Afford Anything · Friday, July 10, 2026
Lorraine Marchand explains that startups can become 'stodgy' if they are designed around raising venture capital and hiring former executives from established corporations. This approach can import a corporate mindset that kills early-stage innovation.
“The assumption is that these two words pair together. In your research, you've found that startups can be stodgy. Can you talk about that?”
“I found that the startup, even though we associate it with being innovative and entrepreneurial, might be stodgy if in fact, it's been designed around raising money from venture capital and bringing in a former executive team from a similar type of industry or corporate setting.”
“I'm going to bring the stodgy mindset of a Pfizer into this startup with all the pressures of VCs, shareholders and board members, and you're looking for results. And I'm going to kill the innovation and the entrepreneurship on day one because I've designed the whole experience to be more like a corporate strategy.”