Name: The Venture Game
Author: Jesper Bang-Olsen
ISBN: 978-87-977549-0-0

“A refreshingly realistic book that lets you experience the choices, setbacks and politics of corporate venturing.”

Gijs van Wulfen, No. 1 Thought Leader on Innovation 2026, founder of the FORTH innovation methodology

“Most books about entrepreneurship tell you what to think. The Venture Game does something rarer: it makes you choose, then makes you live with it.”

Jeppe Høier, Co-founder @ EUVC Corporate | Europe’s CVC community

“This simulation-based format immerses first-time entrepreneurs in realistic decisions, bringing corporate venture building to life under pressure.”

Francesco Di Lorenzo, Associate Professor, CBS, Strategy and Innovation

“Selling innovation into any legacy business is a challenge and none more so than postal and commercial carrier networks… Having worked on both sides of this dynamic I would recommend this book to anyone buying, developing or disrupting in this sector.”

Michael Anderson, CEO, PlaceB Limited and Advisory Board Member, Post & Parcel Expo International

What you will face

The book takes you from your first day as an Entrepreneur in Residence to the final investment meeting.

Find the real problem

Your first idea is only a starting point. You must visit the operation, speak to customers and collect evidence.

Test before you build

A QR code and a simple test can tell you whether anyone cares before you spend months building a product.

Choose a co-founder

Five candidates want the role. Each brings something useful. Each choice changes the company.

Win support inside the company

Customers are not the only people you need to convince. Internal sponsors and gatekeepers can determine what happens next.

Turn evidence into twelve slides

The final pitch only works if you use what you learned about the problem, the product, the market and the money.

Know when to stop

Three endings are possible. One is to walk away because the evidence does not support the venture.

The journey

Seven chapters, 79 sections and three possible endings.

It starts at a barbecue in a back garden. Seven chapters later, you are in a room with three investors.

First, you define a problem in a parcel operation and defend it at a review. Then you test an idea with a QR code before anything is built. You choose between five possible co-founders, shape the product, look for trial customers, work through the organisation and prepare the funding case.

At the end of each section, you choose what to do. The page reference takes you to the next part of your route. Some choices help. Others create problems later. Walking away is one of the three possible endings when the evidence does not justify continuing.

An epilogue set five years later shows where your decisions led.

The seven chapters of The Venture Game laid out as a board

Seven stages, one board

Who it is for

The book is written for people who build new ventures, teach entrepreneurship or decide which ventures receive support.

Entrepreneurs in Residence and first-time foundersStart on day one and work through the decisions that follow. You can make mistakes here before making them in a real venture.
Students and educatorsStudents can play the full venture journey in class and compare their routes afterwards. The learning design page shows how the book can be used in four teaching modules.
Corporate innovation leadsUse the story to discuss problem selection, evidence, team formation and investment readiness with venture teams.
C-level executivesSee the process from the entrepreneur’s seat and understand how internal decisions affect the venture.

Jesper Bang-Olsen

Jesper Bang-Olsen has spent 25 years building companies. He has been a founder and CEO three times and now leads venture development at Beam in Berlin.

At Beam, the corporate venture arm of BEUMER Group, he has helped build 16 ventures from concept to seed investment, secured more than €25M in early-stage funding and worked with over 200 entrepreneurs in residence. Seven of the ventures have been AI startups. He is named as an inventor on six patents in passenger transport, logistics and counterfeit detection.

The Venture Game is based on those experiences.

Enjoy the game.

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