In venture clienting your internal teams are your customers. Start with their challenges, not with startups, and balance a pull-driven approach with occasional pushes when a solution can unlock unnoticed opportunities. 
Inside BMW’s Venture Client Model: Alexandra Renner on Building the World’s First Venture Client Unit
Corporate Venturing Insider spotlights voices across corporate venture to surface practical ways corporates can support entrepreneurs. The corporate venture ecosystem is vast: in a recent episode, Valery Yakubovich outlined the full spectrum of corporate venturing units—ranging from corporate venture capital and accelerators to venture building, mentorship, business services, workspace, and events. While CVC dates back to the 1960s and accelerators to the early 2000s, venture clienting is a newer model. Founded in 2015 by BMW Startup Garage, it has since spread to other corporates across Europe. Unlike CVC, venture client units don’t invest directly in startups but instead connect them to corporate problems, creating a unique pathway for collaboration. At BMW, the venture client function at times works alongside BMW i Ventures, the company’s corporate venture capital arm.
Alexandra Renner joined BMW Startup Garage in 2018, three years after its founding, and today manages its program. In episode #113, Nicolas Sauvage sits down with Renner, a mechanical engineer–turned–venture client operator who has spent the past seven years helping BMW adopt external innovation at production scale in the world’s first venture client unit.
Pull Beating Push
BMW’s venture client journey began like many innovation efforts: enthusiastic scouting and a budget to seed pilots. But as Renner candidly shares, pushing startups onto teams rarely stuck. Engineers resisted when told, “we found a young startup that’s better than your approach.” The turning point came when the Garage inverted the model. Instead of leading with technology, the team began by working directly with business units to define precise, quantifiable problems that neither internal teams nor existing suppliers could solve. Only after those requirements were clear did scouting begin. Early technical checks helped filter noise before deep engagement, and pilots were scoped around the single most impactful use case.
Today, about 70% of engagements originate from business unit demand (pull) and 30% from strategic introductions (push). Push moments remain important to show teams what’s possible, but trust is earned on the pull side by solving the problems that teams themselves have defined.
How Success is Measured, not POCs but in purchase orders
Renner rejects the idea of a “successful POC” as the north star. For BMW Startup Garage, success is measured in two ways: follow-on purchase orders and conversion to long-term supplier. Because venture clienting is probabilistic, only around 20% of pilots convert. That makes scale crucial. Leaders must aim for 15–20 or more pilots annually, weighted toward low-friction, high-impact opportunities that can build early momentum. With too few attempts, a single year with zero conversions could risk the program’s survival.
Thus, BMW has also adapted its purchasing systems to avoid losing momentum on the pilots. The Garage created a startup-specific purchasing track that allows single-sourcing once a startup passes rigorous selection, enables pilot contracts where IP remains with the startup, and clarifies security and deployment needs upfront. Standardized NDAs and streamlined processes mean pilots can launch in weeks, not quarters, an essential advantage in fast-moving markets.
Resource model: small core, wide reach
Despite supporting more than 120 teams per year and managing about 50 pilots annually, the Garage itself runs lean, with six to seven core employees—many of them splitting roles between their home department and the Garage—and another five to six external partners handling scouting and documentation. This design ensures that insiders carry the relationships needed to surface problems and shepherd solutions, while external experts provide flexibility and capacity.
What to pilot—and what not to
Not every innovation belongs in a venture client funnel. BMW focuses on process improvements and internal tools—such as automation, analytics, and workflow software—that integrate quickly and deliver clear ROI. Product-adjacent capabilities are also strong fits, provided they don’t overlap with core technologies like powertrains where in-house development remains the strategy. Renner is pragmatic: sometimes M&A is the right path, especially for suppliers building new product lines. Venture clienting, in those cases, can serve as a proving ground.
Exclusivity: be first, not forever
Renner warns against the corporate instinct to demand exclusivity. Broad adoption often improves quality and reduces cost through scale. BMW has learned to use exclusivity surgically and for limited periods, such as with AirConsole’s in-car gaming. Being first created a brand-defining moment, but sustained advantage in core technology still requires internal investment.
Field notes for venture client leaders
Renner’s experience offers lessons for anyone building or relaunching a venture client unit. Start by defining the business unit’s pain points with precision; if the problem isn’t urgent, don’t waste time. Focus initial efforts on the highest-impact use case, then expand once purchase orders come through. Market successes internally with the same energy startups devote to customers, and surface requirements like cybersecurity and certifications early. Finally, design startup-friendly contracts and allocate budget with the funnel math in mind—at a 20% hit rate, scale matters.
“People business,” not process fiction
For Renner, venture clienting is first and foremost a people business. Success requires intimacy with problem owners, credibility with purchasing, and empathy for startups operating at existential speed. Renner’s own background—co-founding an AR startup and later working in BMW series development—makes her fluent in both startup urgency and corporate cadence. That dual perspective helps her align incentives, ease tensions, and move pilots toward adoption.
The CVC connection and timing reality
BMW i Ventures, the company’s independent CVC, occasionally invests in startups that succeed in the Garage, as with Embotech’s autonomous in-plant driving technology. But timing rarely aligns neatly: adoption may come years before fundraising, or vice versa. Venture clienting’s advantage lies in its flexibility. It allows corporates to engage when it’s operationally right, not just when investment cycles dictate.
The road ahead
Looking forward, Renner sees two possible futures. In one, venture clienting becomes so standardized that any engineer can engage startups directly, and the specialized unit fades away. In the other, the inherently human aspects—trust, judgment, and coordination across diverse teams—keep a central venture client team indispensable. For now, the latter feels more accurate. Process may enable, but people still deliver.
