Large companies investing in or incubating smaller companies with interesting ideas is hardly new. In 1918, for example, DuPont took a 25 percent stake in a relatively new company called General Motors. In fact, throughout the second industrial revolution, from 1880 to about 1930, companies such as Coca-Cola, CSX (founded in 1901 as US Steel) and Dow Chemicals often invested in smaller companies with new and innovative industrial technologies in order to gain an early-mover advantage. The strategy worked. According to Harvard Business School historian Nancy Koehn, 247 out of today’s Fortune 500 were created during those 50 years. Venturing took place between the industrial revolution and the information revolution, but on a smaller scale and at a slower pace. Then came the phenomenal Nasdaq run-up of the late ’90s and a new wave of venturing began. “Companies were getting whacked across the snout and asking what happened,” according to Heidi Mason, managing director of venture consultancy Bell-Mason Group in Silicon Valley. “This little upstart came along and messed with my business.” The eye-popping dotcom stock valuations woke many corporations to the Internet’s business-transforming possibilities. Sources say the current market downturn will not discourage the trend in corporate investing, but how many new Fortune 500 companies this wave of venturing will produce is yet to be determined. Related content brandpost Sponsored by SAP Generative AI’s ‘show me the money’ moment We’re past the hype and slick gen AI sales pitches. Business leaders want results. By Julia White Nov 30, 2023 5 mins Artificial Intelligence brandpost Sponsored by Zscaler How customers capture real economic value with zero trust Unleashing economic value: Zscaler's Zero Trust Exchange transforms security architecture while cutting costs. By Zscaler Nov 30, 2023 4 mins Security brandpost Sponsored by SAP A cloud-based solution to rescue millions from energy poverty Aware of the correlation between energy and financial poverty, Savannah Energy is helping to generate clean, competitively priced electricity across Africa by integrating its old systems into one cloud-based platform. By Keith E. Greenberg, SAP Contributor Nov 30, 2023 5 mins Digital Transformation feature 8 change management questions every IT leader must answer Designed to speed adoption and achieve business outcomes, change management hasn’t historically been a strength of IT orgs. It’s time to flip that script by asking hard questions to hone change strategies. By Stephanie Overby Nov 30, 2023 10 mins Change Management IT Leadership Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe