Diageo’s model for collaborating with startups

Sam Peña-Taylor

Diageo’s tech and innovation department shares its experience working in partnership with new players and explains how large brands can begin to understand the startup space.

Big companies enjoy vast scale and resources, but when it comes to developing completely new ideas – and pivoting quickly when they’re not right – they are at a disadvantage to younger, leaner companies. For this reason, large firms, such as the multinational drinks giant Diageo, have developed ways to partner with startups in order to spur innovation.

Speaking at ad:tech (London, September 2019), Benni Lickfett, Diageo’s head of technology and innovation, explained how his team works with early-stage or scaling private companies to develop the company’s innovations outside the bottle.

Lickfett knows the startup world from his own experience,...

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