The VentureFuel Visionaries

City of Atlanta CIO Jason Sankey shares how Atlanta uses pilots, controlled environments and public-private partnerships to test emerging technologies before scaling them across the city. He explains why some promising AI ideas fail the citizen test, how the city is evolving its AI governance from thought leadership to action, and why proof matters more than promises when evaluating technology par...

What are VCs looking for? Is your startup fundable? What do you need to improve to get financing? On this week's re-release show, we have Amy Wood, the Program Manager for the "Most Fundable Companies" initiative at Pepperdine Graziadio Business School, a groundbreaking program that empowers early-stage startups by providing critical insights into their readiness for private investment. Launched i...

This week’s VentureFuel Visionary is Fatih Nayebi, Vice President of Data & AI at ALDO Group. He leads AI initiatives that transform retail operations and customer experiences. He’s also a Faculty Lecturer at McGill University and the author of Foundations of Agentic AI for Retail, the first book on autonomous AI systems in retail. He demystifies agentic AI, federated learning, and the promise of...

What separates tomorrow’s breakout consumer brands from everything else? Taste, judgment and the conviction to act. Morrison Seger Founder & CEO Rogers Healy shares his unconventional approach to consumer investing. From backing Mizzen+Main before venture became his focus to building a portfolio across food, beverage and apparel. He explains why an investable founder can be harder to find than a g...

Adèle Yaroulina, global co-innovation expert and author of the new book “Collaborate to Innovate: How Startups and Established Organizations Create Breakthrough Success Together,” joins Fred Schonenberg, Founder of VentureFuel, to unpack what it really takes for large organizations to turn startup partnerships into scalable growth engines. They challenge the myth that startup collaboration “isn’t...

What does it take to modernize one of the world's largest and most complex fleets while balancing public safety, operational reliability, and ambitious sustainability goals? Keith Kerman shares how New York City is transforming nearly 30,000 municipal vehicles through electrification, renewable fuels, intelligent safety technology, AI-enabled fleet management, and cross-sector partnerships. He exp...

Nearly every enterprise is experimenting with AI, yet few are turning pilots into measurable business outcomes. Why do so many organizations get stuck in "AI pilot purgatory"? Pritam Bhattarai, Vice President of Innovation & Partnerships at VentureFuel, shares a practical framework for moving AI from experimentation to commercialization. He explains why choosing the right business problem matters...

What gives a global enterprise the radar to see what's coming next? Mike Smeed explains why corporate venture capital is far more than an investment vehicle—it's the translation layer between the gears of startups and large enterprises, helping organizations identify disruptive technologies, navigate internal complexity, and accelerate transformation. Drawing on his experience leading Jaguar Land...

What if the smartest way for corporations to innovate isn't investing in startups, but becoming their customers? Wharton Professor Sergey Netessine argues that corporations create more strategic value by purchasing from startups than by investing in them. He explains why venture clienting is emerging as a more effective alternative to traditional corporate venture capital, how AI is making speed a...

How do you create the runway for innovation inside one of the world's largest airlines? Jorie Sax, Head of Airshop Innovation Lab at United Airlines, shares how her team explores emerging technologies years before they're ready for scale while balancing safety, trust, and operational excellence. From why the best innovations are often invisible to how AI can create more human experiences, and why...

What separates corporate-startup partnerships that transform industries from those that stall after a pilot? Geetha Dholakia shares how leading corporate venture teams create strategic value by connecting breakthrough startups with the right people, processes, and business priorities inside global enterprises. Drawing on her experience at NASA and TDK Ventures, she discusses the role of deep techn...

How do you transform a legacy industry without losing what made it successful in the first place? In this episode, Michelle Watson, Vice President of Research & Innovation at Midwest Dairy, shares how one of America's oldest industries is reinventing itself around changing consumer demands for protein, nutrition, convenience, and sustainability. She explains why dairy is experiencing renewed growt...

What role should government play in driving innovation? In this episode of VF Visionaries, Kathleen Coviello, Chief Economic Transformation Officer at the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA), explains how New Jersey is positioning itself as a venture enabler—bringing together startups, investors, corporations, universities, and policymakers to accelerate innovation and economic growt...

What does it take to build startups with the speed of a founder and the scale of a global enterprise? Shilpa Prasad shares how LG Nova is rethinking venture creation by combining corporate resources with a venture studio model designed to launch AI-native businesses. The conversation explores how emerging AI opportunities are identified, why founder talent often matters more than the initial idea,...

Buildings are responsible for a significant share of global energy consumption, yet one of the biggest opportunities to improve efficiency and reduce emissions often goes unnoticed: the building envelope. In this episode, Peyvand Melati explores how AI, drones, and thermal imaging are helping property owners, infrastructure leaders, and municipalities uncover hidden energy waste, identify critical...

Dan DeMeyere, Chief Product & Technology Officer at ThredUp, has spent more than a decade helping scale one of the world’s largest online resale marketplaces, growing from one of the company’s earliest engineers into the leader of product and technology strategy today. Dan operates at the intersection of AI, ecommerce, and marketplace logistics, with a focus on how emerging technologies are reshap...

In this episode, Anish Patel, chief investment and operating officer at Yamaha Motor Ventures shares how Yamaha is rethinking corporate venture capital as a core driver of long-term growth and innovation. Rather than treating CVC as a standalone function, Yamaha is building a more integrated approach—connecting venture investing with strategic partnerships and internal business priorities. Recorde...

A year ago, VentureFuel Founder & CEO Fred Schonenberg sat down with Kasey Cronquist, President of the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council and the North American Blueberry Council, to discuss the launch of the Blueberry Boost Accelerator — a first-of-its-kind program created in partnership with VentureFuel to spark innovation across the blueberry industry. We’re re-releasing this conversation to celeb...

Tinku Malayil Jose, Head of the Vertical Technology Office for HiTech at Quest Global, has more than 20 years of experience building complex products, from smart TVs and streaming platforms to automotive systems and IoT. Tinku operates at the intersection of silicon, software, and real-world application. We asked him to break down the shift from AI hype to reality, explaining why the future of AI...

Jesse Draper is the Founding Partner of Halogen Ventures, a Los Angeles–based VC firm investing in early-stage consumer and B2B startups led by female and co-ed teams. A fourth-generation venture capitalist and the first solo female GP in LA, Jesse has backed more than 100 companies, 6 of which are now valued at over a billion (unicorns), while building a platform focused on uncovering overlooked...

Charlie O’Donnell is one of the most influential figures in New York’s startup ecosystem. With more than two decades of experience spanning Union Square Ventures, First Round Capital, and then creating the first venture capital fund based in Brooklyn, Charlie has backed well-over 100 early-stage startups. In this all-Brooklyn episode, Charlie brings his uniquely candid and deeply informed perspect...

Prabagar Sankar, Senior Engineer at Intuitive, a leader in robotic-assisted healthcare innovation, shares a front-line perspective on how healthcare innovation actually makes it from lab to patient. We explore the critical role of concurrent engineering and early stakeholder alignment in bridging the gap between technical breakthroughs and real-world, regulated deployment. With experience spanning...

Katie Teuber, Director of Startup Engagement at Comcast NBCUniversal LIFT Labs, shares how to identify the right startup partners, pilot their innovative solutions, and most-importantly scale them across a large enterprise. From AI transformation to building true partnerships (not just vendor relationships), Katie shares how she bridges the gap between startup speed and enterprise complexity to co...

Raju Dandigam, Engineering Manager at Navan, the all-in-one travel, corporate card, and expense management platform built for modern enterprises shares what it takes to build high-impact products that scale. Raju has more than 14 years of experience spanning front-end engineering, full-stack development, DevOps, and team leadership. From leading the development of Navan’s rewards and personal trav...