The problem with no problems.

Why problem in-flow is the biggest challenge for venture client units — and what to do about it

Every business dreams of having no problems. But for a venture client unit, that’s the nightmare.

Your whole purpose is to solve business problems with startup innovations. And those problems? They are everywhere: manual processes that eat up hours every week, inspection steps that are repetitive and error-prone, customer service queues piling up unanswered, CO₂-heavy operations under pressure to change, and supply chains so opaque no one sees where the risks are. The list is endless.

But here’s the catch: knowing the problems exist isn’t enough. The real challenge is figuring out who inside the organization actually owns them. Who has the authority, responsibility, and budget to take it on? Who feels the urgency? And who is open-minded enough to try solving it with a startup rather than defaulting to “we’ll build it ourselves”? That’s where most venture client units get stuck. Not in finding startups, but in surfacing real, startup-relevant problems from the right people inside their own company.

Need vs. demand

Here’s the first thing to understand: you don’t create needs. They’re already there. But you can create demand.

Imagine your commute. You live between two bus stops. Every day you rush, miss the bus by seconds, and waste time waiting. It’s annoying, but your options seem limited — buy a car, ride a bike, order a taxi. None really fit. Then one day you see an ad for a car-sharing app in your neighborhood. Suddenly, a new option becomes visible.

The need was always there. The demand only appeared once you became aware of a credible solution. That’s exactly how it works inside a corporate. Business units have plenty of problems. But unless they see startups as a serious, reliable option, there’s no demand for your venture client unit.

Why problem in-flow is so hard

If problem in-flow feels like pulling teeth, you’re not imagining it. The barriers are real:

Visibility. Most colleagues don’t know your unit exists, or they don’t get what you actually do. Add to that the usual stereotypes — startups aren’t reliable, “not invented here,” or “better to build in-house” — and you’re already fighting uphill.

Trust. Even if people are aware of you, they won’t just hand over problems. No one wants to spend time or money on something they don’t believe in. That’s why you need proof-points: stories and cases that show startups can deliver, plus a clear explanation of how your process is fast, efficient, and low-risk. The message has to be: working with us means real outcomes, quick validation, and minimal hassle. Without that belief, people will stick to business as usual.

Resources. Venture client units are lean. Between scouting, pilots, adoption, and reporting, there isn’t much time left for marketing and internal engagement. You don’t have capacity for big campaigns — so you have to be smart and efficient.

What you can do in practice

The good news is: you don’t need a big budget or a comms department. What you need is to work with what already exists in your organization — and use it well.

Start with the channels that people already see. Don’t build from scratch. Get into the spaces that employees engage with every day:

• new employee onboarding kits

• employee training sessions

• internal newsletters

• leadership townhalls

• office screens,

• innovation weeks, ...

If it already has an audience, you can use it to get your message across. Repetition is key — your colleagues need to hear about you multiple times, in different contexts, before it clicks that startups could be an option for them.

Next, reuse and reframe content. You probably already have more material than you think:

• scouting reports,

• startup radars,

• industry articles,

• pilot results.

Instead of producing shiny new campaigns, forward these insights to the right people with a short note like “Thought this might be relevant for your current challenge.” Package pilot stories into one-pagers that spotlight the BU lead as the hero, not the startup. Curate a quarterly digest with the five startups, trends, or competitor moves most worth knowing. Relevance and curation are more powerful than volume.

Then, make sure you’re in the right rooms. Most problems don’t surface in workshops; they surface in steering committees, BU reviews, and project boards. Ask for five minutes to share a startup case, offer to spar in a strategy session, or position startup collaboration as an option during procurement or M&A discussions. Being present where decisions are made lets you catch opportunities early, and often just one well-placed example can shift the conversation.

Finally, turn colleagues into multipliers. Ambassadors are often more convincing than you will ever be. There’s a growing trend toward structured ambassador programs in venture clienting — including professional onboarding, toolkits, recognition for startup champions. But you don’t need to wait for that to start. Feature alumni project leads from successful pilots on your intranet, host a lunch & learn where a colleague shares their story, give them plug-and-play content like one-pagers or slides they can reuse, and recognize them publicly for their contribution. Internal voices carry much further than corporate comms.

Demand and lead gen: both matter

When you look at these tactics, they fall into two categories. Demand generation is about building broad awareness, planting the idea that startups are a viable option. Lead generation is the precision work: 1:1 outreach, tailored examples, discovery workshops that surface real problems. One without the other doesn’t work. Awareness without follow-up leads nowhere. Footwork without awareness is exhausting. You need both.

Bonus lever: external spark

Sometimes the fastest way to cut through corporate clutter is to take people out of it. Inside the company, your message is competing with a hundred other priorities. But if you bring your stakeholders into a different setting — surrounded by startups, peers from other corporates, and the latest tech trends — the noise fades, and curiosity sparks.

The effect is powerful: they come back with fresh ideas on what to improve, new inspiration for how startups could help, and a stronger relationship with you as the person who opened that door. Ideally, you invite your high priority stakeholders - people who are well connected within their departments - to a startup conference. You equip them with your merch (if you have any) and with a curated list of startups and a suggestion for which stage sessions and side events to visit. And then you let the magic of the startup ecosystem do its thing. If you are looking for such a startup conference to try this initiative out, I highly recommend the Future Tech Fest (September 11 in Düsseldorf). It’s a one-day event, easily accessible within Germany. The majority of startups onsite are “venture client ready” (aka funding, full-time team, mature product). And additionally, there is a dedicated Venture Client Stage (powered by Ergo) and a Venture Client Track (powered by 27pilots). So it’s not just another startup fair. It’s truly a curated format where venture client units bring their stakeholders to discover startups, exchange with peers, and leave with momentum — and ideally, new problems worth solving.

Final thought

Problem in-flow doesn’t happen by itself. You have to build it — systematically, creatively, consistently.

And the good news is: you don’t need a massive budget. You just need to work smart: use existing channels, reuse and reframe content, be in the right rooms, empower multipliers, and spark curiosity with external moments.

Because at the end of the day:

No problems = no pilots. No pilots = no impact. No impact = no venture client unit.