BROADCASTS.com

b"We recently hosted the third webcast episode of a mini-series we\\u2019re doing with Rhapsody Venture Partners on Lean Startup in the hard sciences where we spoke with Jason Whaley from Rhapsody and Chris Thoen, former CTO of Givaudan, the world\\u2019s largest flavor and fragrance company and former Managing Director of Open Innovation at Procter & Gamble. They spoke with Lean Startup Co. faculty member Hisham Ibrahim.\\n\\nIn Hisham, Chris, and Jason\\u2019s conversation, they discuss:\\n- How to bring the small startup mentality to big corporations\\n- The importance of ambidexterity in leaders so they can maintain the right balance between managing the core business and continuing to innovate\\n- The importance of open innovation in order for companies to grow in today's fast-paced marketplace\\n\\nAnd much, much more...\\n\\n\\nChris Thoen spent nearly the entirety of his 32-year career working in science and innovation, and he\\u2019s done so while deftly balancing between working for large corporations and small startups - often finding ways to work with both types of companies at the same time. \\n\\nWhen he was fresh out of college, Chris\\u2019 first job was at a small biotech startup in Belgium. It was not only a good transition from University life to professional life, but it was a great introduction to how young companies can really work. But after a few years, he wanted more of a challenge and the ability to continually innovate on new ideas, which led him to his next job at Procter & Gamble. \\n\\n\\u201cEssentially every six months you [were] on a new project,\\u201d Chris recalls, \\u201cYou\\u2019re doing something different, they\\u2019re stretching you as a scientist, or potentially as a manager.\\u201d \\n\\nThe fast-paced nature of the company suited Chris and he spent the next couple of decades of his career working on projects - big and small - for the company. One of the highlights of his career was working on what he describes as essentially a \\u201cstartup within the corporation\\u201d called Clay Street. For 12 weeks, he and 11 other colleagues from different functions of the organization, worked exclusively on a single project. It\\u2019s something that Chris still thinks about fondly. \\u201cIt was so empowering, so aspirational,\\u201d he says. \\n\\nFrom there Chris went on to lead Procter & Gamble\\u2019s Connect and Develop Program - or what he calls their \\u201copen innovation program\\u201d - where he worked to stretch targets and figure out how to go outside of their own company walls to make new things happen.\\n\\nMost recently, he was the leader of science and technology at Givaudan, the world\\u2019s leading flavor and fragrance house. While he was there, he became a founding partner of MassChallenge Switzerland, an accelerator that takes no equity and helps startups hone their business and prepare their pitches for investors. Because, according to Chris, it\\u2019s important for large companies to find ways to ensure they continue to re-innovate and reinvigorate themselves with new ideas. \\n\\n\\u201cWe wanted to link with startup communities to get that stimulus...that boost of energy for our own management team to really see\\u2026.how other people develop new ideas and novel propositions and how you could work together to bring those ideas to the market.\\u201d\\n\\nEmail us: education@leanstartup.co\\nFollow Lean Startup Co. @leanstartup\\nhttps://leanstartup.co/education"