Lessons Learnt in Corporate Venture Building: Conversation with Kit Wong

July 2, 2021

In this first episode, Pedro URIA-RECIO, Venture Partner FutureLabs Ventures speaks to Kit Wong. A veteran of Southeast Asia’s innovation and entrepreneurial scene, Kit is a serial entrepreneur and seasoned executive who built and scaled unicorn ventures (OVO, Lu-Global), and led fast-growth of notable tech players in the region (Google). They talk about key learnings in the journey and how a corporate can enable but not constrain the growth of the new businesses.

Episode 1 : Conversation with Kit Wong

Key highlights of the discussion

In the interview, Kit summarizes his learning’s and insights along three key dimensions:

  1. How to bring corporate assets to benefit the new venture idea without constraining the growth of the business
  2. How to think about the set up and governance
  3. Finally about the idea itself- listen to the customer, test and validate. Don’t keep crunching numbers, get out in the market, prototype and iterate.

 

Towards the end he mentions his take on two additional success factors : 

  1. Ensure that the opportunity idea is defined and framed wide enough to allow for meeting corporate aspirations while pivoting several times as you learn from the customer
  2. Talent that you need for corporate ventures is same as what is needed by many ventures in the wild. It is in high demand and short supply. So think about making a clear and compelling proposition to attract the right, hungry and driven talent to your opportunities. 

Subscribe to The Future Ventures Series

Subscribe Anchor Spotify

About the speaker(s)

Photo

Pedro URIA-RECIO

Pedro is a Venture Partner in FutureLabs Ventures and leads digital and AI innovation in corporations and start-ups. He has deep expertise in creating and running digital and data analytics propositions in South East Asia, across telecoms and financial services. He has launched and operated P&L in a new business unit that drives client impact through data & AI solutions. and managed hands-on corporate transformations, successively as Chief Digital Officer and as Chief Data Analytics Officer.

Photo

Kit Wong

A veteran of Southeast Asia’s innovation and entrepreneurial scene, Kit is a serial entrepreneur and seasoned executive who built and scaled unicorn ventures (OVO, Lu-Global), and led fast-growth of notable tech players in the region (Google). Among others, Kit brings a unique set of capabilities — from deep Product expertise, to Strategy & Scale-up experience. He also has deep knowledge of Fintech, Fin Services and Asset Management sector and innovation landscape.