From Technology to Business: Charles Vaillant, CTO of MANN+HUMMEL, on Strategic Return, Real Execution, and Building What Others Only Present
06/016/2026
April 2026: Charles visited the CM Venture office in Shanghai
As Chief Technology & Chief Digital Officer of MANN+HUMMEL, I believe the biggest challenge of corporate venture capital is not of not finding interesting technologies. The real challenge is the inability to drive projects, to execute proper POCs, and to really experiment in business building. In my view, that is the weakest point, and it is why most CVC groups are unsuccessful.
They may perform well enough on the financial side, but CVC exists to drive strategic returns. For me, this means giving the business units an unfair advantage by leveraging startup technologies and creating business options that did not exist before. To do that, you have to conceptualize those options, plan them, and most importantly, drive them forward.
“If you don't plan for it, then you will never have it.”
Beyond the Deck
Too often, I have seen big promises, great presentations, and a lot of talking, and then following Monday comes, and everybody has disappeared. Suddenly there are excuses: the pilot cannot run, nor the POC, or the resources and the budget are not there, and people are busy.
You can never guarantee success, but if you do not plan for it, you will never have it.
At some point, it comes down to basic project management: who is doing what, by when, what is the commitment, and whether the resources are committed on both sides. This is why I insist on accountability, and why I look at results over a defined period of time, not just intentions.
No Deal Without Commitment
I do not approve any deal until I have a written plan from the respective business unit on how they will execute. I want to see milestones, timeline, resource planning, and a clearly defined budget.
Our ventures team is relatively small, so we work very closely with the business units to define these elements upfront. It is not always easy, because there are always promises. But when I ask how much budget is available in the next six months, and the answer is none, then my response is simple: how do you plan to run this then?
If there is no budget and no resource commitment, why would I make the deal? The probability of success is simply too low.
Management Has to Be in the Room
Another critical factor is management involvement. For key strategic investments, I make sure we bring together the leadership from both sides, both the corporate and the startup. We review what was agreed, what has actually been delivered, and whether both sides are delivering on what they promised.
In some cases, our CEO is part of those discussions. I am there, along with the president of the business unit. We are dealing with significant investments and inherently high-risk innovations, so I want full visibility at the top.
If we are serious about success, then we have to create the best possible conditions for it.
The Collision of Ideas
One capability I value enormously is the ability to think beyond the obvious. In many R&D departments, people become highly specification driven. But the best innovation comes from collision of ideas.
I look for people who can look at a technology and envision entirely different applications and use cases. That is not easy. In fact, it is very rare to find individuals who combine strategic thinking, creativity, and an entrepreneurial mindset.
There is also a common misconception of equating R&D and innovation. Innovation needs R&D, but the skill sets are very different. The best researchers are not necessarily the ones who can build new businesses.
Technology Is Not Yet a Business
For aspiring entrepreneurs or industry leaders, my advice is simple: Just Do It.
On the entrepreneurship journey, there will be many more problems and issues than you anticipate. But, it also creates many more opportunities than you can imagine. You cannot fully understand it until you go for the adventure and do it.
Health, Discipline, and Performance
One lesson I come back to often is that technology alone is not a business. It is an enabler. The real question is: what problem does it solve, and for whom?
If you cannot clearly articulate the problem-to-be-solved or the customer need, then you do not have a business. That is why the business unit must be involved from the beginning.
In one case, with Tetrels, a startup from CM Venture’s portfolio, this became very clear. First, you must define where the technology creates value for the business. Second, you must secure real buy-in from the business unit leadership. Without those two elements, nothing moves forward.
Working Across Different Time Horizons
Execution timelines varies depending on the maturity of the startup. In some cases, if the product is already tangible, I have seen situations where first sales happen within the first year after investment.
In other cases, there are not even samples yet, and without something concreate, there is nothing to commercialize.
That is why I operate across different time horizons, it is the reality of building new business from emerging technology.
What InCube Revealed
One of the most formative initiatives I started inside MANN+HUMMEL was InCube. I partnered with Plug and Play in California and brought a team to Silicon Valley to build a business from scratch. We selected people from across the company, gave them funding, and full autonomy to operate with the goal to create a business with commercial output within six months.
What I observed was striking. The behavior of individuals in a corporate setting and an entrepreneurial one can be completely different. High performers in a corporate structure can struggle in an entrepreneurial setting, while others unexpectedly thrive.
Giving People the Chance to Shine
That experience fundamentally changed how I think about talent.
I think of Ellie Amirnasr, who had a PhD in polymer science and went on to lead the first business MANN+HUMMEL invested in. Although the venture did not scale, she proved herself as a key leader and is now a vice president driving business development.
And Jasmine Meng, a R&D lab technician from Shanghai, who initially struggled in the English-language assessment. When given the opportunity to pitch in Chinese, her body language and confidence completely transformed. Today she runs our Smart Water Global new businesses from Singapore.
When you expose people to entrepreneurship and give them the tools and space to operate, you uncover capabilities that would otherwise remain hidden.
Evidence Before Optimism
To support this work, we use a method called the Growth Validation Process (GVP). It evaluates ventures across five dimensions: product-market fit, scalability, profitability, unfair advantage, and market size.
It is an evidence-based process, because the most common reason startups fail is lack of product-market fit. It is not enough to claim demand, you have to prove it with real signals: testing, customers, purchase orders.
We also involved independent business expert to challenge the team, and increasingly we are integrating AI agents to simulate the objective challenge and strengthen decision-making before capital is deployed.
Turning Possibility into Business
If there is one principle that defines my approach, it is that building a new business requires far more than a good presentation or an interesting technology.
It requires discipline, accountability, creativity, and evidence. You need people who can think beyond the obvious, but also clear milestones, budgets, ownership, and follow-through. Without that, you may have a promising technology. But you do not yet have a business.
