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Innovation isn’t about creating new things
Talks about Startup, Innovation and Organizational Culture
RL
Ryan Larcom
Managing Director, Studios at High Alpha Innovation
Indianapolis, Indiana
Overview
Ryan Larcom is the Managing Director of Studios at High Alpha Innovation in Indianapolis, Indiana. With a background in mechanical engineering and digital strategy, he has held leadership roles at Cummins Inc., Allegion, and High Alpha, demonstrating expertise in corporate strategy and innovation management.
Highlights of his career include serving as VP of Customer & Digital Strategy at Allegion, and leading the Business Design & Corporate Innovation team at High Alpha.
Work Experience
Managing Director, Studios
2024 - Current
High Alpha Innovation partners with the world's leading organizations to innovate by launching startups & venture studios, leveraging the model pioneered by High Alpha - Partners with leading Fortune 500 corporations, Tier-1 Research universities, philanthropies, and state economic development to design and fund new venture studios that launch portfolios of startups focused on transforming industries - Manages a portfolio of venture studios, supporting their Managing Partners to fundraise, operate studios, and repeatably develop venture-backed startups - Convenes thought-leaders through ALLOY annual venture building summit & Corporate Studio Guild
Director
2020 - 2024
- Leads executive relationships with Fortune 500 corporations and Tier-1 research universities to build new ventures to drive innovation and growth - Directs venture building teams of business & experience designers to co-create startups, talent partners to recruit founders, and legal/investment specialists to launch new venture-backed startups - Co-developed the firm’s new venture investment team to define our standard "entrepreneur-friendly, venture-backable" startup investment structure, optimized for corporate strategic and financial benefit
High Alpha Innovation partners with organizations to create advantaged startups that solve compelling problems.
Board Observer
2023
Board Member
2021
Partner
2018
Collective Works partners with entrepreneurs addressing social problems to help them launch / scale their businesses. Our 1st spinout was Duett, Inc.
Board Member
2021
VP, Customer & Digital Strategy
2019 - 2020
Reporting to the Chief Customer and Digital Officer of this global pioneer in safety and security, whose brands include CISA®, Interflex®, LCN®, Schlage®, SimonsVoss® and Von Duprin® - Cultivated an "outside in" culture by developing & integrating customer strategy across Allegion's business units to delight customers through product, people, and process - Operationalized Allegion's digital strategy across products, people, operations, and customer - Developed investment theses, directed investments, and drove partnerships with access/security startups through Allegion Ventures
Principal, Allegion Ventures
2020 - 2020
Director, Business Design & Corporate Innovation
2015 - 2019
Pioneered the venture studio model as an early employee of leading B2B SaaS studio - Developed repeatable model for startup creation, including Sprint Week — High Alpha's forcing function for launching startups; facilitated 11 sprints resulting in the creation of 13 new startups - Created & led Business Design function — Business Analysts & Designers who partner with entrepreneurs, VCs, & expert network to develop concepts into investible businesses - Diligenced Seed/Series A deals, supported ~30 investments and Investor Relations - Convened Venture Studio Collective to increase collaboration between leading venture studios & advocate for this emerging asset class - Developed investment thesis & deployed engagement model for partnering with large corporations to drive innovation by launching startups, resulting in the spin-out of High Alpha Innovation Previous titles: Director of Strategy & Innovation (2015-2017), Director Operations (2017-2018), Investor at High Alpha Capital (2017-2018)
High Alpha creates and funds companies through a new model for entrepreneurship that unites company building and venture capital.
Corporate Strategy Manager
2014 - 2015
Led high-performing, hypothesis-driven teams consulting for CEO, COO, CTO, & 4 BU Leaders for Fortune 200 global power company; record speed promotion from Analyst to Manager - 10-year strategic plan & business portfolio review with CEO, COO & Executive Leadership Team - Implemented a User-Centered Design organization under CTO - Turnaround strategy for a $2B business unit - Divestiture analysis of $800M line-of-business - $10M partnership deal enabling new market entry for $1B business unit - 3 emerging technology make/buy analyses for $1B-$8B business units; one resulting in creation of a new business unit
Corporate Responsibility Specialist
2012 - 2014
Community Involvement Team (CIT) Leader for Columbus Technical Center (CTC) - Engaged 1500 employees in 100+ volunteering events with 10 non-profit organizations, strategically deploying $20,000 in grants, resulting in the highest site volunteerism rate to date - Published Cummins Foundation whitepaper: “Global STEM Education strategy” - Provided strategic direction to iGrad, a community initiative supporting 500 at-risk students that contributed to a 7% reduction in high school dropout rate
Worldwide Design Competency Associate Leader
2012 - 2013
Co-led Center of Excellence for design engineers, facilitating best practice / knowledge sharing
Senior Design Engineer; Cooling & Lube Lead Designer
2010 - 2012
Cooling & Lube design team lead on award-winning QSK95 "Hedgehog" engine, the world’s largest high-speed diesel engine platform
Cummins is a manufacturing industry that designs, manufactures, and sells powertrain components and diesel engines for commercial trucks.
Raised $80,262,500.00 from US Department of Energy, Advanced Propulsion Centre UK, U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office and NYSERDA.
Design Engineer; Interior Trim
2007 - 2010
Designed & developed interior components of Honda & Acura products for the US & global markets, including award-winning 2008 Acura TL, 2011 Honda Odyssey, 2010 & 2014 Acura MDX programs
Engineering Intern
2006 - 2006
Continuum is a global innovation design consultancy that brings ideas to markets by integrating strategy, design, and engineering.