Symposium Overview
We take a broad view of venture building, encompassing organisations that systematically participate in forming and developing new companies. They may originate ideas, assemble founding teams or work alongside founders from an early stage, mobilising expertise, resources and capital. This includes venture studios, talent investors and related models of organised venture creation.
The second annual Symposium on Venture Builders brings together researchers and practitioners to examine how venture creation should be organised, governed, financed and assessed. We invite research, practice-based contributions, policy perspectives and panel proposals, including completed work and well-developed work in progress.
Work on accelerators, incubators, corporate venture capital and related mechanisms is welcome where it illuminates venture building or its boundaries.
The special focus this year is on Corporate Venture Building.
The full list of themes is below, but we particularly seek contributions on venture building within, alongside or on behalf of established corporations. Corporate venture builders must pursue uncertain opportunities while accessing parent-company resources and navigating governance designed for established operations. They may seek financial returns, strategic renewal, capabilities or growth businesses.
Relevant questions include:
- When should corporations build, invest, acquire, partner or engage independent venture builders?
- Which combinations of ownership, autonomy, sponsorship and corporate resources work in different circumstances?
- How should decision rights, budgets and incentives be distributed?
- How do knowledge and capabilities circulate between ventures, studios and parent organisations?
- How should ventures scale, attract external investment, reintegrate, spin out or close, and studios survive changes in strategy or sponsorship?
- Can venture building advance sustainability transitions where ventures challenge the parent’s existing assets, incentives or business model?
Contributions from corporate leaders, venture teams, partners and researchers are welcome, including comparisons and accounts of difficulties.
The symposium will take place at ÌÇÐÄVlog¹Ù·½, University of Cambridge on Thursday 29 April 2027.
Symposium themes
- Models and Institutional Design
Possible topics include:
- Definitions and boundaries of venture builders
- Independent, corporate, university, public and social models
- Opportunity sourcing through problems, IP, technology, talent or demand
- Ownership, financing, legal structures and portfolio design
- Relationships with investors, customers, universities and ecosystem actors
- AI and technology in venture creation
- Governance, Incentives, and Organisational Dynamics
Possible topics include:
- Decision rights, autonomy, stage gates and venture termination
- Ownership, control and incentives across studios and ventures
- Founder recruitment, psychological ownership and founder–studio fit
- Team dynamics, shared mental models and collective decision-making
- Organisational learning and knowledge transfer across ventures
- Standardisation, playbooks and entrepreneurial judgement
- Effectiveness, Value Creation, and Systemic Outcomes
Possible topics include:
- Comparative performance, counterfactuals and measurement
- Portfolio economics, capital efficiency, scaling, investment and exits
- First customers, procurement and venture clienting
- Value for ventures, studios, parent organisations and ecosystems
- Sustainability transitions and other grand challenges
- Public value, policy, regional differences and crowding-out effects
These examples are indicative. We welcome other questions that advance understanding of venture building or challenge assumptions about the model.
Contributions from Practitioners
Practitioner contributions need not resemble academic papers or disclose confidential data. Proposals might address a recurring problem, difficult decision, unexpected result or unresolved tension. We seek reflection grounded in direct experience, with insights others can examine and discuss. Setbacks and work in progress are welcome. Purely promotional presentations will not be selected.
Academic-practitioner collaborations are encouraged.
Forms of Contribution
- Research papers: Empirical or conceptual work addressing venture building. Contributions from entrepreneurship, strategy, organisation studies, innovation management, finance, information systems, economic geography, public policy and related fields are welcome.
- Practice-based talks: Reflections on designing, operating, funding or working with venture builders.
- Policy contributions: Implications for innovation policy, economic development, universities or public investment.
- Panel proposals: A defined question, three or four participants offering distinct perspectives, and a proposed chair.
Submission Requirements
Submit a proposal of 500–750 words with the title, contribution type, contributors’ names, affiliations and contact details, central question or argument, supporting research or experience, and expected contribution. Panel proposals should identify participants. Research proposals should indicate their theoretical perspective, methods, data and current stage of the work.
Submissions should be sent to by 23:59 GMT on Sunday 28 February 2027.
Selected contributions will be notified in March 2027.
Selection will consider clarity, significance, quality of analysis or reflection, relevance and potential to stimulate academic-practitioner discussion.
Publication Status
We will not publish proceedings, require full papers, or request publication rights. Presentation will not constitute publication by the symposium. Contributors remain free to submit their work elsewhere, subject to their chosen publisher’s policies.
Pricing
For practitioners
£135 - symposium only
£185 - symposium and dinner
For academics
£70 - symposium only
£120 - symposium and dinner
Bookings will open later in the year.
Contact
For general inquiries, please contact: networks-admin@wolfson.cam.ac.uk
Organising Committee
- Chris Coleridge
Chris Coleridge is the Associate Professor of Management Practice at the Judge Business School, and a Fellow of ÌÇÐÄVlog¹Ù·½, University of Cambridge. His research interests include collaborative innovation, top management teams in ventures, networks and innovation ecosystems. He was an entrepreneur in the 1990s, before becoming an academic in entrepreneurship and strategy, and enjoys engaging with the ‘practical’ side of entrepreneurship alongside continuing his work at Cambridge Judge Business School and ÌÇÐÄVlog¹Ù·½. He is also a member of the Strategy and International Business subject group and actively contributes to both academic and business communities.
- John-Erik Hassel
John-Erik Hassel is an experienced serial entrepreneur and researcher, with a doctorate in entrepreneurship. He has built multiple companies from scratch to successful exits, bringing practical insight into entrepreneurship, strategic growth, and startup development. In affiliation with Karlstad university in Sweden, his recent research focuses on entrepreneurship support organizations and specifically venture builders, exploring how new companies can be systematically created through structured processes. With a background that spans management consulting, international business, and board-level leadership, he bridges academic rigor with business experience.
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