Corporate Venturing

While the book is written by academics, it is dead on when addressing the primary reasons corporate venturing units succeed or fail. It may not tell you the detailed mechanics of starting such a unit, but the information inside is far more valuable than a paint-by-numbers. Balancing the needs of a venturing unit vs. the gravitational pull of the core business is key - and this book will tell you what works and what doesn't. If you're looking for info on how to write a business plan, how to evaluate an opportunity, etc., this isn't the book for you.

I found the book useful when I set up a new profit center and business within a small construction management company. Most important for me is that it helped me understand some of the political dynamics I would be encountering in dealing with the parent: at startup and, in my situation, as a consumer of parent company services.The book is academic in the best sense of the word: it presents the big issues and context. It's basically a model of the factors and forces involved. It is not a cookbook or a how to and is short on anecdotal experience. Nevertheless, the contents cover all the key dimensions: Getting Started, Framing and Managing the Venture Process, Identifying, Evaluating, and Selecting Opportunity; Selecting, Evaluating, and Compensating Venture Management; Locating the Venture in the Organization; Developing the Business Plan; Organizing the Venture; Controlling the Venture; A Survival Guide for Venture Managers; The Internal Politics of Venturing; Learning from Experience.

Very practical book on elements of corporate venturing - that is, generating ventures and nurturing them within a firm. Not one of those silly business-popular psych books. These guys don't care if giants can dance or not.