Intrapreneurship and Corporate Venturing Training Course for Senior Leaders

Programme Summary

Intrapreneurship and corporate venturing for senior leaders is the subject of this five-day training course at strategic level, culminating in an internal venture portfolio and governance plan. Established organisations need new sources of growth, yet their budgeting, approval and risk routines are built to protect the core business and often stifle new ideas before they are tested. The approach moves from the case for entrepreneurial leadership, through opportunity framing and lean validation, to funding, governance and the decision to scale or stop. Mars Training Centre UK delivers this programme in intrapreneurship and corporate venturing.

The Business Case

Organisations that rely only on improving current products lose ground when markets shift. Senior leaders who sponsor internal ventures with clear rules for testing, funding and stopping turn employee ideas into new revenue lines at controlled cost and keep entrepreneurial staff.

• Share of Revenue From New Offerings: Grows as validated ventures move from pilot into the core business.
• Cost of Failed Initiatives: Falls as small experiments replace large up-front commitments.
• Retention of Entrepreneurial Talent: Improves as staff gain a sanctioned route to build new ventures.

Principles and Evidence Base

• Organisational Ambidexterity: Balancing exploitation of the core with exploration of the new frames the structural choices made in Session 1.
• Three Horizons of Growth: Classifying initiatives by time to value guides the portfolio diagnosis in Session 1 and the portfolio balance in Session 5.
• Business Model Canvas: Mapping value proposition, customers, channels, revenue and cost structures shapes the venture design work in Session 2.
• Lean Startup: Build-measure-learn cycles, minimum viable products and pivot or persevere decisions structure the validation work in Session 3.

Intended Participants

• Leaders who sponsor or chair decisions on new products, services or business models.
• Heads of business units expected to deliver growth beyond the current portfolio.
• Senior officials who run innovation funds, challenge programmes or venture units.

The programme serves strategy, innovation, business development and finance functions in energy, banking, telecommunications and government-owned enterprises.

Learning Outcomes

1. Participants will be able to diagnose the barriers to intrapreneurship in their own organisation's structure, incentives and culture.
2. Participants will be able to prioritise venture opportunities against strategic fit and the Three Horizons portfolio.
3. Participants will be able to construct a business model hypothesis and an experiment plan for a new venture.
4. Participants will be able to design stage-gate and metered funding rules for internal ventures.
5. Participants will be able to evaluate evidence from experiments to decide whether to scale, pivot or stop a venture.
6. Participants will be able to justify an internal venture portfolio and governance plan to an executive committee.

Programme Structure

Day 1: The Case for Intrapreneurship

Why do established organisations struggle to grow new ventures, and where does the participant's organisation stand?

• Organisational Ambidexterity: Exploit and Explore
• Three Horizons of Growth Portfolio Mapping
• Corporate Venturing Models: Internal, Partnered and External
• Intrapreneurship Barrier Diagnosis: Structure, Incentives, Culture
• The Sponsor Role in Entrepreneurial Leadership

Day 2: Opportunity Framing and Business Model Design

Which opportunities deserve a venture team, and what must be true for them to work?

• Opportunity Sources: Customers, Operations and Adjacent Markets
• Strategic Fit and Opportunity Screening Criteria
• Business Model Canvas for Internal Ventures
• Critical Assumption Mapping
• Venture Team Selection and Intrapreneur Profiles

Day 3: Lean Validation of Internal Ventures

How does a venture team test its assumptions quickly and cheaply?

• Lean Startup Build-Measure-Learn Cycle
• Minimum Viable Product Design
• Customer Discovery Interviews and Field Tests
• Innovation Accounting and Learning Metrics
• Pivot or Persevere Decision Points

Day 4: Funding and Governing Corporate Ventures

How should leadership fund, oversee and protect ventures without smothering them?

• Stage-Gate and Metered Funding Rules
• Venture Board Composition and Decision Rights
• Shielding Ventures From Core Business Processes
• Incentives and Career Paths for Intrapreneurs
• Scale, Spin-Out, Absorb or Stop Decisions

Day 5: Applying the Intrapreneurship Plan

Is the venture portfolio and governance plan ready for the executive committee?

• Applying the Day 1 Barrier Diagnosis to Governance Choices
• Building Day 2 Screening Criteria Into an Intake Process
• Setting Day 4 Funding Gates for Two Candidate Ventures
• Venture Pitch to a Simulated Venture Board
• Completing the Internal Venture Portfolio and Governance Plan

Methodology

The programme combines case analysis with a venture board simulation. Participants diagnose their own organisation, build a business model and experiment plan for a real opportunity, and take turns as venture teams and board members. Cases come from energy, banking and public enterprises.

• Suggested activity: Mapping current initiatives onto the Three Horizons to find gaps in the portfolio.
• Suggested activity: Designing a two-week experiment to test the riskiest venture assumption.
• Suggested activity: Running a stage-gate review in which a venture must earn its next tranche of funding.

Capstone Output

Each participant completes an internal venture portfolio and governance plan. It contains a barrier diagnosis, a portfolio map, opportunity screening criteria, two venture hypotheses with experiment plans, stage-gate funding rules and a venture board charter. It is presented to the executive committee as the basis for launching or reforming an intrapreneurship programme.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is intrapreneurship training suitable for senior executives who sponsor ventures?

Yes. It is set at strategic level for directors and heads of business units who approve, fund or oversee new ventures, and assumes experience of budgeting and strategic planning.

Which models support the intrapreneurship and corporate venturing programme?

It rests on organisational ambidexterity, the Three Horizons of Growth, the Business Model Canvas and Lean Startup, with stage-gate and metered funding for governance.

How is the plan from corporate venturing training used at work?

You can use it to set up or reform a venture board, agree funding gates with finance and launch the first ventures with clear tests and stop rules.