Description

On this episode of Scouting for Growth, Sabine VdL talks to Scott Gunther, General Partner at Firemark Ventures, the corporate venture capital fund of IAG, based in Australia. Scott has been at IAG for over 10 years and has been running the Venture fund for over 6 years. With strong expertise in marketing customer experience, among others, Scott wanted to bring something new to the group by opening his doors to the external world to ensure its resilience and relevance for the very long term. During this podcast, the pair discusses Scott’s path to CVC Land, and what IAG Firemark Ventures does to remain on top of its game. They also cover the topic of talent, talent, and talent, and what remote working means for Scott and his team. Finally, they discuss best practices for startups, scaleups, corporate innovators, and investors wanting to build their corporate venturing arm.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Everything we hear, see, and experience in the startup world today is not new; it happened way back during the dot-com boom. That’s where I started, and I couldn’t ask for a more impressive grounding, working for one of Australia’s largest companies and trying to set something up – 90-day sprints to try to launch businesses, products, and services, and thinking about the World Wide Web before it became the World Wide Web, eCommerce, and the like. At the time, as a young man coming out of university, I probably had no idea what the future held for me.
• A fundamental part of why we do what we do is to bring the outside world into our own enterprise and transform how we deliver insurance. That means every day is different because you’re starting to look at global macro trends, different markets to see what’s working, and different parts of the customer journey. We’re working today with business-to-consumer businesses, Agritech, or AI businesses; there are no two days that are the same. The more that you can experience, whether it’s industry or role, function or geography, it really sets you apart from the rest to have this flexibility. Successful CVCs across the world are made up of teams that have really diverse skill sets.
• CVCs succeed or fail depending on their recognition that they’re part of something bigger and that the corporate HQ sets the primary direction and purpose. At IAG our purpose is to make your world a safer place, we’re there to insure customers, their assets, businesses, livelihoods, and a whole heap of other different risks. But also, if an incident or a claim happened, to be there to help them to recover. Working for an organization that is very purpose-driven gives you something to work backward from and something to aim for, like the North Star. Any CVC has to make sure that they’re not just a little adjunct of a corporation; they’re a really integral part of the business, and as a consequence, you really have to know your business inside and out.
• When we put our investment thesis together, we had to get razor-sharp on the things that you can and can’t do. You might want to invest in every market, look at startups at different stages, and invest different amounts.  When you first get going you need to give yourself guardrails, like not investing in series c stage scaleups for instance. For instance, our CVC does not lead investment rounds. We do not invest in certain markets. As we evolve, we will adjust, refine, and expand our investment thesis, which will improve over time.

BEST MOMENTS

‘I’ve always been a believer in breadth and depth of experiences, and my journey took me to different parts of the business world, but also into very relevant adjacent verticals too.’
‘Insurance is something you fall into, and if you fall into it, you stay there.’
‘Those CVCs who are really intrinsically in tune with understanding changing business models, but also the relationships across businesses and our industry, are the ones that are probably more successful.’
‘Innovation is something that anyone in an organization should aspire to do. If you’re not moving forward, you’re standing still, and if you’re standing still, realistically, you’re going backward.’

ABOUT THE GUEST
Scott Gunther is a corporate venture capitalist (CVC) & startup enthusiast. Scott partners with business leaders every day to help them identify and understand strategic opportunities to achieve digital transformation and customer growth. With years of experience designing future state digital-first businesses and delivering transformation programs across multiple industries, Scott possesses the unique skills and experience of both strategy and execution - a differentiator at the board table for both blue chip and emerging businesses.

ABOUT THE HOST

Sabine VanderLinden is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur and the CEO of Alchemy Crew Ventures. She leads venture-client labs that help Fortune 500 companies adopt and scale cutting-edge technologies from global tech ventures. A builder of accelerators, investor, and co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, Sabine is known for asking the uncomfortable questions—about AI governance, risk, and trust. On Scouting for Growth, she decodes how real growth happens—where capital, collaboration, and courage meet.

If this episode sparked your thinking, follow Sabine VanderLinden on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram for more insights.

And if you’re interested in sponsoring the podcast, reach out to the team at hello@alchemycrew.ventures