201 episodes

Visionaries are defined as having extraordinary foresight and imagination. Those who can see what isn't there. They can imagine the unimaginable and they have the grit to make it happen. Business Visionaries are the change-agents embracing new opportunities to drive outsized results. From the C-Suite to the up-and-coming disruptors, they are blazing new paths, discovering inventive solutions and powering the future. Join us each week as we speak with these Visionaries: the entrepreneurs, investors and corporate leaders driving transformative change across business and society.

The VentureFuel Visionaries VentureFuel

    • Business
    • 5.0 • 18 Ratings

Visionaries are defined as having extraordinary foresight and imagination. Those who can see what isn't there. They can imagine the unimaginable and they have the grit to make it happen. Business Visionaries are the change-agents embracing new opportunities to drive outsized results. From the C-Suite to the up-and-coming disruptors, they are blazing new paths, discovering inventive solutions and powering the future. Join us each week as we speak with these Visionaries: the entrepreneurs, investors and corporate leaders driving transformative change across business and society.

    Venture Clienting – ExxonMobil’s Global Innovation Lead Kyle Basler-Reeder

    Venture Clienting – ExxonMobil’s Global Innovation Lead Kyle Basler-Reeder

    On today’s show we have Kyle Basler-Reeder, who designed and leads ExxonMobil’s corporate-wide Open Innovation program. We discuss how the exponential growth of PHDs and startups enables Exxon to tap into external resources for Exploration, Acceleration and to solve stubborn problems. We talk about the importance of problem definition, declaring your “Innovation Ambition” and how to create organizational ambidexterity. How “Venture Clienting” attracts the best startups and new solutions by becoming a first-client and scaling what works.

    • 31 min
    200th Episode Recap – VentureFuel Founder Fred Schonenberg

    200th Episode Recap – VentureFuel Founder Fred Schonenberg

    To celebrate our 200th episode, we put host Fred Schonenberg in the guest chair to find out what his biggest unlock, the best corporate innovation models, his favorite episodes, the best startups on the show and how the guests have evolved his thinking around innovation. From Venture Studios to Venture Capital to Venture Partners. From Sonic Branding to Darth Vadar. From Voice Cloning to Generative AI. From Mastercard to TDK Ventures to Pepsi to Comcast. Shira Averbuch, VP of Innovation, who produced the first several episode of the show moderates this fun retrospective.

    • 30 min
    Show Her The Money – Producer Catherine Gray

    Show Her The Money – Producer Catherine Gray

    Catherine Gray is a Producer, Keynote Speaker, Author, and the Founder of She Angel Investors. She's dedicated her career to empowering female entrepreneurs and addressing the underfunding of women in venture capital. We discuss her documentary "Show Her the Money," her TED Talk "Fund Women, Save the World," and her vision for the future of gender diversity and inclusion in the venture capital landscape. With women receiving less than 2% of venture capital the opportunity is immense for both impact and returns.

    • 24 min
    Revenue First Innovation - Tampa Bay Innovation Center Managing Director Ken Evans

    Revenue First Innovation - Tampa Bay Innovation Center Managing Director Ken Evans

    Ken Evans is the Managing Director of the Accelerator Program for Emerging Tech Startups at Tampa Bay Innovation Center. With a background in venture-backed startups and Fortune 50 companies, Ken is key player in Tampa Bay's tech ecosystem, co-founding the region's first full-time coworking space and leading initiatives to support local startups. Our conversation centers around their new Climate Tech Accelerator and the importance of Revenue First Innovation, taking a “Moneyball approach” vs. the Power Law Unicorn Hunters, why we need to evolve from petri dish science experiments to solving real world problems, and why most accelerators are promotional lipstick vs. creating true product-market-fit with tangible outcomes.

    • 31 min
    Philanthropic Venturing - Valiente Fund Executive Director Maria Rodriguez

    Philanthropic Venturing - Valiente Fund Executive Director Maria Rodriguez

    Maria Rodriguez is the Executive Director of the Valiente Fund, a donor and funder collaborative addressing the lack of investment of philanthropic funds for Latine leaders, organizations, and communities. They just launched the Valiente Accelerator to support emerging Latine groups with grants and operational capacity to accelerate their growth. We discuss why critical moments demand innovation, the need to scale bold solutions, the power of microecosystems, the value of starting before you are ready and how to change systems through collaboration.

    • 21 min
    VentureFuel Visionary and Venture of the Year

    VentureFuel Visionary and Venture of the Year

    Join us as we honor the 2023 Visionary and Venture of the Year. Nominated and voted on by their peers, these are the change agents embracing new opportunities to drive outsized results. They are intent on blazing new paths, discovering inventive solutions, and powering the future.

    Visionary of the Year: Marty Guay, Vice President of Business Development, Stanley Black & Decker
    With over three decades experience as a corporate innovator, Marty Guay has spent the past six years working with startups, academia, venture capital and global corporations to create business value opportunities for Stanley Black & Decker, a worldwide leader in Tools and Outdoor.

    At Stanley Black & Decker, Guay is responsible for the inception of the company’s accelerator program where he successfully connects startups with technological and commercial relationships inside the organization and throughout global ecosystems. Guay sits on the advisory boards of multiple startups and serves as a board member of the state of Connecticut Governor’s Workforce Council and as a liaison to the Business Roundtable. In addition to these roles, Guay also oversees the company’s global philanthropy program that is focused on closing the skilled trades gap through its Grow the Trades program.

    Venture of the Year: Inworld AI, represented by Co-founder, Kylan Gibbs
    Inworld AI, led by a team of conversational AI pioneers and experts, uses advanced AI to build interactive characters whose personalities, thoughts, memories, and behaviors are designed to emulate social human interaction. Founded in 2021, Inworld is a recent graduate of the Comcast NBCUniversal LIFT Labs Generative AI Accelerator run in partnership with VentureFuel. Last month, Inworld announced a multi-year partnership with Microsoft to develop AI toolsets to assist and empower creators in dialogue, story, and quest design.

    Kylan Gibbs has a background in turning advanced AI into products that naturally interact with humans. He came from DeepMind, where he led products for Conversational AI and Generative Models. Prior, Kylan worked on enterprise Machine Learning projects at Bain & Company. Kylan studied at the University of Cambridge and McGill University.

    • 54 min

Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5
18 Ratings

18 Ratings

CADairyDiva ,

An Engaging Listen!

Interesting guests and Fred is an engaging host who keeps the conversation flowing.

LindseySla ,

So much wisdom

First off - Fred is amazing and curious so he trails into great places with guests. People from all unique backgrounds that make this a must subscribe for marketers.

RealEstateTech ,

Quality guests with practical and intelligent discussion!

Great roster of companies being represented in a down-to-earth, easy-to-follow conversation. I always look forward to the conversation and feedback.

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