Why most CVC leaders get fired after 3.5 years
“Where where's the how do you get that buy in over a long period of you know, because it can be fifteen, twenty years.”
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But yeah. Where where's the how do you get that buy in over a long period of you know, because it can be fifteen, twenty years. Sometimes these investments can take to really play out. So, yeah, what's your view around that? It's such an important point, and and I read the same things before I took this job. And the average tenure of of a CVC leader is three and a half years. Right? I've got twelve months to go before I'll be hulking my CV I was gonna say you've got a year left, Mike. Since I'm I'm on the far right side. But and I I did read the same thing. And the reason for that is exactly what you said is that when you have a single sponsor from a parent to a CVC unit, in my view, that's the problem. Right? And the reason why it's every three or five years, as you kinda described, is because that's the average tenure of a CEO or a chief strategy officer. Right? The good news for me is I'm on my second chief strategy officer, and I'm still here. Right? So so hopefully, we can Survived. So you survived. Smelling that
About this clip
Mike Smeed explains why corporate venture capital leaders have such short tenures - averaging just 3.5 years. He reveals that relying on a single sponsor within the parent company creates vulnerability when leadership changes, and shares how he's survived by navigating multiple regime changes.
Why this clip
Reveals a critical structural weakness in corporate venture capital that explains high leadership turnover, backed by specific data and personal experience.
What they said next
Why CVCs are uniquely positioned to solve automotive's biggest regulatory challenges
29:19 - 35s · market insight
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