Some corporations grow so large, their gravity pulls in ideas and concepts that aren’t directly related to their core business.
For example, Microsoft, BMW, AT&T and Samsung each have extensive corporate art collections containing thousands of pieces from nearly every era. Why? Because Andy Warhol lithographs and Claude Monet landscapes bolster the company’s brand identity with affluent consumers and prospective employees. An art collection can also express corporate social responsibility, engage the community and provide significant tax benefits.
[I was a guest on another podcast! Details below.]
Relatedly, American Express is one of the world’s largest financial services companies — but it also runs a concierge events business for its premium cardholders, a notion that didn’t exist when the company was founded as a delivery service in 1850.
And since 2011, it also operates Amex Ventures, a corporate arm that invests in seed to Series B startups that might create value for its parent company and customers (which include millions of small and medium-sized businesses). To learn more about what Amex Ventures is looking for and how it operates, I interviewed Kevin Weber, its managing director.
Even though its portfolio companies include big fintechs like Plaid, Albert and Toast, he said they’re also open to commerce, enterprise software, cybersecurity, HR tech and some consumer services.
“In many cases, I actually want to take more risk in some of the investments that I'm going to make, because that risk and the investment that I'm making for the potential opportunity that I could have to American Express is likely worth the bet,” he said.
Episode summary
00:19 Meet Kevin Weber: Amex Ventures' Managing Director
00:42 The role of corporate venture capital
01:24 Kevin's career journey
02:53 Amex Ventures' investment strategy
03:06 The differences between corporate and traditional VC
04:05 Strategic value and partnerships
05:30 Focus areas and portfolio companies
07:49 AI and ML in venture capital
09:29 Investment process and founder relationships
15:11 Turning investments into partnerships
20:23 Collaborating with businesses to achieve goals
20:39 Addressing pain points and future trends
21:10 Focus on AI
22:23 Business goals and fraud prevention
24:09 Investment strategies and pivots
25:37 Exit strategies and acquisition policies
31:40 Working with accelerators and incubators
34:44 Kevin’s advice for first-time founders
39:07 Risk tolerance in corporate venture capital
Links
Weber joins Amex Ventures, 6/12/2023, Global Corporate Venturing Leadership Society
I’m on another podcast!
I spoke with Eric Chemi on Bospar's Politely Pushy podcast about my path from working in early-stage startups to becoming a tech journalist, and I had a great time.
Eric is a fantastic interviewer, and his questions helped me articulate the sole purpose behind Fund/Build/Scale: helping listeners figure out how to launch a startup when all they have is an idea.
Thanks very much to Eric and the entire team at Bospar for the opportunity!
– Walter.
Subscribe to Fund/Build/Scale
