Episode 21 - Thomas Ollivier - Exemplary Leadership in Corporate-Startup Partnerships

Key points:

Responsible for MAIF’s partnerships with startups
Company board decided to create this team to address market changes and build for the future
The team focuses on engagement with startups, as well as sharing best practices and market information
MAIF created the Beta Factory, a mini startup studio
Recently created Startup Club in Paris to build community
In the peer-to-peer market, insurance is part of building trust

There’s a lot of talk about corporate innovation in the startup world. A startup’s goal is often to connect with corporate teams who are prepared to work with them. Increasingly, large corporates are creating innovation teams, the quality and seriousness of which vary greatly.

We were thrilled to speak with Thomas Ollivier of MAIF, a leader in corporate innovation. Thomas and his team show dedication and commitment to their engagement with startups. Support starts at the board level and instead of demanding immediate results, the company views this as a long term goal that requires investment today for results tomorrow.

In this episode, Thomas tells us about his team, their agenda, their goals, and their plans for moving forward. They’re very community-oriented and are launching the MAIF Startup Club in Paris to help share experiences and build out the connections between their company and the startup world. The French startup community will see a lot of benefits as this grows and also as other corporates adopt similar strategies for startup engagement.