Strategic expertise and practical experience turn high-calibre corporate venture into thriving independent business
End-to-end spin-off services set new healthy-water business up for success
Our client, a global food and beverage giant, invested significant resources developing a next-generation smart water dispenser system: think personalized flavor combinations with health enhancers and no more single-use waste.
With state-of-the-art hardware and software already in place, our client sought the right commercialization path and business model to secure long-term success, operating independently from the core business.
Our 6-step process for success:
1. Rapid due-diligence to assess scalability and identify governance solution - an independent (excubation) model was preferred.
2. Direct market engagement with prospects to prove demand, generate traction, and inform business model design.
3. Defined the operational model, closed key distribution partnerships, and built leadership team.
4. Developed a clear roadmap (complete with KPI-focused gates) and itemized checklist for external fundraising.
5. Prepared the venture for potential exit.
6. Engaged +100 investors with comprehensive supporting materials.
The headline results
Obtaining the much-needed external funding in just a few months, the new business model could operate independently and successfully scale - slowly but steadily. With a robust plan for future expansion and the right governance structures in place, the client now has a basis to build a blueprint for potential future projects.
Validated scaling potential - including real market traction
Designed venture cap table and defined governance
Set foundation for founding team and operational set-up
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The challenge: Finding the right market opportunity and securing investor intent
After multiple years of research and investment in cutting edge hardware, software, and a mobile application, our client was struggling to gain traction for its pioneering water dispenser product. Having trialled a B2C and B2B approach and both cases encountering significant hurdles, there were three core challenges to address:
Assessing market viability
With the client experiencing distinct challenges in developing traction for its dispenser system, the question of whether there was a potential market for it hadn't been answered. A thorough market and capability analysis was required.
Crafting a plan to scale
The exact value proposition and subsequently the go-to-market approach was yet to be defined. With multiple ideas on the table, the client needed support to identify the right market opportunity and define a strategic approach to expand.
Defining governance
Building a governance structure and scalable business model to successfully launch and grow this new venture was an entirely new concept. The client needed clarity on how to drive spin-off projects of this magnitude forward.
Phase 1: Strategic due diligence
Rapid viability assessment and charting a path forward
Running a series of workshops with stakeholders, analyzing the product in detail, and examining potential routes to market we assessed the viability of the proposed venture. Factoring market conditions, team structure, product roadmap, value proposition, and potential business models, we presented a series of high-level options to take it to market - all backed by data.
Our assessment showed a B2B model offered a path forward with huge growth potential and a significant chance for the venture to be operational and independent within six months. Targeting a high-end office audience, we presented the dispenser system as a means for offices to eradicate (or significantly limit) plastic bottles while affording workers more healthy choices. With strategic alignment agreed, we begun architecting the venture from the ground up and engaging the prospecitve market.
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Phase 2A: Generating market traction
Engaging prospects, partners, and investors
With a go-to-market proposition defined, our team conducted deep discovery and market analysis to surface potential distribution partners and construct a target list of priority prospects. The next step was to pick up the phone and speak to potential buyers and establish relationships with all facets of the supply chain.
Over the course of 12 weeks, our team obtained distribution partnerships in key regions and uncovered multiple active opportunities for the venture's business development teams to pick up when ready to enter the market.
Bringing venture capital logic to the process, we conducted further market analysis, ran multiple surveys and focus groups, and compiled a robust business case for potential investors. Our efforts secured letters of interest from more than 100 investment sources.
Phase 2B: Building a fundable venture
Developing the strategy, team, and ready-to-launch operations to attract investors
Alongside our efforts to gain traction and build key partnerships, we worked with the client to define in granular detail how the venture would operate. Reviewing commercials, capital structure, management setup, legal frameworks, and regulatory requirements, we devised a robust governance model ready to hit the ground running.
Rather than producing a five-year plan based on arbitrary targets, we worked in collaboration with our client to chart a comprehensive roadmap with agreed KPIs for each phase. Factoring in funding gateways and drawing on our deep experience in taking ventures to market, we developed an actionable plan with clear step-by-step instructions for the venture team to follow.
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Phase 3: Creating an operational business venture
Springing into action with our spin-off as a service
With investor interest secured, market traction, and a roadmap for the venture to follow, our teams began building the business complete with leadership, product teams, technology ecosystem, marketing strategy, financial models, and necessary structures to facilitate growth. Leveraging our discovery work and market data, we pursued the goal of attracting seed-funding in as short a time as possible. To that end, we:
- Designed structure to launch business, based on new model and value proposition.
- Secured Letters of Intent from two key investors.
- Crafted a detailed three-year scaling plan aligned with venture capital-grade funding logic, setting the path for sustainable growth.
- Hired a talented founding team capable of executing the strategy.
- Closed a key distribution partnership, guaranteeing seamless start to operations and setting the stage for market entry.
- Prepared comprehensive “done for you” pitch decks, financial models, and legal documents to present the venture to potential investors.
The project timeline
This is how we collaborated to assist the client in demonstrating the viability of their healthy-water business, gaining market traction, securing investment, and successfully excubating the venture.
Conducted an exit readiness evaluation
We analyzed the venture's ability to initiate independent operations and find a potential product-market fit through workshops, product assessments, and market research.
Built traction in the market
Established relationships with distribution and supply chain partners and connected with potential sales targets. During this phase we closed a key partnership and found over a dozen sales opportunities.
Created a fundraising strategy
With a lean setup phase and high-level plan for future rounds, the venture had a clear strategy to procure vital funds.
Developed a roadmap for external fundraising
Drawing on our experiences working with investors and our knowledge of the venture, we produced a detailed guide and actionable plan for the venture to get further funding.
Prepared the venture for exit
We built the new venture from the ground up, including leadership, financial models, operational governance, marketing strategy, and all the necessary structures to ensure a successful launch into the market.
Engaged investors and secured funding
Connecting with more than 100 investors and providing comprehensive supporting materials for the venture, we helped obtain a multi-million CHF investment and set the venture up for independent success.
Funding secured in record time and new business venture positioned to scale
In only five months, the spin off was successfully in motion. The venture secured CHF single-million-range funding from selected investors, and the visionary co-founder/CEO we scouted took the helm to drive expansion, team capabilities, and future investment rounds.
The client is now benefitting from diversified revenues and has a clear framework and roadmap to explore new commercialization opportunities with future research endeavors.
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