EU CVC

About EU CVC

The go-to CVC Podcast in Europe.

Publisher

The European VC

Category

business

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

12 Dec 2024

Latest episode

11 Feb 2026

Latest episodes

59 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   11 Feb 2026

   EU CVC | E059 | Alex Dang, The Venture Mindset: How Corporates Can Beat VCs in the AI Race – The Venture Mindset in Action

   Welcome to another episode of the EUVC Podcast! Today, we’re diving into How Corporates Might just be able Beat VCs in the AI Race. Or maybe more importantly, how we can collaborate. Our guest is Alex Dang (https://www.linkedin.com/in/leadingchange/), co-author of the bestselling book The Venture Mindset: How to Make Smarter Bets and Achieve Extraordinary Growth (https://thevcmindset.com/). Alex is a seasoned technology executive and innovation advisor with over two decades of experience. He was a product leader at Amazon, where he launched new businesses across e-commerce, supply chain, and AI; a partner at McKinsey, helping Fortune 500 companies build digital ventures; and today advises corporate leaders and investors on AI strategies, venture building, and applying VC principles to large organizations. In this conversation, Alex shares provocative insights on why the venture mindset is now non-negotiable for corporates in the AI era, where incumbents hold hidden advantages over VCs, and how to avoid “innovation theater” while turning data, distribution, and scale into real venture wins. Let’s jump in! Here’s what’s covered: 01:56 | The Venture Mindset in one frame with nine principles from 20 years of Stanford VC research: uncertainty → portfolios → outliers 03:44 | The post-book update Alex wishes he had added time compression: “days, not weeks,” and the rise of the “one slice team” 05:53 | Venture mindset applied to AI 07:34 | Why “adding AI” is the wrong framing; start customer-backward, not tech-backward 08:43 | “AI theater”, innovation theater and press release strategies vs real product value 11:19 | The European corporate trap: regulation, consensus, and downside protection as the enemy of transformation 11:56 | The right AI rollout sequence with start in back office to learn and protect trust, then go customer-facing at scale 15:21 | Why CVCs die after 3.7 years: incentives, leadership fear, and why corporate venturing fails structurally 17:24 | AI is now the world’s most democratized intelligence: everyone has the same tools; the gap is execution 18:47 | Where corporates fit in venture + startup ecosystems: strengths: data, distribution, enterprise scale 20:38 | When corporates should build in-house, when to partner, and why AI must become an internal muscle 25:24 | Incentives drive behavior: why executives won’t take venture-style risks unless failure is structurally safe 28:18 | AI-native teams and corporate reskilling among smaller, senior teams + digital workers replacing junior tasks 35:24 | What happens to the average corporate employee: tasks disappear, workflows evolve, but people still matter 38:50 | If Alex were CEO: how to move a workforce into an AI-safe future and target 25% profit uplift through AI 44:01 | Most counterintuitive venture principle — “drop bad ideas fast” and why persistence is sometimes the wrong discipline 46:05 | What top CEOs are doing right now: coding with Claude, learning by building, and staying close to users 49:00 | The compounding effect: “what was impossible 6 months ago is normal today” and why constant feedback loops win

2. 

   28 Jan 2026

   EU CVC | E058 | Axel Deniz, Bosch Business Innovations: Venture Building & How Corporates Can Power Europe’s Tech

   Welcome back to the EUVC Corporate Podcast. This week, Jeppe sits down with Axel Deniz, CEO of Bosch Business Innovations and Head of Venture Building at Bosch.Axel is building Bosch’s venture-building engine with a clear mandate: get Bosch technology out into the world, through founder-led spinouts, joint ventures, and seed rounds that can stand on their own with external investors. With ~80,000 active patents, 20 new patents per day, and 20,000 researchers globally, Bosch has the assets. Axel’s job is turning them into investible companies.🎧 Here’s what’s covered:02:30 Bosch’s unfair advantage: 80k patents, 20 patents/day, 20k researchers04:10 Horizon 2/3: building for 2030–2035 where incumbents can’t reach05:30 Hybrid execution: not all in-house, not all studio but a blended model06:25 Problem definition: Bosch theses + founders bringing problems from outside08:25 Stage gates: “get to no fast” + external validation early09:05 Gate #1: attracting “triple-A founders” before anything else10:35 Founder-led 80/20 vs joint ventures when tech risk is still high13:10 Venture market fit: choosing where to build is a venture builder superpower16:20 Founder acquisition: why mediocre pre-seed talent is the biggest risk23:05 Working with scale-ups: co-create instead of buying or minority investing24:15 University engine: 5–6 deep partnerships (Carnegie Mellon example)27:15 Biggest surprises: founder scarcity and portfolio restructuring complexity29:05 Axel’s advice to founders: don’t start deep tech from scratch30:30 Axel’s advice to VCs: don’t underestimate corporates’ learning curve32:00 Axel’s background: founder → Silicon Valley → PWC CVC → Bosch35:15 Career advice: no cookie-cutter route and trust your gut sometimes37:10 How founders can engage: programs + direct outreach on LinkedIn#EUVC #VC #VentureCapital #Investing #TheEuropeanVC #Podcast #Tech #Startup

3. 

   14 Jan 2026

   EUCVC | E057 | Emil Eifrem, Neo4j: Building the AI Infrastructure Layer: Neo4j’s $100M Bet

   Jeppe Hoier interviews Emil Eifrem, Neo4j CEO, about Neo4j's $100M investment in AI infrastructure, graph technology's role in AI, and Europe's position in the AI platform shift.

Who has been a guest on EU CVC

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Emil Eifrem
• Martin Scherrer
• Christian Tang-Jespersen
• Claus Gregersen
• Francesco Di Lorenzo

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

74,022

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Spotify

5.0 / 5

1 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 44 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

58

Social presence

0

YouTube

76

Engagement

0

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Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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