Running a proof of concept between a startup and a corporate is notoriously hard. What does it take to make these experiments actually work? Jenny Wu and Roland Osborne from 500 Startups share their playbook for designing, running, and scaling successful startup-corporate POCs.

About Jenny Wu & Roland Osborne

Jenny Wu and Roland Osborne work at 500 Startups, one of the world's most active global venture capital firms and startup accelerators, with over 35 batch programs and a portfolio spanning more than 75 countries.

What We Cover

• What makes startup-corporate experiments succeed or fail
• How to design a POC with clear success criteria
• The role of internal champions in driving experiments forward
• How 500 Startups supports startups in navigating corporate partnerships
• Tips for startups on managing expectations with large organizations

Timestamps

00:00 – Introduction
01:00 – Jenny and Roland introduce 500 Startups
05:00 – Why startup-corporate experiments fail
10:00 – Designing a great POC: success criteria and structure
18:00 – The internal champion: why they matter
25:00 – Advice for startups entering corporate pilots

Key Takeaways

1. Define success before you start. The most common reason POCs fail is that success criteria were never clearly agreed upon by either side at the outset.
2. Find your internal champion. Every successful corporate-startup experiment has an internal champion who is personally invested in its success and can navigate internal politics.
3. Time kills deals — and experiments. Startups operate on a different timeline than corporates. Explicit milestones and review dates keep experiments from dying a slow death of inaction.

Resources & Links Mentioned

• 500 Startups: 500.co

Where to Find Jenny Wu & Roland Osborne

Jenny Wu on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jennywu
Roland Osborne on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/rolandosborne

Where to Find Yaniv Corem

Link in bio: sleek.bio/yanivcorem
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/yanivcorem

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Subscribe to The School of Innovation on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Have a guest recommendation? Email [email protected]

Why is innovation so natural when we’re kids — and so unnatural inside large organizations? That’s the central question Scott Anthony set out to answer in Eat Sleep Innovate. Scott breaks down what an innovation culture actually is, why habits matter more than beliefs, and how companies like DBS Bank and Singtel have built cultures where curious, collaborative behavior happens naturally.

About Scott Anthony

Scott Anthony is a Senior Partner at Innosight, the growth strategy firm co-founded by Clayton Christensen, and co-author of Eat Sleep Innovate. Based in Singapore since 2010, he has spent two decades helping global companies navigate disruptive change.

What We Cover

• Edgar Schein’s three levels of culture — and why the waterline is where change happens
• Why stated values have zero relationship with actual behavior
• The five innovation behaviors: curious, customer-obsessed, collaborative, adept in ambiguity, empowered
• DBS Bank vs. Singtel: two different paths to culture change
• The intelligent failure framework and FAIL = First Attempt in Learning

Timestamps

(00:00) Introduction — Scott Anthony and Innosight
(10:00) Edgar Schein’s three levels of culture
(13:00) Stated values vs. actual behavior
(15:30) DBS Bank vs. Singtel: two paths to culture change
(26:00) BEANS: behavioral enablers, artifacts, nudges, systems
(43:00) Intelligent failure: celebrating learning, not just winning

Key Takeaways

1. Culture is what people actually do. Stated values have near-zero correlation with real behavior. Measure behavior — not intent.
2. Change habits, not beliefs. It’s easier to act your way into new thinking than to think your way into new acting.
3. Intelligent failure is different from any failure. Be intentional about what you want to learn before you experiment. Celebrate the learning.

Resources & Links Mentioned

• Eat Sleep Innovate by Scott Anthony — on Amazon
• Companion site: eatsleepinnovate.com (101 BEANs, free tools)
• Innosight: innosight.com

Where to Find Scott Anthony

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/scottdanthony
Website: innosight.com

Where to Find Yaniv Corem

Link in bio: sleek.bio/yanivcorem
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/yanivcorem

Subscribe & Follow

Subscribe to The School of Innovation on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Have a guest recommendation? Email [email protected]

2020 has been a rollercoaster ride! Yaniv Corem looks back at what he's learned—from running a podcast to COVID lockdown in general, what were the most popular episodes, and what's next for The School of Innovation.

When COVID-19 hit New York City in March 2020, Marcel Botha and a small consortium built a low-cost ventilator — SpiraWave — in just 30 days, shipping 3,000 units to the city. Marcel and Yaniv talk about compressing 18 months of product development into one month, and the philosophy behind building products that are technically bold and commercially viable.

About Marcel Botha

Marcel Botha is an entrepreneur, engineer, architect, and investor. Through his firm 10X Beta, he has helped medical professionals develop and commercialize products ranging from electronic stethoscopes to surgical instruments. He holds a master’s from MIT’s Media Lab.

What We Cover

• Marcel’s path from architecture in Cape Town to MIT’s Media Lab
• The product development philosophy behind 10X Beta
• How Marcel selects which ideas to pursue — and which to pass on
• Building a ventilator in 30 days during COVID
• Why if you can’t ship at scale, your contribution doesn’t count

Timestamps

(00:00) The satellite phone call that changed everything
(03:00) From Cape Town to MIT
(14:00) Idea selection at 10X Beta
(18:00) Validose: an intranasal drug delivery device
(23:00) The SpiraWave ventilator project
(33:00) Shipping 3,000 units: why scale matters

Key Takeaways

1. Overnight success takes 10–15 years. SpiraWave was built in 30 days because the team had decades of shared experience.
2. If you can’t ship at scale, your contribution doesn’t matter. Delivering 3,000 units is the actual achievement.
3. Build wrappers, not replacements. Validose wraps existing drug packaging — that’s how you bypass IP barriers and reach market faster.

Resources & Links Mentioned

• 10X Beta
• SpiraWave / SpiroDevices
• New Lab

Where to Find Marcel Botha

Email: [email protected]
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/marcelbotha

Where to Find Yaniv Corem

Link in bio: sleek.bio/yanivcorem
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/yanivcorem

Subscribe & Follow

Subscribe to The School of Innovation on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Have a guest recommendation? Email [email protected]

In 2020, the UN World Food Programme won the Nobel Peace Prize — and its Innovation Accelerator was named by Fast Company as the best workplace for innovators. Yaniv speaks with Hila Cohen about how the WFP accelerator finds, funds, and scales innovations to fight global hunger across 88 countries.

About Hila Cohen

Hila Cohen is Head of Business Development and Chief of Staff at the WFP Innovation Accelerator. She joined WFP in 2012 and has been with the accelerator since 2015. Before WFP, she was a corporate lawyer in Tel Aviv. She holds an MBA from SDA Bocconi and a law degree from the University of Haifa.

What We Cover

• How the accelerator acts as a “translator” between startups and humanitarian operations
• How innovations are matched to country offices before bootcamps begin
• What happens during a 5-day innovation bootcamp
• Case studies: H2Grow (hydroponics) and Building Blocks (blockchain cash transfers)
• How impact is measured differently at each stage

Timestamps

(01:00) Introduction and Hila’s background
(02:30) What is the WFP Innovation Accelerator?
(06:30) The accelerator as a “translator”
(18:00) Matching startups to country offices
(28:00) H2Grow: hydroponics in refugee camps
(32:00) Building Blocks: blockchain for 400,000 refugees

Key Takeaways

1. Match before you invest. Falling in love with a startup means nothing if no country office needs what they’re building.
2. Existing tech, applied well, beats new tech applied poorly. Both H2Grow and Building Blocks used established technologies in new contexts.
3. Good enough at scale beats perfect in a lab. A $3,000 locally-built hydroponics system that replicates beats a $40,000 container that can’t.

Resources & Links Mentioned

• WFP Innovation Accelerator
• Apply to WFP Innovation Programs

Where to Find Hila Cohen

Email: [email protected]
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/hilacohen

Where to Find Yaniv Corem

Link in bio: sleek.bio/yanivcorem
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/yanivcorem

Subscribe & Follow

Subscribe to The School of Innovation on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Have a guest recommendation? Email [email protected]

Tom Chi — founding member of Google X and founder of At One Ventures — shares why 95% of ideas don't work as described, how rapid prototyping beats months of debate, and what skills will matter most in a world shaped by AI and automation: the Four C's.

About Tom Chi

Tom Chi is a founding member of Google X, where he worked on Glass, self-driving cars, Project Loon, and the glucose-sensing contact lens. A named inventor on 75 patents, he is also founder of At One Ventures, a deep tech fund investing in companies that make humanity a net positive to nature.

What We Cover

• Why Tom launched At One Ventures and what "at one with nature" means in practice
• How rapid prototyping outperforms discussion-based decision-making
• What corporates get wrong about experimentation
• The Four C's: creativity, compassion, community, and critical thinking
• Radical Harmony and the future of the industrial economy

Timestamps

00:00 – Every experiment can be small, but ambition shouldn't be
02:06 – Deep tech investing and rebooting polluting industries
05:07 – Google X: Glass, self-driving cars, Project Loon
08:39 – Prototype thinking: design science in practice
12:56 – Why corporates resist experimentation
26:37 – The Future Skills Toolbox and the Four C's

Key Takeaways

1. 95% of ideas don't work — so stop debating and start making. Prototype thinking skips the argument phase because three hours of building reveals more than two months of discussion.
2. The Four C's are the future of human work. Creativity, compassion, community, and critical thinking are the skills robots won't master soon — they're the foundation of most future jobs.
3. Culture is observable behavior, not a slogan. To change culture, identify specific behaviors you want more or less of, then run experiments to shift them.

Resources & Links Mentioned

• At One Ventures: atoneventures.com
• Tom Chi's website: tomchi.com

Where to Find Tom Chi

Website: tomchi.com
At One Ventures: atoneventures.com

Where to Find Yaniv Corem

Link in bio: sleek.bio/yanivcorem
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/yanivcorem

Subscribe & Follow

Subscribe to The School of Innovation on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Have a guest recommendation? Email [email protected]