But for entrepreneurs and potential syndicate partners to SevenVentures a combination of arrogance and uncertain ownership is toxic unless the early exit route is mapped out.
There is probably no better indication that a nascent corporate venturing programme, such as, sadly, Germany-based media company ProSiebenSat.1’s, might be destined to fail than an arrogant sense of superiority over the start-ups they are trying to work with.
The belief is usually understandable: the entrepreneur’s company is usually still small and the market potential, let alone technology, often unproven to be a profitable and defensible against predatory attacks from incumbents and peers.
The incumbent corporation has already been through…
