then divested his startups and worked as a consultant and later as a marketing leader at a Fortune 10 firm. Innovation Casino was born of Engel's struggles to innovate at the extreme ends of corporate structure-from his own startups to companies with billions in revenue. In Innovation Casino, Engel proposes a shift in corporate innovation financing: Use outside capital to fund startups, encouraging them to build new products and services on a large firm's platform. Through the research-based strategies in Innovation Casino, you will: Learn how to combine open innovation with seed funding-motivating startups to develop products and services that attract customers to your platform. Make thousands of bets on innovation with an Ecosystem Innovation Fund (EIF)-a cross between the US government's SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) grant program and venture capital. Maximize principal preservation and your returns with the unique risk management structure of an EIF. "Buy low" by giving entrepreneurs unprecedented control of their companies in exchange for valuation discounts to maximize your returns. Invest in "zebra" startups that are excited about delivering niche solutions on your platform, unlike their "unicorn" cousins who are trying to become your competitors. Free your digital ecosystem to participate in thousands of bets on innovation-overcoming the constraints of your organizational structure. Innovation Casino takes an odds-based view of strategy, basing its provocative recommendations on years of primary and secondary research by the author. With more than 21 graphs and detailed data tables, this book provides critical information for your digital ecosystem strategy. Giving this book to your corporate strategy, finance, and product teams would be a smart bet on your company's future in the platform economy.
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 120
Book Description
Are you ready to outperform the competition in the digital economy-but are dissatisfied with how internal initiatives never get you far enough, fast enough? Innovation Casino is a new playbook on how executives at large firms can grow digital revenue in the 2020s. Challenged with COVID-19 at the outset, the 2020s are also poised for higher taxes and higher borrowing costs. In this new decade, large corporates will need to change course from betting on big acquisitions (a strategy used by "players" in the innovation casino) to growing organically by creating new reasons for customers to pay a premium and stay loyal. The "innovation casino" is a metaphor for the odds of delivering financial returns from innovation. To beat the odds, large firms must transform their core products into digital ecosystems-much like the App Store on the Apple iPhone. Digital ecosystems give large firms the opportunity to participate in thousands of bets on digital innovation produced by outside startups-rather than trying to innovate by themselves. By focusing on their core platforms and incentivizing startups to build everything else, large firms can play to their natural strengths as the "house" in the innovation casino. In his work with leading companies, digital innovator and best-selling author Eisaiah Engel has seen firsthand how innovation investments can be hampered by internal roadblocks and complexities. Engel founded three companies in the digital advertising space, including one that generated over $1 million annually with an initial investment of $25,000. Curious to learn the machinery of large organizations, Engel then divested his startups and worked as a consultant and later as a marketing leader at a Fortune 10 firm. Innovation Casino was born of Engel's struggles to innovate at the extreme ends of corporate structure-from his own startups to companies with billions in revenue. In Innovation Casino, Engel proposes a shift in corporate innovation financing: Use outside capital to fund startups, encouraging them to build new products and services on a large firm's platform. Through the research-based strategies in Innovation Casino, you will: Learn how to combine open innovation with seed funding-motivating startups to develop products and services that attract customers to your platform. Make thousands of bets on innovation with an Ecosystem Innovation Fund (EIF)-a cross between the US government's SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) grant program and venture capital. Maximize principal preservation and your returns with the unique risk management structure of an EIF. "Buy low" by giving entrepreneurs unprecedented control of their companies in exchange for valuation discounts to maximize your returns. Invest in "zebra" startups that are excited about delivering niche solutions on your platform, unlike their "unicorn" cousins who are trying to become your competitors. Free your digital ecosystem to participate in thousands of bets on innovation-overcoming the constraints of your organizational structure. Innovation Casino takes an odds-based view of strategy, basing its provocative recommendations on years of primary and secondary research by the author. With more than 21 graphs and detailed data tables, this book provides critical information for your digital ecosystem strategy. Giving this book to your corporate strategy, finance, and product teams would be a smart bet on your company's future in the platform economy.