Corporate venture capital is team sport — this is how to build the squad

Taranto’s CVC Compass navigates the fast-moving world of corporate venture capital, delivering expert insight and clear direction from one of the industry’s leading voices. With a sharp focus on innovation, investment, and partnership, the quarterly column explores the key trends and shifts shaping the future of CVC.

It usually starts with a handshake and a slide deck. Everyone’s smiling, the coffee’s hot, and the buzzwords are flowing. But make no mistake—corporate venture capital (CVC) isn’t a polite game of chess. It’s rugby. With spreadsheets flying, lawyers scrumming, and the occasional beanbag hurled at a whiteboard while someone shouts “Disruption!”, CVC quickly reveals itself to be full-contact chaos.

CVC is competitive. It’s a brutal, fast-paced, often baffling world, and you can’t go it alone. CVC is a team sport, and like any good team, if you draft poorly, you end up with a confused mascot, a losing record, and a deeply disappointed investment committee who would rather be golfing.

So, let’s talk about how to build the right team. Because in corporate venture capital, having the best people isn’t just helpful—it’s everything. It’s the difference between scaling real innovation or fast-tracking your way into a four-hour meeting about procurement policy.

Drafting your all-star squad

Let’s set the stage. The CEO has given the fund the go-ahead. You’re assembling your CVC team. There’s money in the war chest. There are snacks in the innovation lab. And there is a clear mandate: “Invest in startups that align with our strategic objectives, deliver strong returns, drive innovation, and please, don’t get sued.”

Cool. No pressure.

But before you can start throwing money at AI-powered wellness mirrors, you need a real roster.

Think Premier League football (soccer for Americans). You can’t hire all the same type of people. Hiring all Alphas for your CVC team is like drafting a team of only strikers – everyone wants the ball, but no one passes. Hiring all Betas is not the answer either. That’s like a sideline of coaches who’ve memorized the rule book—twice. Safe maybe. But you’ll never score.

Every CVC team requires a mix of core roles: leader, strategy, finance, scout, operator, and legal.  Sometimes one person plays two positions. But all these functions need to be covered.

The senior leader: visionary, founder, general manager and coach

Every team needs a visionary and founder. This person sees the future—not in a mystical, crystal-ball way, but in a “I know what I want and have experience from past mistakes” kind of way. They’re the coach. The playmaker. The one who builds the unit off a grand plan and executes it. The founder.

This is your head of CVC. They have charisma, optimism, a strategy and the respect of the executive team. They convince the mothership that startups are not just high-risk hobbies, they’re the future lifeblood of the corporation. Whether that’s a pipeline of future products, supportive services that help run the business more efficiently, or growing new end markets for your existing products, they’re your “why” person.

But visionaries need a strong bench.

The financial wizard: spreadsheet ninja and risk/reward expert

Next up, your numbers person. The one who doesn’t get seduced by buzzwords like “metaverse” or “decentralized sandwich ecosystem”. This is not just a spreadsheet jockey. Sure, they live in Excel. They know what IRR means and they’re not afraid to use it. But they also need deep operational experience and understanding. They know how operations translate back to financial statements. They exist to keep the team grounded, to run the models, and to prevent the group from investing in a startup that has no product, no customers, and no vowels in its name.

They may not love your jokes, but they will save your portfolio from death by dilution and dream-chasing. Think of them as the sweeper. Not flashy, but vital. A compass. And occasionally covered in coffee and anxiety.

The strategist: bridge builder, corporate whisperer, translator-in-chief

CVC isn’t just venture. It’s corporate venture. Which means eventually, you’re going to have to explain why you gave $5m to three people with a pitch deck and a dog.

Enter the strategist. This person speaks fluent corporatese and startupese —two languages that rarely overlap.  (Example: “Fail fast” in startup-speak means “learn quickly”. In corporate-speak, it means “call PR”.)

The strategist keeps the CVC aligned with the mothership. Sometimes they both play the financial wizard role as well as the strategy role. They ensure that the investments complement the business, rather than sitting in a mysterious innovation purgatory next to the blockchain vending machine you invested in back in 2018.

The scout: venture bloodhound, trend spotter, ecosystem builder

Your scout is the one with their ear to the ground, their eyes on the pitch decks, and their LinkedIn DMs clogged with founders named “Ty” pitching AI-enabled everything.

They attend every conference, listen to every podcast, and have an unexplainable ability to find the one useful sentence in a 46-slide pitch deck.

They’re your venture bloodhound —your pipeline builder. They know who’s hot, who’s not, and who’s probably going to implode in six months because they spent their seed round on custom pool floats.

You need a few of these people. They bring the signal. They filter the noise (though occasionally, a drone-based banana delivery company sneaks through).

The operator: post-investment guru

You’ve made the investment. Champagne (or LaCroix) is popped. Everyone high-fives. Now what?

Enter the operator. This is the person who makes the deal real. They help the startup integrate, grow, and avoid spontaneous combustion. They navigate corporate labyrinths, herd the cats, and gently explain why “yes, we still use fax machines” isn’t a dealbreaker.

They don’t need to be flashy. But they do need to get stuff done. Without them, your investments become sad headlines and expensive lessons. Think of them as the team’s underappreciated midfielders: nothing works without them.

The legal maven: contracts, chaos and chill

Your goalie.

An excellent legal partner doesn’t just redline term sheets—they save your entire operation from imploding. They know the ins and outs of IP rights, corporate structure, data privacy laws, and how to phrase “no” in ways that don’t make founders cry.

They’ll be your best friend when a startup wants to integrate with internal systems—and you need to make sure no one accidentally triggers a subpoena.

Internal counsel is essential for navigating compliance and aligning with company policy, but you’ll also want to consider external legal partners who can move faster and bring specialised venture expertise. They might skip happy hour, but when the legal fire drills start, you’ll be glad they’re on speed dial.

Bench depth: talent that translates

As you assemble your all-star squad, think beyond titles. You want diverse backgrounds and networks.

Investment bankers and venture capitalists bring deal experience and an innovation ecosystem access.

Consultants bring problem solving, operations, program management and consensus building superpowers. 

Insiders bring not only internal relationships, but also a deep understanding of corporate culture and processes — because they’re already part of the organisation.

If they all have a passion for creating change and the ability to ‘connect the dots’, you will have a team that is ready to win.  

The game begins

Your team is in place. Diverse. Balanced. Slightly overcaffeinated. Ready to change the world—or at least navigate it without violating the company’s travel policy.

You’ve got your visionary, your realist, your whisperers, your scouts and your doers.

Now comes the real challenge: working together.

Because CVC isn’t just about having the right players—it’s about passing the ball, reading the field, and occasionally admitting you’re not sure what “Web5” is either.

It’s about remembering that good investments take time, patience, and the occasional awkward team offsite in a conference room named after some fruit.

It’s about aligning not just with startups—but with each other.

Win as a team — or not at all

Corporate venture capital is a glorious mess of ambition, risk, innovation, bureaucracy, and coffee-fueled optimism.

Go it alone and you will burn out or get buried in red tape. Draft poorly, and you’ll flail. But with the right mix of talent, a healthy respect for legal, and a shared vision and mission, you just may fund something that moves the needle.

At the end of the day, CVC isn’t just about picking winners—it’s about building the kind of team that can navigate the chaos, outlast the hype, and turn big bets into real business value. That’s not luck. That’s leadership.

I’d love to hear your thoughts. If my opinion resonates with you or raises questions, let’s continue the conversation. Feel free to share your comments, feedback, or experiences with me on LinkedIn where I will also be posting on CVC Compass.

Bill Taranto is president of MSD Global Health Innovation Fund and vice president of MSD Global Health Innovation Group. MSD GHIF has $600M under management and provides growth capital to companies that improve healthcare delivery and services.