Corporate Entrepreneurship: Inspiring Interviews with Successful Corporate Venture Founders | All Stories

We are excited to announce the launch of Corporate Entrepreneurship Stories! With this series, we want to shed light on the experience and learnings of successful corporate venture founders. 💬 🚀

Why these stories matter
While startup successes, failures and new funding rounds are frequently discussed in the news, we feel that developments in corporate entrepreneurship are often overlooked. Corporate venture building is complex, facing typical startup risks and challenges like company politics and the “not invented here” syndrome. However, corporates also possess significant advantages, including substantial assets that startups cannot quickly replicate.

At Pioneers, we’re convinced that corporate ventures hold immense potential for value creation, sometimes even surpassing traditional startups. We’re eager to bring more visibility to these success stories—and the visionaries behind them— to foster inspiration within the corporate innovation ecosystem.

From established industry to Green Hydrogen Innovation

Read PART #1 of our conversation with founder Peter Eisenköck including

• the early idea and validation
• the development out of the internal venture program
• the core technology the team uses

Read PART #2 about

• collaboration with an external technology startup
• the first large-scale project
• the growth path

How to spin out a corporate venture and scale it externally

Read PART #1 of our conversation with co-founder Raph Hartmeier including

• the founding story
• the solution and USP of the innovation platform
• the difficult spin-out process
• the relationship to the mother company Swisscom

Read PART #2 about

• the process of getting external investment
• the advantages, and disadvantages of being a corporate venture vs. a “normal” startup
• the planned growth path

One2Zero’s corporate venture journey to empower the corporate energy transition

Read PART #1 of our conversation with CEO Tobias Wiener including

• one2zero’s business model
• the founding story
• the collaboration with the corporate venture’s mothership

Read PART #2 about

• people and team side of one2zero
• the importance of the right company culture
• Tobias Wiener’s vision for innovation and energy in Europe

myflexbox revolutionizing last mile delivery

Read PART #1 of our conversation with Jonathan Grothaus and Lukas Wieser, the two co-CEOs and founders of myflexbox including

• the origins of the venture
• the experiences and backgrounds of Lukas and Jonathan
• their successes in Salzburgs AG’s “Innovation-Challenge”
• early strategies for expanding their startup idea within the corporate structure

Read PART #2 about

• myflexbox’s substantial investment for its expansion in Germany
• the company’s ownership structure and growth plans
• the vision to reshape urban delivery with sustainable solutions

Mavie’s inspiring corporate venture journey and how they successfully leverage Uniqa’s assets

Read HERE of our conversation with CEO Erich Kruschitz including

• the founding story of Mavie
• the portfolio companies of Mavie.Next
• the process of venture development
• Erich Kruschitz background and role as CEO
• the relationship to Uniqa
• how Mavie takes advantage of Uniqa’s assets
• the growth goals of Mavie