Inside CVC by u-path
Welcome to Inside CVC —Inside CVC by U-Path is the podcast where corporate venture capital meets strategy, leadership, and systemic change. Hosted by Philipp Willigmann and Steve Schmith, the show brings senior voices from across corporate venture, startups, investment, academia, and policy to the table.
Each episode goes beyond buzzwords to explore how capital, technology, and leadership shape the future of business and society. From AI and robotics to geopolitics, board governance, and inclusive innovation, Inside CVC is designed for executives and policymakers who want to understand not just what’s happening — but what to do about it.
Episodes
49 episodes
Boardrooms in Transition: Start Here
Boardrooms in Transition is a five-part special series from Inside CVC by U-Path on how boards make decisions when the information is incomplete and the stakes are real. Start with Episode 1 and listen in order. All fiv...
Boardrooms in Transition Ep. 1/5 | Didier Cossin | Failure to Act
This is episode 1 of 5 in Boardrooms in Transition, a special series from Inside CVC by U-Path. Start here and listen in order. In the opening chapter of Boardrooms in Transition, IMD professor and globally recognized...
Boardrooms in Transition Ep. 2/5 | Larry Quinlan | Risk and Speed
This is episode 2 of 5 in Boardrooms in Transition, a special series from Inside CVC by U-Path. We recommend starting with Episode 1 and listening in order. This episode opens with a short recap. If you are listening to the full seri...
Boardrooms in Transition Ep. 3/5 | Karen Francis | Investment Under Uncertainty
This is episode 3 of 5 in Boardrooms in Transition, a special series from Inside CVC by U-Path. We recommend starting with Episode 1 and listening in order. This episode opens with a short recap. If you are listening to the full seri...
Boardrooms in Transition Ep. 4/5 | Barry Salzberg | Leadership Under Pressure
This is episode 4 of 5 in Boardrooms in Transition, a special series from Inside CVC by U-Path. We recommend starting with Episode 1 and listening in order. This episode opens with a short recap. If you are listening to the full seri...
Boardrooms in Transition Ep. 5/5 | Penny Herscher | Board Dynamics
This is episode 5 of 5 in Boardrooms in Transition, a special series from Inside CVC by U-Path. We recommend starting with Episode 1 and listening in order. This episode opens with a short recap. If you are listening to the full seri...
Inside CVC: Hayley van Loon on the Illegal Empire, Supply Chain Crime, and Corporate Accountability
Hayley van Loon is the CEO of Crime Stoppers International and spent the first eight years of her career in counterterrorism operations in Australia. She joins Inside CVC to explain why criminal networks are not a parallel economy. They ...
Inside CVC: Patients Don't Have Time for This: David Betts on ALS, Vibe Coding, and Giving People Their Voice Back
David Betts spent two decades at Deloitte building a healthcare strategy practice, ultimately leading a public health business serving 20 states with 400-plus people. Then, at the peak of his career, he was diagnosed with ALS. His respon...
Inside CVC Encore: Disability as an Innovation Superpower with Pete Horsley, Founder of Remarkable
In this Inside CVC Encore, we revisit a conversation that feels even more relevant today.Pete Horsley, founder of Remarkable, challenges one of the biggest blind spots in corporate innovation: why disability and accessibility are still t...
Inside CVC Encore: AI, Leadership, and the Future of Work with Peter Schwartz and Richard Socher
In this Inside CVC Encore, we revisit our conversation with Salesforce Chief Futurist Peter Schwartz and You.com founder and CEO Richard Socher. We explore what leadership looks like in a world where technological change is no longer sequential...
Inside CVC Encore: Tariffs, Trade Shock, and the New Geopolitical Operating System
In this Inside CVC Encore episode, Deborah Elms joins Steve and Philipp for a timely conversation on the Supreme Court’s ruling against the Trump administration’s use of IEEPA tariffs—and why the ruling did not end tariff uncertainty.
Inside CVC Encore: There's No Exit Strategy for the Water Planet: J. Carl Ganter on Supply Chain Risk, Desalination, and the CVC Opportunity
In this Inside CVC Encore from Season 1, Episode 1, we revisit his conversation with J. Carl Ganter, founder and managing director of Circle of Blue and a veteran storyteller whose work spans National Geographic, network TV news, and NPR...
Inside CVC: Sensing the Emerging Future: Otto Scharmer on Theory U, Deep Listening, and the Inner Conditions of Leadership
Otto Scharmer is a Senior Lecturer at MIT and the originator of Theory U, the foundation of U-Path. In this conversation, Otto walks Philipp and Steve through what it actually means to lead from an emerging future rather than the past, a...
Inside CVC: Olympic Gold Medalist Oliver Zeidler on Reinvention, Resilience, and Real Preparation
Oliver Zeidler made history at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, winning gold in the men's single scull and breaking the Olympic record by nearly five seconds in the semi-final. But he will tell you the medal wasn't won in Paris. It was won ...
Inside CVC: Joanna Massey on Board Governance in a Digital Age: AI, Trust, and Mass Incitement
In this episode of Inside CVC, Joanna Massey explores how AI and digital platforms are reshaping boardroom governance.The conversation examines how polarization, employee stress, and shifting expectations around free speech are impacting...
Inside CVC: From Summit to Platform: Inside the Global Vision for the CVC Open Innovation Community
The CVC Open Innovation Summit began as a small gathering of corporate venture, strategy, and innovation leaders looking for something missing in the market: a trusted environment where decision-makers could collaborate on the challenges shapin...
BONUS EPISODE: Deborah Elms on the U.S. Supreme Court’s Tariff Ruling and U.S.– Asia Trade
When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration illegally imposed tariffs under IEEPA, markets reacted fast. But relief quickly gave way to confusion.In this episode, Deborah Elms, Head of Trade Policy at the Singapore...
Inside CVC: Janet Foutty on Women’s Health, Influence Without a Title, and Closing the Healthspan Gap
What happens when you leave a world class platform like Deloitte without a plan, and then choose to spend your next chapter on a problem hiding in plain sight?In this episode of Inside CVC, we sit down with Janet Foutty, former CEO of De...
Inside CVC: Katharina Janus on Longevity, Caregiving, and Building an Aging Economy That Works
Longevity is not just a healthcare issue. It is a workforce issue. It is a competitiveness issue. It is an everything issue.In this episode of Inside CVC, we sit down with Katharina Janus, founder of Fourth Quarter Life and a longtime he...
Inside CVC: Edward Tenner on Unintended Consequences, Deep Organizations, and Boardroom Risk
What do the Hindenburg, the Titanic, Boeing, and the Challenger disaster have in common?According to historian and author Edward Tenner, they were not failures of incompetence. They were failures born from success, confidence, and blind ...
Inside CVC: Orchestrating Connection: Why Trust, Gratitude, and Community Drive Better CVC & M&A Decisions
In this episode of Inside CVC, we’re joined by David Homan, author of Orchestrating Connection, for a wide-ranging conversation on why trust, gratitude, and intentional community building are no longer “soft skills,” but ...
Inside CVC: Berlin CVC Open Innovation Summit, Part 2: From Urgency to Execution: Aligning Capital, Institutions, and Leadership in Europe
In Part Two of our special Inside CVC series recapping the CVC Open Innovation Summit in Berlin, the conversation moves from diagnosis to execution.Episode One explored urgency. Episode Two focuses on alignment.As Eur...
Inside CVC: Berlin CVC Open Innovation Summit, Part 1: Capital, Policy, and Risk
In late November, leaders from across Europe gathered in Berlin for the first European edition of the CVC Open Innovation Summit. What emerged was not another debate about whether innovation matters, but a far more urgent question: is Europe ac...
Inside CVC: Why Europe Fell Behind in Autonomy. And How It Can Catch Up with Christian Schumacher
Europe once led the world in autonomous driving. Massive public investment. Breakthrough demonstrations. Real vehicles on real highways long before autonomy was mainstream.So what happened?In this episode of Inside CVC, w...
Inside CVC: Trust as Currency. Congruency as Strategy. A Conversation with SGNL’s Jen Randle
In this episode of Inside CVC, Steve and Philipp sit down with Jen Randle, co-founder of SGNL, a strategic advisory and content firm known for helping leaders communicate with clarity, coherence, and purpose. Jen has spent her car...