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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
Alloy Partners co-creates "advantaged" startups & venture studios with the world's leading organizations & entrepreneurs, leveraging the model pioneered by High Alpha - Oversees a portfolio of 5 venture studios worldwide — built in partnership with leading Fortune 500 corporations, Tier-1 Research universities, philanthropies, VCs, and public sector entities — supporting their Managing Partners to fundraise, operate, and repeatably develop a portfolio of venture-backed startups focused on transforming industries - Leads international expansion efforts, including partnership with leading Japanese VC
Director
2020 - 2024
- Led executive relationships with 12 Fortune 500 corporations and Tier-1 research universities, overseeing cross-functional venture-building teams to build 23 new venture-backed startups in 4 years driving innovation and growth, with a specialty in Energy/Sustainability, Supply Chain/Manufacturing, and Agrifood sectors; supported PortCos via BOD seats - Managed $9M Gold & Black Studio and Fund, in collaboration with Purdue University's DIAL Ventures, which co-designed 10 AgTech startups in 3 years and made Pre-Seed investments in many of them - Co-developed the firm’s venture investment team and defined our standard "entrepreneur-friendly, venture-backable" startup investment structure, optimized for corporate strategic and financial benefit - Convened thought-leaders through annual Alloy Venture Building Summit & Corporate Studio Guild
Board Member
2021
Partner
2018
Formed Collective Works to help entrepreneurs launch businesses to address social problems. - Partnered with non-profit, CICOA, to spinout Duett for industry-wide adoption, increasing worker productivity and improving lives of elderly returning home post-acute care
Board Member
2021
Board Observer
2023 - 2025
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 a global “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 and led Business Design function, developing the investment thesis for partnering with corporations to drive innovation by launching startups, resulting in the spin-out of Alloy Partners - Diligenced Seed/Series A deals, supported ~30 investments and Investor Relations - Convened Venture Studio Collective for venture studios collaboration, advocacy for emerging asset class 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.