Welcome to VentureFuel

VentureFuel helps global corporations unlock the power of innovation by partnering with startups and breakthrough technologies.

Corporations

Navigating Opportunities and Disruptions

The pace of change will only accelerate. This furious velocity is creating disruptions as well as seismic opportunities. We help the largest companies in the world stay ahead of what’s next and identify powerful new ways to capitalize on change.

We de-risk innovation and deliver tangible opportunities that have sustainable and scalable impact. Our Global Innovation Network (Seed/Angel Investors, VCs, Accelerators, University Labs, Futurists and Governments) and proprietary sourcing capabilities provide an advanced pipeline of relevant and unique solutions, vetted specifically for your business. We are 100% independent, do not take equity in the startups, and work as an objective extension of your team.

Innovation Drives Tangible Business Impact!

VentureFuel Client Results: Major CPG

18.7% Sales Lift

VentureFuel Client Results: Major Alcohol Brand

5x Purchase Intent Lift

VentureFuel Client Results: Major CPG

9.3% Brand Lift

VentureFuel Client Results: Major CPG

22.8% Engagement (4x industry avg)

VentureFuel Client Results: Major CPG

73% Lift in Brand Consideration

Investors & Startups

Access to Corporate Decision Makers

How do you navigate the corporate spaghetti to identify real decision makers, with real budgets, that want to activate rather than just play innovation tourism?

Access

Gain exposure to the decision makers to drive revenue through corporate partnerships. Our clients are the biggest in the world and are tackling challenges across all areas of their business. They turn to us, to find the best path to success. If your startup or investment/portfolio company can make a meaningful difference – we would love to hear from you.

Insight

We identify corporate trends and pain-points to help your investment strategy. We also can provide insights and best practices for partnering with large corporations to help you grow your business.

Do you know of a startup that could benefit from a corporate partnership?

Our corporate partners are always on the lookout for innovations that can help grow their business.

Tell Us About Them

Visionaries

The Elite Change-Agents of Innovation

Our invite-only networking group. These are the change-agents embracing new opportunities to drive outsized results for their companies. From CMOs to VCs, from Angels to the up-and-coming disrupters. They receive unprecedented, advanced access to the hottest emerging companies and pioneering technologies as well as exclusive programming all over the world with our Innovation Brew Series and special programming at Cannes, SXSW, CES, etc.

Meet the Visionaries

Amiah Sheppard, Visionary of the Year 2019

Amiah Sheppard
Director, Backstage LA
Backstage Capital

Investor Visionary of the Year, 2019

Jaime Fabricant, Visionary of the Year 2019

Jaime Fabricant, Director, Store of The Future Innovation & Execution
PepsiCo, Inc.
Corporate Visionary of the Year, 2019

Resources

Tools to Help You Stay Ahead

We are honored to speak at many industry conferences, write thought leadership pieces on emerging technologies and share insights from our Innovation Safaris around the world. Here are a few pieces to help our clients stay ahead of disruptions and discover new opportunities.

What Brands Can Learn From Braces

<p>The direct-to-consumer model, from Dollar Shave Club to Casper to Warby Parker, has disrupted incumbents by removing the middle man, building modern brands, and delivering on specific consumer needs. These vertically integrated businesses own the entire consumer journey and, along with it, valuable data to enable hyper-personalized experiences. But surely, you can’t disrupt the recommendation of a dentist? I was considering getting ClearCorrect invisible aligners, recommended through my dentist, when I was flipped by new-comer, Candid. Here is the story of how Candid, a two-year old company, beat out a 13-year old brand trusted by dental professionals around the world and a road-map of actionable practices every brand can apply. </p>

The direct-to-consumer model, from Dollar Shave Club to Casper to Warby Parker, has disrupted incumbents by removing the middle man, building modern brands, and delivering on specific consumer needs. These vertically integrated businesses own the entire consumer journey and, along with it, valuable data to enable hyper-personalized experiences. But surely, you can’t disrupt the recommendation of a dentist? I was considering getting ClearCorrect invisible aligners, recommended through my... Read More

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Published On: 2019-04-04

Complacency to Hypergrowth

In our article, <a href='/complacency-to-irrelevance'>Complacency to Irrelevance</a>, we discussed 5 warning signs predicting your company’s impending disruption. The article had a doomsday vibe and with good reason, given all the recent store closings (4,300 announced in the first 2 months of 2019 from Gap, Victoria’s Secret and even Tesla) as well as the $15bn write down by Kraft Heinz. Without question, innovation can disrupt, but it also can differentiate and spark hypergrowth. In fact, since 2006, the companies perceived to be most innovative grew shareholder value by 237%, outperforming the S&P 500 by 2x. We studied these companies as well as our own clients to identify 5 actionable ways that you can inject innovation into your organization to avoid disruption and jump start your growth.

In our article, Complacency to Irrelevance, we discussed 5 warning signs predicting your company’s impending disruption. The article had a doomsday vibe and with good reason, given all the recent store closings (4,300 announced in the first 2 months of 2019 from Gap, Victoria’s Secret and even Tesla) as well as the $15bn write down by Kraft Heinz. Without question, innovation can disrupt, but it also can differentiate and spark hypergrowth. In fact, since 2006, the companies perceived to... Read More

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Published On: 2019-03-25

Complacency to Irrelevance

You’re hitting your quarterly objectives. Not growing spectacularly, but your investors, the board, The Street and your consumers seem to think you are doing just fine. So, you stay the course. Double down on the status quo. Welcome to the first sign of your company’s future irrelevance. We studied companies that have been erased from the S&P 500 since 2000 in order to identify 5 warning signs that signal the precipitous drop from corporate complacency to complete irrelevance. First, some stats:

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Published On: 2019-03-18

Luxury Experiences and Invisible Innovation

Luxury is no longer defined by price, but rather by excellence in experience – as I discovered at Columbia Business School’s annual Retail & Luxury Goods Conference last week in New York City. This evolution is being led by advances within the luxury wellness, retail, and beauty sectors. Here are a few of the conference’s top takeaways and innovations: ‘Invisible Innovation’ in Retail At VentureFuel, we stress the importance of avoiding ‘innovation for innovation’s sake.’ Rather than starting with innovation, brands should begin with their customers’ ideal shopping experiences and reverse engineer what is possible from a tech perspective. This is especially important for luxury brands, where technology can feel inauthentic to their classic elegance. Here are a few luxury brands that are reimagining the shopping experience, with technology as an invisible partner to heighten their customer experiences:

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Published On: 2019-02-20

Marshmello, My 13 Year Old Brother and Fortnite Teach Brands What's Next

Marshmello made headlines last weekend with a special live performance inside Fortnite that drew 10 million concurrent views plus millions more via streaming on YouTube, Twitch and encore performances. The event showed the potential of tapping into emerging platforms to connect with new consumers and the potential of experiential story-telling to forge new sales channels. I asked my 13-year-old brother to give us the inside scoop on why this was “lit” and outlined 5 take-aways brands can apply to their innovation strategies. I asked my 13 year-old brother, Leon, what he thought of the experience and his feedback points to Epic Games’ deep understanding of and trust earned from their fans – enviable characteristics for any brand marketer:

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Published On: 2019-02-05

Innovation Brew

Events To Showcase What is Next, Now

Our Innovation Brew series of events around the world enable leading investors, founders and corporate innovators to network and trailblaze meaningful partnerships. We bring together the best of what is next at tentpole events like CES, SxSw, Cannes as well as our stand-alone conferences.

Innovation Brew NY

AW TechX

Sx Innovation Brew

The Fuelers

Our Team is Your Team

VentureFuel’s secret sauce is our team. We are able to H A C K innovation because we are Helpful, Attuned, Curious and Kick-Ass. Our elite corporate innovators are an extension of your team and 100% dedicated to delivering sustainable and scalable impact for your business.

Fred Schonenberg

Founder

For over 15 years, Fred has introduced new formats, first-to-market opportunities and is known for his award-winning creative solutions and ability to forge strategic partnerships to grow revenue. He is a frequent speaker at industry events such as SXSW, Ad Tech, Advertising Week, IAB, OMMA and thought-leader published in everything from The Huffington Post, Business Insider, Media Post, The Drum, Tech.co, Creator Magazine, Advertising Week, Event Marketer, etc.

Contact Us

We Are Always Here To Help Your Business

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Contact Info

Where to Find Us

205 Hudson Street, FL7
New York, NY 10013

3900 W Alameda Ave, FL11
Burbank, CA 91505

Email Us At

info@venturefuel.net