Ziv Ragowsky: Corporate Venture Myths, Why Innovation Fails & How Startups Survive Inside Conglomerates – E671
Ziv Ragowsky, Co-Founder of Wright Partners, joins Jeremy Au to unpack why corporate venture building remains one of Southeast Asia’s hardest but most misunderstood innovation strategies. They explore how large corporations chase growth under pressure, why many internal ventures fail before traction, and how misaligned incentives quietly destroy promising ideas. The conversation covers when companies should build instead of buy, how lean venture design keeps startups investable, and why founder equity must evolve as risk shifts over time. Ziv also shares how venture builders act as translators between corporate logic and startup execution, and why honest advice sometimes means telling a client not to build at all.
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3Lva2DwaiIBUP34QJFTiaL?si=yVwpfGA1TG2Fy8dvT0Mc_g
Youtube: https://youtu.be/aeA7An9w9Tk
"What are you trying to achieve today? If somebody says to me, “I want to build a brand new innovation program and I’m expecting a huge financial return in the next five years,” I will say, “There is none. Other than AI today, maybe, and we still don’t know if the bubble will pop or when.” It is very difficult to do so because startups take time to mature. If you tell me you have time, and you are talking about a huge financial return in five years, for many CEOs that means, “I’m not going to be here anyway.” So I need to make sure that I get something in between to drive that journey forward.” - Ziv Ragowsky, Co-Founder of Wright Partners
"If a corporate does not continue to innovate, they risk dying. That is not just my view. Every major consultancy, McKinsey, BCG, and others, says the same. So they have to innovate. The real question is how and what they spend money on. That is the more difficult and more interesting question, because it is not about whether you innovate. If you do not, you will eventually be outpaced. The Fortune 500 tables show this clearly. Every new CEO says, “We are going to innovate,” based on consultancy research. Then when a new CEO arrives, they kill the previous CEO’s innovation strategy, wait a year or two, and start again. That is the cycle.” - Ziv Ragowsky, Co-Founder of Wright Partners
"You must believe that the problem is crucial and unique for you to solve, or that you can create the right partnerships. There have been many moments when we told corporates, “This is a great problem to solve, but it is an industry infrastructure problem. It is not your corporate problem to solve. You should build something, but collaborate with other corporates.” If you think about Visa or Euroclear in Europe, they were created this way and became strong businesses. Sometimes the innovation needed is for the entire industry. You cannot expect a startup to interact with fifty banks and get them to develop payment rails. That would not work. That is where innovation, and where building, actually makes sense.” - Ziv Ragowsky, Co-Founder of Wright Partners