Beyond The Core
Beyond The Core
Podcast Description
Beyond The Core is a podcast series by Marcus Daniels and Ben Yoskovitz, founders of Highline Beta, exploring how companies are breaking free from traditional innovation models to build significant new ventures. Drawing from their experience helping organizations like RBC and AB InBev transform into venture builders, they interview leaders who've successfully launched billion-dollar spinouts, built venture studios, and created new markets. Weekly episodes feature practical insights on venture studio design, growth innovation playbooks, and strategic choices in corporate venture building.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast explores themes around corporate venture studios, innovation strategies, and growth playbooks, featuring episodes like Governance, KPIs, and Scaling New Ventures that answer listener questions about venture operations, and Winning Corporate Ventures with Amar Varma that discusses the creation of Tinder and the exit to Ford X.
Beyond The Core is a podcast series by Marcus Daniels and Ben Yoskovitz, founders of Highline Beta, exploring how companies are breaking free from traditional innovation models to build significant new ventures. Drawing from their experience helping organizations like RBC and AB InBev transform into venture builders, they interview leaders who’ve successfully launched billion-dollar spinouts, built venture studios, and created new markets. Weekly episodes feature practical insights on venture studio design, growth innovation playbooks, and strategic choices in corporate venture building.
In this episode of Beyond the Core, Ben Yoskovitz sits down with Sierra Calhoun-Pollard, Ph.D., Director of Blackstone LaunchPad x UF | Professor of Innovation | CEO Winnovation Agency, to unpack how she designed a 5-Day Innovation Sprint that connects industry partners and cross-disciplinary teams to generate ideas, build prototypes, and test them with real users (all inside a single week).
What started as a university program has become a repeatable framework that companies can use to accelerate learning, build creative muscle, and make innovation actually move at market speed.
Together, Ben and Sierra co-build her full playbook live so you can adapt the same model inside your organization.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
– How to design and run a 5-Day Innovation Sprint that produces tangible results
– Why the “How Might We” statement is the North Star of every sprint
– How cross-disciplinary teams outperform experts when solving tough problems
– The exact cadence Sierra uses (from problem framing → prototyping → pitching)
– What to do after the sprint to keep the momentum aliveIf you’re leading innovation, transformation, or venture-building inside a large organization, this episode is your blueprint for speed, structure, and creativity that scales.
—
Timestamps
0:00 — Introduction: Why this episode is different
1:30 — The story behind Blackstone LaunchPad and Winnovation Agency
5:00 — How Sierra built a repeatable innovation system
10:00 — The anatomy of a 5-day sprint
20:00 — Real examples: QR cups, Adobe Express prototypes, and more
35:00 — How to craft a great “How Might We” statement
45:00 — What to do after Day 5: turning ideas into action
50:00 — Building culture through rapid experimentation
—
🎧 Listen now on Spotify, Apple, or YouTube
📄Download the full 5-Day Innovation Sprint Playbook + Watch the full live video: highlinebeta.com/beyond-the-core
Disclaimer
This podcast’s information is provided for general reference and was obtained from publicly accessible sources. The Podcast Collaborative neither produces nor verifies the content, accuracy, or suitability of this podcast. Views and opinions belong solely to the podcast creators and guests.
For a complete disclaimer, please see our Full Disclaimer on the archive page. The Podcast Collaborative bears no responsibility for the podcast’s themes, language, or overall content. Listener discretion is advised. Read our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy for more details.