Task $1$: Describe the venture.

Task #$1$ should describe some of the backstories for the venture. Investigate as much as possible and then condense your results. Consider the following aspects:

Why did the company embark on this journey?

What venture format did the company use $($internal$,$ external, partnering$)?$

What could have been internal or external triggers that caused them to start the venture?

How did this venture fit into the strategic landscape at the time $-$ some venture make more sense when put into context of the time.

Claim to fame $($success$)$ or claim to shame $($failure$)$

Task $2$: How did the venture play out.

Describe$$if you can$$how the venture unfolded. Try to gather as many details as possible by looking at more than just one or two sources. Consider the following questions:

Who were the major players $($This may not always be easy to determine$)?$

Who was making decisions?

What were the critical decisions made?

What was the impact of the venture on the company?

What obstacles did the company or the venture team face?

What are some interesting$/$humorous facts not commonly known?

Task $3$: Analysis of the failure or success.

For your analysis, you have to filter out at least two critical lessons learned or takeaways. While they may be somewhat specific to the situation, please make an effort to formulate them that they can be used as a guideline for all corporate ventures. Other students are encouraged during class to utilize some of your "lessons" learned in their work.

Consider the following for the "successful venture":

What was the apparent reason for the successful venture $($timing$,$ opportunity recognition, team, culture, strategy, organization, foresight$)?$

Can you distill your analysis into two distinct "best practices" that the venture can exhibit?

What was the range of commercial success of the corporate venture effort?

Does any of the class material relate to your findings?

Consider the following for the "failed venture":

How big was the potential loss or lost opportunity of the venture's failure $($timing$,$ opportunity recognition, 'steam, culture, strategy, organization, foresight$)?$

Analysis of failure: culture, strategy, leadership, people, external forces, others.

Can you extract two "Worst Practices" practices of how to engage in Corporate Venturing from your example?

What lessons can be learned from this failure, lessons that were learned in hindsight?

Does any of the class material relate to your findings?

Task $4$: Delivery and presentation.

Deliverable $1$:

A summary of the results of Task $1$ through Task $3$ on a total of $5$ PowerPoint slides. These slides are content$-$rich and text$-$heavy $("$Slidoments$").$ They are easier to communicate the results compared to a regular research paper. More information on Slidoments during the live sessions.

Post the $5$ slides as a PDF in the assignment section for assignment $1.$

Deliverable $2$:

Create a single slide document and save it as a pdf$.$ This single page pdf will serve as a presentation slide and is a summary of the previously posted $5-$slide version. There is no need to post this slide on Canvas, but have it ready to share during a two$-$minute live presentation during one of our live sessions.

Each student will present their success or failure venture during one of our live sessions for a total of two minutes using the one$-$page summary slide.

Depending on the total size of the class session, we may have to cut the time to just a minute, but it should be plenty to just quickly explain the success$/$failure$.$