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Investors should be patient in supporting a startup's long-term growth journey but impatient in responding to failure, allowing startups to quickly learn and adapt.
CVC should focus on helping a startup be successful because the more successful the startup is, the more the corporate will learn and the greater the appreciation of shareholder value.
A strong reputation is essential for CVCs, built through consistent, long-term support and engagement with portfolio companies. Entrepreneurs should prioritize CVCs with stable financial backing and leadership to ensure reliable support. 
Global Product Partnerships & Innovation Director
bp pulse
To Sit or Not to Sit with Sophie Dingreville of bp pulse Interviewed by Nicolas Sauvage on October 28th, 2024 Introduction: A Career Built on Impact Nicolas Sauvage, host of Corporate Venturing Inisder, sat down with Sophie Dingreville in October. Dingreville, bp pulse's global product partnerships & innovation director, has a mission that goes beyond profit—it’s about creating meaningful, sustainable change. With an impressive background in mathematics, engineering, entrepreneurship, and finance, Dingreville has carved a path focused on high-impact roles in corporate venture capital (CVC), climate tech, and startups, all directed toward accelerating the energy transition. At bp pulse, her
Interviewed by Nicolas Sauvage on October 28th, 2024
Nicolas Sauvage, host of Corporate Venturing Inisder, sat down with Sophie Dingreville in October. Dingreville, bp pulse's global product partnerships & innovation director, has a mission that goes beyond profit—it’s about creating meaningful, sustainable change. With an impressive background in mathematics, engineering, entrepreneurship, and finance, Dingreville has carved a path focused on high-impact roles in corporate venture capital (CVC), climate tech, and startups, all directed toward accelerating the energy transition. At bp pulse, her work spans building collaborations with startups in EV charging and related sectors, driving decarbonization, and facilitating acquisitions and strategic investments. Through her work, Dingreville aims to leverage partnerships that enable bp pulse to stay at the forefront of sustainable mobility.
Dingreville’s personal and professional drive to make an impact has defined each stage of her journey. “Really, the driver for me has always been to make an impact for people and for the planet,” she says. This guiding purpose shapes her approach to corporate venture capital, pushing her to seek out and support ventures with transformative potential.
Dingreville’s journey began with a passion for digital signal processing, neural networks, and AI research, which she pursued as a young academic in the mid-1990s. However, her growing impatience with the slow pace of academia and the time it took to see tangible results drove her to seek a different path. “I have the feeling that I'm really working on fantastic opportunities to classify images, but it will take seven years before this can be actually implemented,” she explains.
This desire for immediate impact propelled her into the startup world, where she felt she could work more directly with innovation and see the effects of her work more swiftly. She joined a digital television startup in its infancy, moving from theory to fast-paced execution. This was a foundational experience that would later influence her strategic and results-oriented approach in CVC.
Dingreville’s first startup experience was anything but conventional. Joining the company on day one, she witnessed its meteoric rise—from one employee to 1,000 and from zero to one million subscribers in under four years. This environment required adaptability and quick problem-solving, and Dingreville learned the invaluable skill of resilience.
“It was super-fast growth,” she reflects. “Implementation and fine-tuning and being creative in front of roadblocks. This is what makes the difference.” The rapid scale-up offered a crash course in meticulous planning and adaptability, qualities that would later become central to her success in evaluating startups and investments for bp pulse.
One particularly memorable day highlighted the unpredictability of the startup world. On the day of their highly anticipated launch event, they discovered that the satellite they relied on would not be in its proper orbit position. Rather than postponing, the team worked with the satellite operator to pause the satellite's journey long enough to complete their demonstration for an audience of journalists. This story showcases Dingreville’s early exposure to the resourcefulness and creativity required to overcome obstacles—a skill that has remained relevant in her role managing complex partnerships at bp pulse.
A pivotal factor in the startup's success was its ability to secure exclusive content, including national television channels unavailable on other platforms. This competitive advantage was the result of strategic negotiation, positioning the company uniquely within the market and contributing significantly to its rapid subscriber growth.
This experience solidified Dingreville’s belief in identifying unique assets that can set a venture apart—whether content, technology, or market positioning. This principle now informs her approach to strategic partnerships as she seeks startups with distinctive offerings that align well with bp pulse’s decarbonization goals.
Dingreville’s experience with early, risky investments at the startup also provided insight into the J-curve effect in startup valuation, where initial investments are necessary for growth despite an initial dip in financial returns. Her team made high-priced film acquisitions, even for movies like James Bond, before the subscriber base was established. This approach exemplified her willingness to take calculated risks based on a long-term vision—a quality that serves her well today in evaluating startups for acquisition or investment at bp pulse.
Transitioning from startups to corporate venture capital, Dingreville brought with her these lessons on resilience, strategic differentiation, and long-term vision. At bp pulse, she now applies these insights to drive collaborations that align with bp’s larger mission of decarbonization. Her work involves identifying and investing in startups that promise to impact the EV charging ecosystem and reduce carbon emissions in mobility.
Dingreville emphasizes that for CVC to be effective, corporate venture programs must go beyond “tourism” investments that chase market trends without sustained commitment. Instead, she argues, successful CVCs serve as true partners, bringing operational resources, market expertise, and long-term commitment. “It's really about being thoughtful about what are the assets of the corporate that, as a CVC, I can bring to the startup,” Dingreville shares.
In her role, Dingreville emphasizes alignment between bp pulse, the startups they partner with, and bp’s core business. For partnerships to succeed, she explains, they must be founded on shared goals and open communication. “The more the startup is successful, the more I'm going to learn, and the more I’m going to have an appreciation of the value to the shareholder,” she notes.
At bp pulse, Dingreville has applied this philosophy by fostering an environment where partnerships drive innovation and fuel mutual growth. Her approach to CVC emphasizes learning and adapting, creating a framework where both the startup and bp can thrive and drive the adoption of EV technology.
When asked about the role of CVCs on startup boards, Dingreville underscores the importance of constructive conflict and preparation for CVC representatives. “To be on the board or not to be on the board—what is the strategy of the CVC? Is it purely strategic? Is it purely financial? Is it both strategic and financial?” she asks. In her experience, a CVC board presence can add value by providing insights or strategic direction, but board membership should be carefully considered based on alignment with the startup’s needs.
Dingreville stresses that CVC board members must bring more than just corporate interests to the table. They need to focus on what best serves the startup, and open dialogue, even when it involves challenging perspectives, is essential to effective decision-making. As a young board member early in her career, she learned to balance humility with the confidence to share her technical expertise—a lesson that has shaped her approach to governance in CVC.
Dingreville’s journey from academia to startups, and ultimately to CVC, provides a unique perspective on corporate venture capital’s role in sustainable innovation. Her focus on resilience, strategic differentiation, and alignment between corporate and startup goals underlines a commitment to building partnerships that drive real change.
Her experiences serve as a guide for those in the CVC space or entrepreneurs seeking corporate partnerships. Dingreville’s insights remind us that successful CVC relationships require more than a financial investment—they demand a shared commitment to impact, resilience, and innovation that benefits both the startup and the corporate parent.
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