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As of 2025, Highline Beta argues that corporate ventures fail not because of bad ideas, but because companies launch in spaces where they have no "right to win"—the unfair advantage that leverages their unique assets, customer access, or domain expertise.
Corporate teams often chase exciting opportunities in massive markets without asking "Why us?" leading to ventures that struggle for internal support, fail to leverage brand equity or customer relationships, and eventually get deprioritized or shut down. Highline Beta defines a "right to win" as a four-part checklist: privileged access to customers or distribution, credibility that matters in the space, deep domain expertise or proprietary data, and internal assets like technology or compliance capabilities that provide a head start. Having this unfair advantage doesn't eliminate the need for validation and experimentation, but it dramatically improves the odds of success by ensuring ventures are anchored in leverage rather than hope.
A right to win is the unfair advantage a company brings to a new venture that makes them uniquely positioned to solve a particular problem for a particular customer. It includes four key elements: privileged access to customers or distribution channels, credibility or trust that matters in the specific space, deep domain expertise or proprietary data, and internal assets like technology, people, or compliance capabilities that provide a competitive head start.
Corporate ventures often fail because they launch in spaces where the company has no natural edge, making them unanchored with no internal gravity or customer pull to build on. Without a right to win, these ventures struggle to get internal support or budget, fail to leverage existing brand equity or customer relationships, become hard to scale, and are easy to deprioritize. Eventually, they get orphaned or quietly shut down despite having potentially viable ideas.
Having a right to win doesn't replace the need for validation—companies still need to test assumptions, run experiments, and iterate toward traction. However, starting with leverage rather than fantasy significantly improves the odds of success. Many corporate venture pivots happen because teams misjudged where they actually had an edge or never had one at all, and a clear right to win helps avoid unnecessary pivots or makes them more strategic.
Corporate innovators should make the right to win a non-negotiable part of their opportunity assessment process by putting it on their scorecard, debating it early, and using it to say no to ideas that might be interesting but aren't winnable. When Highline Beta builds ventures with corporate partners and family offices, this assessment is one of the first things they evaluate to ensure they're solving problems in spaces where their partners can actually compete and win.
When big companies build new ventures, internally or through spin-outs, they often chase opportunities without asking a critical question: “Why us?”
The idea might be exciting. The market might be massive. The buzzwords might be flying. But if you don’t have a clear right to win, you’re building on hope, not leverage.
We’ve seen this movie before. Corporate teams jump into new spaces, hire smart people, maybe even secure funding. But then momentum stalls. The solution doesn’t resonate. Distribution is harder than expected. No one internally knows how to help.
Why? Because the venture was launched in a space where the company had no natural edge.
Let’s fix that.
We define a right to win as the unfair advantage a company brings to a new venture. It’s your leverage—the reason your organization (not a startup or someone else’s portfolio company) is uniquely positioned to solve a particular problem for a particular customer.
Think of it as a checklist. When we assess new venture opportunities, we ask:
If the answer is “no” across the board, that’s a red flag. You’re starting from scratch and frankly, startups are better at that than most corporations.
When you launch without a right to win, even good ideas can flounder.
These ventures don’t fail because the idea is bad. They fail because they’re unanchored, with no internal gravity, customer pull, or advantage to build on.
Having a right to win doesn’t mean you skip validation. You still need to test assumptions, run experiments, and iterate toward traction.
But your odds go up when you start with leverage, not fantasy.
Plenty of corporate ventures pivot, and some pivots work. But many happen because the team misjudged where they actually had an edge—or never had one at all.
A right to win helps you avoid those pivots in the first place, or at least makes them more strategic.
Whether you’re building a spin-in or a spin-out, make the right to win a non-negotiable part of your opportunity assessment. Put it on your scorecard. Debate it early. Use it to say no to ideas that might be interesting, but aren’t winnable.
When we build ventures with corporate partners and family offices, this is one of the first things we look for. It ensures we’re not just solving a problem that matters, but doing it in a space where our partners can actually compete and win.
If you’re thinking, “How do I operationalize this?” you’re not alone. A few questions we often hear:
We’ll tackle these in an upcoming post, and share resources that can help.
Until then: chase fewer ideas. Back the ones you’re built to win.
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Connect with us at hello@highlinebeta.com
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