Explore every episode of the podcast Beyond The Core

Most companies are diving into AI without a map. So how do you turn hype into meaningful transformation?

In this episode of Beyond the Core, Ben and Marcus talk with Sidney Madison Prescott, Founder & CEO of MIRROR | MIRROR & ADRIATIC HARVEST, about the real state of enterprise AI.

We explore how companies are navigating chaos, where AI pilots actually work, how to build digital-human hybrid teams, and why visionary leadership, not just technology, is the real unlock.

We cover:

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 – Intro: Turning AI hype into action

01:00 – Agentic AI = RPA 2.0?

04:00 – The truth about automation and “cool branding”

06:00 – Why AI isn't new and that’s okay

09:00 – “Just do AI” is not a strategy

12:00 – Start with business goals, not tools

15:00 – What AI outcomes are you really buying?

18:00 – Hybrid teams: scaling without more headcount

22:00 – The cost of hesitation and poor leadership

24:00 – How to frame AI as employee empowerment

27:00 – Could your next board member be an agent?

31:00 – The power of co-creation: inside and out

33:00 – Where to start: the unexpected case for finance

37:00 – Why AI wins in finance unlock everything else

39:00 – Final hot take: consolidation is coming

🎧

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#EnterpriseAI #AgenticAI #CorporateVenture #DigitalWorkforce #AutomationStrategy #BeyondTheCore

How do you spin out successful startups from inside a 160-year-old corporate giant?

In this episode of Beyond the Core, Ben and Marcus sit down with Simon Ratcliffe, Venture Building Director of DNV, to unpack how he’s led two corporate spin-outs with a third on the way, inside one of Europe’s most respected engineering firms.

Simon reveals how DNV moved from internal incubation to true venture building, the strategic reasons behind spinning companies out, and the surprising dynamics of startup-style governance, cap tables, talent incentives, and CVC alignment.

Whether you're a corporate innovator, CVC operator, or venture builder, this is a rare inside look at what actually works and what doesn’t, when it comes to launching startups from legacy organizations.

Venture studios are evolving fast, but what separates those that scale from those that stall?

In this episode of Beyond the Core, Ben Yoskovitz and Marcus Daniels sit down with Sarah Anderson, Founding Partner at Vault Fund, the first fund-of-funds dedicated exclusively to venture studios.

With over a decade of experience in early-stage investing and company building, Sarah breaks down what makes top-performing studios stand out and why liquidity, not just innovation, will define the future of this model.

They dive deep into fund structures, talent pipelines, follow-on capital strategies, and a major warning: studios that can’t return capital won’t survive.

—

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 – Intro: Why a fund-of-funds for venture studios

01:00 – How Vault Fund evolved from general venture to company builders

02:15 – Trends in 2025: Studios adapting faster than traditional VCs

03:52 – Defining the model: Why “company builders” > “venture studios”

05:32 – Category vs. asset class: Where studios fit in VC

06:55 – What makes a studio repeatable? Talent funnel + process

08:00 – Why 5+ builds matter to prove a studio’s efficiency

10:31 – Platform differentiation: Insights from industry-focused builders

12:48 – Generalist vs. specialist builders: What the data says

13:58 – Mud puddles vs unicorns: What most studios miss

14:23 – Sarah’s biggest concern: The liquidity crisis

16:52 – “We’re in the exiting business, not just building”

17:56 – Why secondary sales should be part of the studio playbook

19:03 – Many studios lack institutional investor DNA

21:07 – The learning curve for builders who ignore exits

22:24 – Studio survival: Darwinism and cash returns

23:30 – Real-world liquidity hacks: pre-set secondaries, pharma exits

26:03 – Biotech vs. tech: Why bio builders see faster liquidity

27:28 – Deep tech’s dilemma: Capital intensity without exit buyers

28:32 – Designing for liquidity from day one

29:52 – Vault’s strategy: Side letters requiring exit plans

31:24 – Should studios do follow-ons? Sarah’s honest answer

32:42 – The downside of too much capital early

33:38 – Why ball control matters for value creation

34:58 – The reserves debate: LP pressure vs. portfolio strategy

36:20 – Data maturity: What’s improving and what’s not

37:45 – Ownership banding: From 90% to a healthy 25%

39:10 – Why 2-and-20 models can misalign incentives

40:40 – Fund vs holdco: No one-size-fits-all structure

43:41 – Exit timing, durability, and private asset value erosion

46:46 – Final predictions: New trend, concept creation with existing businesses

48:53 – The PE + venture studio convergence

49:34 – Wrap-up & where the conversation is heading next

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#venturestudios #companybuilders #venturecapital #liquidity #startupstrategy #fundstructure #vaultfund #beyondthecore

How do you build new ventures inside a 60-year-old materials science company without breaking the core business?

In this episode of Beyond the Core, Ben Yoskovitz and Marcus Daniels sit down with Peter Roeber, a 28-year Gore veteran and one of the leaders behind its most ambitious new ventures in circularity and sustainability.

Peter explains how WL Gore structures innovation across its operating companies, how venture ideas are sourced and funded, and how his team is launching new service-based business models in an organization built on premium materials and product R&D.

From developing a glaucoma device business outside of Gore’s traditional medical focus, to launching a digital venture that’s changing how outdoor apparel is used, not owned, Peter shares real-world lessons on working with ecosystems, managing cannibalization risk, and when to spin out vs spin in.

We cover:

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⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 – Intro: 28 years inside Gore

01:00 – How innovation is structured at Gore

02:45 – What the Futures team does in Fabrics

04:30 – How Gore prioritizes new venture ideas

06:00 – Strategic alignment vs moonshot bets

07:00 – Adjacency vs core vs explore

08:45 – The stage-gate process for new ventures

10:00 – Why Gore separates R&D from venture building

11:30 – Building circular service models inside a product company

13:00 – Smoke testing in a legacy org

15:00 – The power of Gore’s “lattice” culture

16:30 – How venture builders earn trust internally

18:00 – The importance of relationships, not politics

20:00 – Incentives and contribution-based compensation

21:30 – Can big companies spin out startups?

24:00 – Spin-in vs spin-out: key decision points

26:00 – What to do when internal systems work against you

28:00 – The case for shared risk and external venture studios

30:00 – Why speed and separation often win

32:00 – From zero to revenue in 14 months

34:00 – The biggest unknowns in circularity

35:30 – Managing the risk of cannibalization

37:00 – Circular economy ventures need ecosystems

39:00 – Building for a regenerative, collaborative future

42:00 – How Gore’s scale can drive industry change

46:00 – Unlocking value inside legacy orgs: 3 keys

50:00 – Why $1B ideas are worth the fight

—

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What does it take to turn ideas into real business outcomes, at the scale of Microsoft?

In this episode of Beyond the Core, Marcus Daniels sits down with Ed Essey, Director of Business Value at Microsoft Garage, to unpack how one of the most iconic internal innovation programs in tech got started and how it’s still evolving.

From building the Garage Growth Framework to running the world’s largest corporate hackathon, Ed shares how Microsoft empowers intrapreneurs, aligns ideas with executive sponsorship, and avoids innovation theater by focusing on business value above all else.

Plus, Ed gives us a sneak peek into his upcoming book, The Inside Job: The Intrapreneur’s Toolkit to Mastermind Meaningful Change and Innovation, and explains why corporate innovators need to act more like heist masterminds than rule followers.

—

⏱️ Timestamps

0:00 – Intro: Blending intrapreneurship and innovation

1:45 – What is Microsoft Garage and its mission?

3:30 – How Satya Nadella helped launch the first hackathon

4:50 – From 12,000 to 80,000 participants: scaling Garage

5:50 – Where the Garage Growth Framework came from

7:30 – Beating innovation theater with real validation

9:00 – Moving from hackathons to full venture coaching

10:30 – Why Ed changed his title to “Director of Business Value”

12:00 – The triple bottom line of cultural, customer & business value

13:45 – The 4-tier coaching model that scales innovation

16:00 – Why 3 hours of coaching = 85% sponsorship success

17:00 – The “puppy pitch” metaphor & what most teams get wrong

20:30 – How to start a mini-Garage in a mid-size company

23:00 – The 5 types of innovation & why each needs its own path

25:00 – Why shutting down ideas is easier than you think

27:00 – The Venn diagram of great intrapreneurs

29:00 – The most underrated skill of successful innovators

30:50 – Getting sponsorship requires less validation than you think

32:00 – Sponsor development = the forgotten stakeholder

34:00 – Ed’s upcoming book: The Inside Job

36:00 – Why innovation is like a heist (yes, really)

40:00 – Organizational hacks to encourage calculated rule-breaking

42:00 – Recognition as a culture-building tool

44:00 – Why AI is speeding up innovation, faster than reorgs can keep up

45:30 – Hackathon muscle memory meets executive urgency

46:30 – Where to find Ed & follow his workSubscribe for more conversations like these.

#corporateinnovation #intrapreneurship #microsoftgarage #venturebuilding #growthframework #beyondthecore #innovationtheater #leanstartup

How do you build a high-speed, AI-driven data business inside a $140B grocery retailer without getting swallowed by legacy systems and org charts?

In this episode of Beyond the Core, Ben and Marcus sit down with Todd James, former Chief Data & Technology Officer at 84.51° and Head of AI at Kroger, now Founder & CEO of Aurora Insights. Todd unpacks how Kroger built a wholly owned data science subsidiary to serve both internal and external customers, without killing innovation or losing touch with the core business.

Todd shares war stories, tactical lessons, and playbooks for:

- Building a shadow brand that serves the mothership

- Structuring orgs for fast decision-making at scale

- Embedding AI into business strategy (not just use cases)

- Knowing when to kill your own ideas (and how to do it right)

Whether you're building a Venture Studio, scaling AI across a large org, or launching a new business unit inside a legacy company, this conversation is packed with practical insights.

—

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#corporateinnovation #venturestudios #AIstrategy #databusiness #kroger #8451 #beyondthecore #aurorainsights #adjacentinnovation #shadowbrands #leadership

What does it take to build new ventures inside a 100-year-old industrial giant, without getting buried in bureaucracy or damaging the brand?In this episode of Beyond the Core, Ben and Marcus sit down with Nancy Yaklich, a seasoned innovation leader who’s led Venture-building initiatives at Cargill, Best Buy, UnitedHealthcare, and now Caterpillar, where she’s pioneering a shadow brand called EcoForge to launch and test new business ideas beyond the core.Nancy shares her step-by-step playbook for validating ideas, getting legal and executive buy-in, working with startups, building shadow brands, and navigating the tension between innovation and risk in a legacy organization.We cover:⏱️ Timestamps0:00 – Intro: Innovation beyond the core1:00 – What is EcoForge and why Caterpillar needed it4:00 – Shadow brands: testing without hurting the mothership6:00 – Getting legal and execs to say “yes”9:00 – Spin-in vs spin-out: how Nancy thinks about scale12:00 – The “adjacency space” and why it’s full of hidden opportunity15:00 – Bottom-up forecasting vs bloated TAMs17:30 – Pitching new ideas with strategic angles19:00 – Why innovation teams must sit high in the org22:30 – Building portfolios, not projects24:00 – The “dud” concept: normalizing failure28:00 – Selling learning inside large orgs31:00 – Venture building ≠ innovation theatre33:00 – No cookie-cutter playbooks: adapting to each org38:00 – Partnering with startups and navigating slow systems41:00 – Nancy’s advice to other corporate venture leaders44:00 – Why now is the best time to swing bigWhether you’re in corporate innovation, building a studio, or just trying to make new ideas happen inside slow-moving systems, this episode is a masterclass in how to do it right.Subscribe for more conversations like these.

In this episode of Beyond The Core, Ben Yoskovitz and Marcus Daniels answer the 10 most common questions they’ve received about vertical venture studios—from how to pick the right vertical, to the real ROI metrics, to why launching multiple studios simultaneously might be smarter than it sounds.

Whether you’re a corporate innovation leader, investor, or builder curious about how the studio model is evolving, this episode dives deep into the operational playbook behind Highline Beta’s 3.0 strategy—and what it really takes to make a vertical studio succeed.

🔗 Learn more: https://highlinebeta.com

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 – Intro

01:08 – Why we launched two new vertical venture studios

01:44 – How do we know a vertical isn’t just a hype cycle?

03:39 – What makes a great corporate partner for a vertical studio?

05:35 – How do we measure success beyond financial return?

08:09 – Which industries are best suited for the vertical studio model?

10:20 – How do we manage regulatory risk in vertical studios?

12:59 – What are we learning from launching multiple studios at once?

15:29 – How do we pick new verticals to explore?

20:22 – How do we balance deep expertise without getting tunnel vision?

23:43 – How is working with corporates different under the vertical studio model?

27:02 – What new verticals are we exploring for future studios?

🎧 Subscribe for more tactical conversations on innovation strategy, venture building, and how to actually scale new businesses beyond the core.

#venturestudios #corporateinnovation #startupstrategy #verticalstudios #highlinebeta #beyondthecore

In this episode of Beyond the Core, we sit down with Dan Magnuszewski—co-founder of ACV Auctions (NYSE: ACVA) and now founding partner at Radial Ventures, a new venture studio focused on launching startups in Buffalo, New York.

Dan shares what he learned taking ACV from zero to IPO, why he’s doubling down on building in Buffalo, and how Radial Ventures is using AI to turn “unsexy industries” into billion-dollar opportunities. We cover everything from venture studio structure to ROI models to sourcing overlooked ideas in overlooked markets.

Timestamps:

0:00 - Intro

1:00 - Dan’s journey from engineer to startup founder to studio builder

5:00 - What Dan learned building ACV Auctions into a public company

7:30 - Spinning up an internal R&D lab inside ACV

11:00 - When moonshot projects become strategic growth levers

14:00 - Building for revenue vs. building for value

19:00 - Why Dan launched a venture studio in Buffalo

22:00 - How 43North helped seed Radial Ventures

25:00 - Why Buffalo is an underrated startup ecosystem

28:00 - “You have to move to San Francisco” — Dan’s response

33:00 - Collaborating with local corporates to source and fund ideas

36:00 - How Radial Ventures uses AI to validate ideas fast

40:00 - Studio structure: equity, founder incentives, and fundraising

48:00 - Measuring ROI for a regional venture studio

52:00 - Final thoughts & how to get in touch

🔔 Subscribe for more tactical conversations on venture building, corporate innovation, and startup studios.

What does real corporate innovation look like inside a global financial services giant?

In this episode of Beyond the Core, we sit down with Maja Lapcevic, Senior Vice President, Martech, Innovation and Commercialization at Mastercard, and formerly led innovation management and helped architectthe Mastercard Foundry—a world-class innovation engine that actually ships and scales new ventures.

We cover:

• Why speed starts in the back office—and how Mastercard shrank pilot timelines

• How they measure and kill “zombie projects” with ruthless clarity

• The tools they use to track materiality, velocity, and quality across their portfolio

• Why co-development with business units (not innovation theater) drives commercial wins

• What startups really want from corporate partners—and how Mastercard protects customer trust

• How to earn internal credibility by helping business units win fast

• Their $50M+ benchmark for new growth bets—and how they test before they build

If you’re navigating innovation inside a large organization, or partnering with one, this episode is packed with tactical lessons.

Subscribe for weekly episodes on corporate venture building, innovation strategy, and scaling new ideas beyond the core.

📍 Timestamps

00:00 – Intro & Maja’s current role at Mastercard

02:00 – How Mastercard balances brand + product innovation

03:50 – Working with startups through Start Path

06:00 – What agentic commerce means (and why it matters)

09:10 – How Mastercard measures pilots—and kills zombie projects

13:00 – Mastercard’s innovation structure: why it works

16:00 – The Horizon 3 fund and what it’s designed to do

22:30 – What startups ask for most: data or distribution?

28:00 – Advice for startup founders pitching big corporates

30:00 – The $50M test: how Mastercard validates growth bets

34:50 – A favorite project: Mastercard Move Commercial Payments for B2B payments

39:00 – Building trust with business units

43:00 – Why internal alignment beats siloed innovation

48:00 – Maja’s hot take on innovation theater—and what’s changed

In this special Q&A episode of Beyond The Core, Ben and Marcus answer the top audience-submitted questions about corporate venture studios, innovation strategy, and what it really takes to build and fund new businesses inside large companies.

They cover everything from governance and culture to how to balance long-term bets with short-term pressure—and what metrics actually matter when you’re building beyond the core.

If you’re building a venture studio, working in corporate innovation, or trying to get your executive team aligned on a new model—this episode is packed with frameworks, lessons, and candid advice from the front lines.

Subscribe for more weekly episodes on venture building, innovation strategy, and corporate transformation.

🔎 Topics & Timestamps

00:00 – Intro

01:37 – What are the best practices for managing a corporate venture studio?

07:32 – What legal and regulatory considerations should we be aware of?

13:13 – How do you foster a culture of innovation inside large companies?

20:08 – How do you support internal ideas vs external partnerships?

28:55 – How do you balance short-term financial goals with long-term innovation?

36:04 – What are the key metrics that actually matter in venture studios?

45:40 – Wrap-up and closing thoughts

—📩 Want to talk venture studios or innovation strategy?

Reach out to Ben or Marcus directly:

ben@highlinebeta.com

marcus@highlinebeta.com

Why do so many big companies fail at innovation—even when they say it’s a top priority?

In this episode, we sit down with Eric Ries, author of The Lean Startup and The Startup Way, to unpack what it really takes to drive transformation inside legacy organizations—and why most of them get it wrong.

Eric shares hard-won lessons from working with companies like GE, P&G, and some of the most ambitious innovation teams on the planet. We go deep on the disconnect between startup-style thinking and corporate reality, and why trust—not process—is the prerequisite for real innovation.

You’ll hear:

✅ Why most innovation efforts die in phase one—and how to push through

✅ The role of “constancy of purpose” in long-term transformation

✅ Why strong governance often makes companies weaker

✅ Why shadow brands are necessary in low-trust orgs

✅ How corporations confuse short-term efficiency with long-term progress

✅ What mission-controlled companies can teach us about building trust

Whether you’re leading a venture studio, launching a new initiative, or trying to modernize your company’s governance structure—this episode is a wake-up call.

🔔 Subscribe for weekly episodes on corporate venture building, transformation, and innovation that actually works.

What does real innovation look like inside a tech giant like Amazon? And how do you make it work inside a physical business like Whole Foods?

In this episode, we sit down with Leandro Balbinot, CTO at Whole Foods and VP of Technology at Amazon, to explore how world-class companies approach experimentation, failure, and scaling innovation.

Leandro has held senior leadership roles at Kraft Heinz, McDonald’s, and now Amazon, giving him a rare perspective on how innovation works—or fails—inside some of the world’s biggest companies.

We dive into:

✅ Why most companies confuse experimentation with rollout

✅ How to prioritize fast, cheap experiments that generate real signal

✅ The balance between data and gut instinct in product decisions

✅ How to earn trust inside legacy orgs to unlock big rollouts

✅ What “minimum lovable product” (MLP) means—and why it matters more than MVP

✅ How Amazon structures teams to move fast without chaos

If you’re leading innovation inside a large company—or trying to work with one—this episode is packed with hard-won lessons you can actually use.

🔔 Subscribe for more conversations on corporate venture building, innovation strategy, and scaling new ideas inside complex orgs.

Most corporate innovation efforts fail before they even begin. Why? Because companies apply core-business thinking to ventures that demand a completely different approach.

In this episode, Mike Dobbins, Former Group Head RBC and Founder of RBC Ventures, joins us to unpack what it really takes for a corporate giant to build, scale, and sustain ventures beyond its core business.

We cover:

✅ Why most new ventures are built on assumptions, not certainty—and how to de-risk them.

✅ The disruptor vs. enabler dilemma: Do you compete with incumbents or sell into them?

✅ How to decide when to build inside the core business vs. spin out a venture.

✅ The real reason corporate-startup partnerships move too slowly (and how to fix it).

✅ Lessons from RBC Ventures—what worked, what didn’t, and what corporate innovators should learn.

If you’re a corporate leader trying to launch something truly new—or a founder wondering how to work with big companies—this episode is a must-watch.

In venture capital, the role of corporate investors has long been debated. Are they truly aligned with startups? Do they move too slowly? Can they deliver more than just capital? These questions have shaped how corporate venture capital (CVC) has evolved over the last decade.

In this episode of Beyond the Core, we sat down with Dan Reed, Managing Director and President of American Family Ventures, to unpack how corporate venture capital has shifted, how his team transitioned from a single-LP corporate fund to a multi-LP venture model, and what it really takes to add value beyond just writing checks.

Over the past four weeks of Beyond the Core, we’ve been getting a ton of questions about how corporate venture studios actually operate—how to measure progress, structure governance, and avoid common pitfalls in venture building. In this episode, we’re tackling some of the toughest questions we’ve received from innovation leaders and venture studio teams.

In this conversation with Amar Varma, we explored the nuances of corporate venturing through the lens of someone who's mastered it from multiple angles – as the co-founder of Hatch Labs (where Tinder was born), the architect behind Ford X, and now the founder of Mantle.

Join us on Beyond the Core as Pedro Earp, founder of ZX Ventures, shares how he built AB InBev's disruptive growth arm.

(1:58) Board-driven initiative created to accelerate innovation beyond AB InBev's traditional M&A strategy

(6:53) Despite initial reluctance, Pedro embraced the role with full autonomy from CEO Brito

(12:33) How AB InBev's strong partnership culture enabled innovation despite conflicts with core business

(17:19) Managing tension between operational efficiency and entrepreneurial speed

(24:27) Finding balance between corporate processes and startup agility

(29:54) ZX achieved both direct growth and "vaccine effect" that accelerated core business innovation

(34:37) Different metrics and timelines for measuring success of early ventures like Z Delivery

(39:11) Key lessons learned about hybrid business models and emotional intelligence

(42:16) Pedro's new startup applying the "dream, people, culture" triangle to solving happiness at scale

As founding partners of Highline Beta, we have spent countless hours with venture studio leaders, learning what works and what doesn't in the industry. Recently, in Episode 1 of Beyond The Core, we had a fascinating conversation with Kal Amin, who's doing remarkable things as Managing Director of 1848 Ventures.

In just seven months at the helm, Kal has already transformed their approach. They're planning to launch three new ventures in 2025 alone, matching what they accomplished in their first six years. Our chat with him revealed some powerful insights about scaling a corporate venture studio that we think are worth sharing.