Types of Venture Builder

Spring 2019. I was meeting with the CEO of a corporate innovation lab who said: “We should partner: we’re both venture builders!”

I looked at their model: they built internal ventures for their parent company, testing new business models that might become subsidiaries. Zero external entrepreneurs. Full corporate ownership. 18-month experiment timelines.

We had almost nothing in common except the “venture builder” label.

Not all venture builders are created equal. In fact, calling every company-building entity a “venture builder” is like calling every four-wheeled vehicle a “car”: technically true, but not useful. A Formula 1 race car and a pickup truck are optimized for completely different purposes.

Understanding these distinctions matters because different builder types attract different entrepreneurs, use different playbooks, and measure success differently. Joining the wrong type of builder for your goals is like joining a marathon training program when you actually want to learn sprinting.

The venture building model is still evolving, which means classification isn’t standardized. New types emerge constantly. But three core models have proven themselves: Corporate, Angel, and Academic. Each has distinct characteristics, advantages, and limitations.

Here’s how they compare:

TABLE 1-5
Types of venture builder
	Corporate	Angel	Academic
Builder founders	Companies	Individuals	Educational institutions
Contribution to commercial activity and marketing	High	High	High
Shares you own	High	High	Medium
Contributed financial capital	Low	Medium	Medium

In the following sections, we will delve into the unique characteristics and limitations of each of these venture builder types.

Corporate Venture Builder

Corporate Venture Builders (CVBs) differ from Corporate Venture Capital (CVC), though both are initiatives of large corporations. CVC typically involves investing in external companies to acquire a minor equity stake, often finding themselves at the mercy of the entrepreneurs whose goals may not align with the corporation’s.

In contrast, Corporate Venture Building focuses on creating new entities leveraging the parent company’s experience, intellectual property, networks, and knowledge. These spinoff companies operate independently but remain strategically aligned with the parent corporation, which usually retains a majority equity stake for long-term control.

The CVB model addresses the innovation needs of large companies, helping them remain competitive. Notable examples include Carrefour and Grupo Hotusa, which have successfully exploited new market opportunities internationally through this model. Other interesting cases are Renfe’s Trenlab with Wayra, ABANCA Innova, and Santa Lucía Impulsa in the Insurtech and Fintech sectors.

Angel Venture Builder

Angel Venture Builders are formed and operated by experienced, resource-rich entrepreneurs who seek to expand their business creation capacity by systematizing the entrepreneurial process.

These builders represent an evolution of angel investors, who traditionally invest modest amounts in early business stages and offer financial capital, knowledge, and resources from their entrepreneurial journeys.

Angel Venture Builders allow investors to engage more deeply, not only providing capital, experience, and contacts but also actively participating in ideation and team formation.

Types of Angel Venture Builder

Angel Venture Builders typically have a specific focus, categorized into two types:

1. Technological Focus: These builders specialize in applying a specific technology across various sectors. For instance, Eywa Space, a virtual and augmented reality-focused builder, leverages their technological, financial, and intellectual resources to create startups alongside independent entrepreneurs. These startups operate in diverse sectors—education, senior care, health—applying VR and AR technologies to each.
2. Sector Focus: These builders apply various technologies within a specific sector. A notable example is Accenture’s focus on the automotive industry, integrating different technological solutions.

In both cases, the premise is leveraging resources, contacts, and technology. However, builders with a technological focus concentrate on applying a specific technology across different sectors, while those with a sector focus bring different technologies to the same sector.

The technological focus benefits from the extensive use of a particular technology across sectors, while the sector focus allows the integration of multiple technologies within a specific industry—though the leverage of technological know-how is considerably less.

Campus Venture Builders

Academic Venture Builders leverage the resources and talent available in universities or training centers to foster startup creation. This approach is especially effective in harnessing the potential of young talent, faculty knowledge, and institutional resources.

Unlike focusing solely on technology development, which is common in research-based institutions, academic venture builders emphasize the creation of startups that utilize or are independent of these technologies.

As highlighted in The Golden Walrus (2019), universities often inadvertently become enablers of entrepreneurship by offering solutions to common challenges faced by entrepreneurs, such as:

1. Team Formation: Universities are hotbeds of diverse talents across various disciplines, offering a rich pool of potential team members.
2. Facilities and Equipment: Universities provide access to a range of facilities and equipment, from laboratories to office spaces and technical gear.
3. Bureaucracy Management: In Europe, the junior company model, designed for university students, simplifies business operations without the need for formal registration or complex tax filings.
4. Financing: Universities with venture building programs often provide financing instruments to catalyze growth.

Academic venture builders specialize in maximizing these resources, simplifying bureaucratic processes, and facilitating funding, thereby nurturing robust startups within the academic setting.

MTA Venture Builder

A prime example is the Mondragon Team Academy Venture Builder at Mondragon University (MU). While the LEINN (Leadership, Entrepreneurship and Innovation) program focuses on academic training, MTA Venture Builder aims to create employment, innovation, and wealth through company creation. The emphasis is not merely on developing professionals but on launching sustainable businesses, extending the builder’s responsibility beyond education.

MTA Venture Builder also collaborates with universities across Europe to implement similar venture building processes. This initiative not only benefits more students but also creates a network of campus-based venture builders, fostering synergies and collaborative opportunities among entrepreneurs from different universities.

Joining the MTA Venture Builder network allows universities to bypass the challenges of setting up infrastructure for venture building, raising funds, or hiring additional staff for startup incubation. It delegates these aspects to MTA Venture Builder, streamlining the process of nurturing startups within the academic environment.