The School of Innovation

Yaniv Corem

Most innovation content is junk food: flashy, addictive, and nutritionally empty. The School of Innovation is the opposite. Think less TED Talk, more operating manual. This podcast dissects how innovation actually works — inside accelerators, corporates, venture studios, and research labs — not how keynote speakers pretend it works. Because the uncomfortable truth is that most “innovation programs” aren’t engines of growth. They’re theater. Budget justification wrapped in sticky notes. Each episode features founders, operators, investors, and ecosystem builders who have the scars to prove they’ve done the work. Together, they unpack why good ideas die, why incentives matter more than vision, and why culture eats strategy, then hires consultants to explain the meal. You’ll hear conversations about: • Why most accelerators optimize for demo day, not outcomes • Why corporate innovation teams often exist to protect the core, not disrupt it • Why translating research into startups is less about technology and more about power, timing, and narrative • Why founders don’t need more inspiration — they need better systems This show is for people who build, fund, or manage innovation and are tired of motivational posters masquerading as strategy. Because innovation isn’t magic. It’s capital allocation, incentives, and execution — with a thin layer of storytelling on top. If you want inspiration, there are thousands of podcasts for that. If you want to understand how innovation really works, welcome to The School of Innovation.

  1. 05/10/2021

    Finding Success with Startup-Corporate Experiments

    Running a proof of concept between a startup and a corporate is notoriously hard. What does it take to make these experiments actually work? Jenny Wu and Roland Osborne from 500 Startups share their playbook for designing, running, and scaling successful startup-corporate POCs. About Jenny Wu & Roland Osborne Jenny Wu and Roland Osborne work at 500 Startups, one of the world's most active global venture capital firms and startup accelerators, with over 35 batch programs and a portfolio spanning more than 75 countries. What We Cover What makes startup-corporate experiments succeed or failHow to design a POC with clear success criteriaThe role of internal champions in driving experiments forwardHow 500 Startups supports startups in navigating corporate partnershipsTips for startups on managing expectations with large organizations Timestamps 00:00 – Introduction 01:00 – Jenny and Roland introduce 500 Startups 05:00 – Why startup-corporate experiments fail 10:00 – Designing a great POC: success criteria and structure 18:00 – The internal champion: why they matter 25:00 – Advice for startups entering corporate pilots Key Takeaways Define success before you start. The most common reason POCs fail is that success criteria were never clearly agreed upon by either side at the outset.Find your internal champion. Every successful corporate-startup experiment has an internal champion who is personally invested in its success and can navigate internal politics.Time kills deals — and experiments. Startups operate on a different timeline than corporates. Explicit milestones and review dates keep experiments from dying a slow death of inaction. Resources & Links Mentioned 500 Startups: 500.co Where to Find Jenny Wu & Roland Osborne Jenny Wu on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jennywu Roland Osborne on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/rolandosborne Where to Find Yaniv Corem Link in bio: sleek.bio/yanivcorem LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/yanivcorem Subscribe & Follow Subscribe to The School of Innovation on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Have a guest recommendation? Email hello@startupsystem.io

    Finding Success with Startup-Corporate Experiments
  2. 05/03/2021

    Eat Sleep Innovate

    Why is innovation so natural when we’re kids — and so unnatural inside large organizations? That’s the central question Scott Anthony set out to answer in Eat Sleep Innovate. Scott breaks down what an innovation culture actually is, why habits matter more than beliefs, and how companies like DBS Bank and Singtel have built cultures where curious, collaborative behavior happens naturally. About Scott Anthony Scott Anthony is a Senior Partner at Innosight, the growth strategy firm co-founded by Clayton Christensen, and co-author of Eat Sleep Innovate. Based in Singapore since 2010, he has spent two decades helping global companies navigate disruptive change. What We Cover Edgar Schein’s three levels of culture — and why the waterline is where change happensWhy stated values have zero relationship with actual behaviorThe five innovation behaviors: curious, customer-obsessed, collaborative, adept in ambiguity, empoweredDBS Bank vs. Singtel: two different paths to culture changeThe intelligent failure framework and FAIL = First Attempt in Learning Timestamps (00:00) Introduction — Scott Anthony and Innosight (10:00) Edgar Schein’s three levels of culture (13:00) Stated values vs. actual behavior (15:30) DBS Bank vs. Singtel: two paths to culture change (26:00) BEANS: behavioral enablers, artifacts, nudges, systems (43:00) Intelligent failure: celebrating learning, not just winning Key Takeaways Culture is what people actually do. Stated values have near-zero correlation with real behavior. Measure behavior — not intent.Change habits, not beliefs. It’s easier to act your way into new thinking than to think your way into new acting.Intelligent failure is different from any failure. Be intentional about what you want to learn before you experiment. Celebrate the learning. Resources & Links Mentioned Eat Sleep Innovate by Scott Anthony — on AmazonCompanion site: eatsleepinnovate.com (101 BEANs, free tools)Innosight: innosight.com Where to Find Scott Anthony LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/scottdanthony Website: innosight.com Where to Find Yaniv Corem Link in bio: sleek.bio/yanivcorem LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/yanivcorem Subscribe & Follow Subscribe to The School of Innovation on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Have a guest recommendation? Email hello@startupsystem.io

    Eat Sleep Innovate
  3. 12/31/2020

    2020 year in review...and what happens next?

    2020 was a lot of things. For Yaniv, it was the year he stopped moving long enough to actually notice what he'd been missing — and the year he built something new from scratch. In this unedited solo episode, he shares three things COVID taught him, what it really takes to run a weekly podcast, and where the School of Innovation is headed in 2021. What We Cover Three things COVID taught Yaniv — about stillness, connection, and familyWhy boredom is a muscle worth training (even if he never practiced what he preached)How solitude made people more reachable — and why Yaniv leaned into thatThe gut-punch realization: not knowing his own kids as well as he thoughtWhat it actually takes to run a weekly interview podcast — and what nobody warns you aboutConsistency as a superpower and kryptoniteThe 5 most popular episodes of Season 1Why the innovation conversation is broken — and who Yaniv really wants to talk toWhat's changing in Season 2: fewer interviews, more conversations, a full digital school Timestamps (00:00) A different kind of episode — no music, no guest, no edits (01:00) Three things COVID taught Yaniv (02:28) Lesson 1: Permission to stop and be bored (03:30) Lesson 2: Solitude made people more accessible (04:25) Lesson 3: Rediscovering family — and the punch-to-the-stomach moment (06:11) Why 2020 was the year of the pivot — from consulting to podcasting (08:19) What he learned from running the podcast: it's hard, consistency is harder (10:35) The good side: people are more open than you think (12:36) Being a great interviewer is its own skill — and Yaniv's honest self-assessment (14:37) The 5 most popular episodes of Season 1 (20:00) What's next: the School of Innovation goes digital (21:53) The real pivot — from innovation professionals to everyday innovators (25:18) Closing quote: Robert A. Heinlein on why specialization is for insects The 5 Most Popular Episodes of Season 1 My Journey from Venture Architect to Multicultural Innovator — Christine Wang (Ep. 27)The Entrepreneurial Scientist — Christian Tidona, hosted by Adrian Rubstein (Ep. 21)Culture, PropTech and New Ventures — Anthony Lu (Ep. 4)Navigating the In-Between: Ethnography and Innovation — Natalia Lora (Ep. 34)Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing — Marius Orsache, Metabeta (Ep. 28) Key Takeaways Stillness isn't wasted time — it's a muscle. Workaholics need permission to stop. COVID forced it. Most of us needed it.The innovation conversation is a closed circuit. Innovators talking to innovators gets old fast. The more interesting conversation is with people who don't have "innovation" in their title — but are building and improving things anyway.The best innovators are generalists. As Heinlein put it: "Specialization is for insects." The School of Innovation is built for the rest of us. Where to Find Yaniv Corem Link in bio: sleek.bio/yanivcorem LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/yanivcorem Subscribe & Follow Subscribe to The School of Innovation on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Have a guest recommendation? Email hello@startupsystems.io

    2020 year in review...and what happens next?
  4. 12/21/2020

    A Minimum Viable Experiment

    When COVID-19 hit New York City in March 2020, Marcel Botha and a small consortium built a low-cost ventilator — SpiraWave — in just 30 days, shipping 3,000 units to the city. Marcel and Yaniv talk about compressing 18 months of product development into one month, and the philosophy behind building products that are technically bold and commercially viable. About Marcel Botha Marcel Botha is an entrepreneur, engineer, architect, and investor. Through his firm 10X Beta, he has helped medical professionals develop and commercialize products ranging from electronic stethoscopes to surgical instruments. He holds a master’s from MIT’s Media Lab. What We Cover Marcel’s path from architecture in Cape Town to MIT’s Media LabThe product development philosophy behind 10X BetaHow Marcel selects which ideas to pursue — and which to pass onBuilding a ventilator in 30 days during COVIDWhy if you can’t ship at scale, your contribution doesn’t count Timestamps (00:00) The satellite phone call that changed everything (03:00) From Cape Town to MIT (14:00) Idea selection at 10X Beta (18:00) Validose: an intranasal drug delivery device (23:00) The SpiraWave ventilator project (33:00) Shipping 3,000 units: why scale matters Key Takeaways Overnight success takes 10–15 years. SpiraWave was built in 30 days because the team had decades of shared experience.If you can’t ship at scale, your contribution doesn’t matter. Delivering 3,000 units is the actual achievement.Build wrappers, not replacements. Validose wraps existing drug packaging — that’s how you bypass IP barriers and reach market faster. Resources & Links Mentioned 10X BetaSpiraWave / SpiroDevicesNew Lab Where to Find Marcel Botha Email: marcel@10xbeta.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/marcelbotha Where to Find Yaniv Corem Link in bio: sleek.bio/yanivcorem LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/yanivcorem Subscribe & Follow Subscribe to The School of Innovation on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Have a guest recommendation? Email hello@startupsystem.io

    A Minimum Viable Experiment
  5. 12/14/2020

    Accelerating Innovation to Feed the World

    In 2020, the UN World Food Programme won the Nobel Peace Prize — and its Innovation Accelerator was named by Fast Company as the best workplace for innovators. Yaniv speaks with Hila Cohen about how the WFP accelerator finds, funds, and scales innovations to fight global hunger across 88 countries. About Hila Cohen Hila Cohen is Head of Business Development and Chief of Staff at the WFP Innovation Accelerator. She joined WFP in 2012 and has been with the accelerator since 2015. Before WFP, she was a corporate lawyer in Tel Aviv. She holds an MBA from SDA Bocconi and a law degree from the University of Haifa. What We Cover How the accelerator acts as a “translator” between startups and humanitarian operationsHow innovations are matched to country offices before bootcamps beginWhat happens during a 5-day innovation bootcampCase studies: H2Grow (hydroponics) and Building Blocks (blockchain cash transfers)How impact is measured differently at each stage Timestamps (01:00) Introduction and Hila’s background (02:30) What is the WFP Innovation Accelerator? (06:30) The accelerator as a “translator” (18:00) Matching startups to country offices (28:00) H2Grow: hydroponics in refugee camps (32:00) Building Blocks: blockchain for 400,000 refugees Key Takeaways Match before you invest. Falling in love with a startup means nothing if no country office needs what they’re building.Existing tech, applied well, beats new tech applied poorly. Both H2Grow and Building Blocks used established technologies in new contexts.Good enough at scale beats perfect in a lab. A $3,000 locally-built hydroponics system that replicates beats a $40,000 container that can’t. Resources & Links Mentioned WFP Innovation AcceleratorApply to WFP Innovation Programs Where to Find Hila Cohen Email: hila.cohen@wfp.org LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/hilacohen Where to Find Yaniv Corem Link in bio: sleek.bio/yanivcorem LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/yanivcorem Subscribe & Follow Subscribe to The School of Innovation on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Have a guest recommendation? Email hello@startupsystem.io

    Accelerating Innovation to Feed the World
  6. 12/07/2020

    Innovation at Bayer

    Julia Hitzbleck is an innovation expert at Bayer, one of the world's largest pharmaceutical and life sciences companies. She works at the intersection of internal innovation programs and open innovation, including her work at Lifehub Berlin — Bayer's co-working and incubation space designed to connect the corporate with the startup world. What We Cover What Julia's role at Bayer involves and how she got thereWhy large companies struggle to innovate internally — and what to do about itHow the Catalyst Entrepreneurship Program develops entrepreneurial mindset inside BayerWhat Lifehub Berlin is and how it connects corporate teams with the startup ecosystemWhat makes a successful corporate-startup collaborationHow to measure culture change inside a large organization Timestamps 00:00 – Introduction 01:00 – Julia's path to innovation at Bayer 04:00 – What open innovation means inside a 100,000-person company 07:30 – The Catalyst Entrepreneurship Program: building intrapreneurs 12:00 – Lifehub Berlin: co-working, incubation, and startup connection 17:00 – What makes corporate-startup collaborations succeed or fail 22:00 – Measuring culture change and what success looks like Key Takeaways Culture change at scale requires a portfolio of programs. Bayer combines structured entrepreneurship training, physical spaces like Lifehub Berlin, and open innovation partnerships to create multiple entry points for the innovation mindset.The best corporate-startup collaborations start with a clear problem. When a corporate comes to a startup with a vague mandate to "innovate," it rarely works. When they come with a specific, unsolved problem, both sides have something real to work on.Intrapreneurs need protection, not just support. Training and permission aren't enough if incentives still punish failure. Creating genuine space for experimentation means protecting people from the consequences of trying something that doesn't work. Resources & Links Mentioned Bayer: bayer.com Lifehub Berlin: lifehub-berlin.de Where to Find Julia Hitzbleck LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/juliahitzbleck Where to Find Yaniv Corem Link in bio: sleek.bio/yanivcorem LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/yanivcorem Subscribe & Follow If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to The School of Innovation so you never miss a conversation. Listen on Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/5VOBVkueP7zg5ErNYtrmPL Listen on Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-school-of-innovation/id1498420449 Have a guest recommendation or want to be on the show? Email hello@startupsystem.io For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email sponsor@startupsystems.io

    Innovation at Bayer
  7. 12/01/2020

    Why Corporate-Startup Relationships in Southeast Asia Are Different

    Joyce Tay is the Chief Strategy Officer at StartupX, a Singapore-based innovation, venture, and startup enabler. Joyce has been in and around Southeast Asia's startup ecosystem for over a decade — as a founder, as program head for Block71 in Singapore and Indonesia, as director of Startup Weekend Singapore, and as a builder of some of the region's most active startup communities, including HyperX, the world's first sustainability hack accelerator. She co-founded StartupX in 2018. About This Episode Joyce Tay, co-founder of StartupX in Singapore, shares what makes corporate-startup relationships different in Southeast Asia — from powerful conglomerates to community-first ecosystems — and how to make them actually work. What We Cover The most misunderstood thing about corporate-startup relationshipsWhy managing attitudes and expectations comes before everything elseHow StartupX structures its corporate engagement processHow conglomerates in Southeast Asia impact startup ecosystemsStartupX's unfair advantage: community first, quality delivery always Timestamps (00:00) Introduction (01:50) Joyce's journey: founder, Block71, StartupX (09:30) The Singapore startup ecosystem: tight, global-first (13:00) The biggest misunderstanding about corporate-startup relationships (22:00) How StartupX structures a corporate-startup engagement (33:00) How conglomerates in Southeast Asia impact startups Key Takeaways Challenge the "why" before designing the program — vanity vs. genuine challenge changes everything.Corporate-startup relationships are a marathon: mindset change, quick wins, and long-term trust take time.Community-first is StartupX's real edge — insight, credibility, and access no corporate-backed operator can buy. Resources & Links Mentioned StartupX: thestartupx.comBlock71: block71.co Where to Find Joyce Tay LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joycetayhj/ Where to Find Yaniv Corem Link in bio: sleek.bio/yanivcorem LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/yanivcorem Subscribe & Follow If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to The School of Innovation so you never miss a conversation. Listen on Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/5VOBVkueP7zg5ErNYtrmPL Listen on Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-school-of-innovation/id1498420449 Have a guest recommendation or want to be on the show? Email hello@startupsystem.io For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email sponsor@startupsystems.io

    Why Corporate-Startup Relationships in Southeast Asia Are Different
  8. 11/23/2020

    Future Skills Toolbox

    Tom Chi — founding member of Google X and founder of At One Ventures — shares why 95% of ideas don't work as described, how rapid prototyping beats months of debate, and what skills will matter most in a world shaped by AI and automation: the Four C's. About Tom Chi Tom Chi is a founding member of Google X, where he worked on Glass, self-driving cars, Project Loon, and the glucose-sensing contact lens. A named inventor on 75 patents, he is also founder of At One Ventures, a deep tech fund investing in companies that make humanity a net positive to nature. What We Cover Why Tom launched At One Ventures and what "at one with nature" means in practiceHow rapid prototyping outperforms discussion-based decision-makingWhat corporates get wrong about experimentationThe Four C's: creativity, compassion, community, and critical thinkingRadical Harmony and the future of the industrial economy Timestamps 00:00 – Every experiment can be small, but ambition shouldn't be 02:06 – Deep tech investing and rebooting polluting industries 05:07 – Google X: Glass, self-driving cars, Project Loon 08:39 – Prototype thinking: design science in practice 12:56 – Why corporates resist experimentation 26:37 – The Future Skills Toolbox and the Four C's Key Takeaways 95% of ideas don't work — so stop debating and start making. Prototype thinking skips the argument phase because three hours of building reveals more than two months of discussion.The Four C's are the future of human work. Creativity, compassion, community, and critical thinking are the skills robots won't master soon — they're the foundation of most future jobs.Culture is observable behavior, not a slogan. To change culture, identify specific behaviors you want more or less of, then run experiments to shift them. Resources & Links Mentioned At One Ventures: atoneventures.comTom Chi's website: tomchi.com Where to Find Tom Chi Website: tomchi.com At One Ventures: atoneventures.com Where to Find Yaniv Corem Link in bio: sleek.bio/yanivcorem LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/yanivcorem Subscribe & Follow If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to The School of Innovation so you never miss a conversation. Listen on Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/5VOBVkueP7zg5ErNYtrmPL Listen on Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-school-of-innovation/id1498420449 Have a guest recommendation or want to be on the show? Email hello@startupsystem.io For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email sponsor@startupsystems.io

    Future Skills Toolbox

Ratings & Reviews

4.8
out of 5
5 Ratings

About

Most innovation content is junk food: flashy, addictive, and nutritionally empty. The School of Innovation is the opposite. Think less TED Talk, more operating manual. This podcast dissects how innovation actually works — inside accelerators, corporates, venture studios, and research labs — not how keynote speakers pretend it works. Because the uncomfortable truth is that most “innovation programs” aren’t engines of growth. They’re theater. Budget justification wrapped in sticky notes. Each episode features founders, operators, investors, and ecosystem builders who have the scars to prove they’ve done the work. Together, they unpack why good ideas die, why incentives matter more than vision, and why culture eats strategy, then hires consultants to explain the meal. You’ll hear conversations about: • Why most accelerators optimize for demo day, not outcomes • Why corporate innovation teams often exist to protect the core, not disrupt it • Why translating research into startups is less about technology and more about power, timing, and narrative • Why founders don’t need more inspiration — they need better systems This show is for people who build, fund, or manage innovation and are tired of motivational posters masquerading as strategy. Because innovation isn’t magic. It’s capital allocation, incentives, and execution — with a thin layer of storytelling on top. If you want inspiration, there are thousands of podcasts for that. If you want to understand how innovation really works, welcome to The School of Innovation.