Those commitments should come only after the venture has reached clearly defined milestones. Poker players will tell you that, in seven-card stud, most of the money is lost on the fourth and fifth cards, as players indulge the unreasonable hope that an uninspiring hand might turn into something good. This is tough for big companies, where egos and longstanding corporate practices get in the way. Senior executives resent having to give the managers of start-up ventures enough equity in them that the managers could become wealthy. But top talent demands equity.
Businesses also are reluctant to share equity with other companies.
But it is better to have a small piece of a big pie than a big piece of a tiny one. I realize that launching a venturing office is, in its own way, just like launching a start-up. You wind up with a recursive problem. Still, Eastman and others have shown that it can be done, and it must be. If you don t create your own future, someone else is bound to.