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This is a summary of an episode of Pioneers, an educational podcast on AI led by our founder. Join 3,000+ business leaders and AI enthusiasts and be the first to know when new episodes go live. Subscribe to our newsletter here.
TL;DR:
- CVCs like ADP Ventures offer startups more than capital by enabling distribution, mentorship, and direct product integration.
- ADP’s venture arm bridges internal needs with external innovation, co-developing theses with business units to find the right startup fit.
- Startups that win inside ADP are built for scale, compliance, and speed, handling enterprise data complexity and long sales cycles.
- The future of work lies in AI automating boring tasks, enabling more strategic, personalized, and human-centric roles across organizations.
- Defensibility in AI startups depends on founder vision, proprietary data, and workflow integration, not just raw model performance.
Before we dive into the key takeaways from this episode, be sure to catch the full episode here:
Meet Sam - Investor at ADP Ventures
Sam Nasser, investor at ADP Ventures, brings a unique blend of venture experience and enterprise strategy to the future of work. At ADP, he helps identify and scale early-stage startups that can fill product gaps, drive innovation, and create long-term value for ADP’s 1 million clients.
With a deep understanding of go-to-market dynamics and the complexity of selling into large enterprises, Sam partners closely with ADP business units to co-develop investment theses and surface technologies that can scale.
He’s helped lead investments in standout companies like Nayya and Thatch, aligning startup capabilities with real client needs and driving meaningful distribution. Sam believes strategic CVCs have an unfair advantage when done right, helping founders scale faster while delivering core value to the enterprise.
Strategic CVCs Are More Than Capital Providers
Sam emphasizes that corporate venture capital arms like ADP Ventures are not just sources of funding.
They offer real distribution and product partnerships. “We can offer you more than a check… access to thousands of clients through go-to-market partnerships,” he says.
ADP Ventures works closely with internal teams to validate a startup’s product-market fit before investing.
This de-risks the relationship for both sides and sets up long-term alignment. Sam highlights that founders who partner with CVCs like ADP can scale faster without giving up control or chasing logos.
The value is not just in getting the investment but in being plugged into a platform that understands compliance, enterprise needs, and how to execute. “That’s our advantage as a strategic,” Sam notes.
ADP Ventures Co-Builds Theses With Business Units
Instead of making reactive investments, ADP Ventures builds forward-looking investment theses in collaboration with ADP’s product and business unit leads.
“We’re constantly talking to our PUs, building theses… validating them with market research,” Sam explains.
The goal is to ensure every investment is aligned with a real customer or product need, not just a market trend.
This tight loop between internal teams and external innovation helps ADP stay ahead while also increasing the chances that startups see real usage.
“We do not just invest in shiny objects. There is always a tie back to a real business problem,” Sam adds.
This process ensures startups are not isolated pilots but are embedded into larger product roadmaps from the start.
What Startups Need to Survive Enterprise Scaling
Sam is clear about what separates startups that succeed inside large enterprises from those that stall.
The key is understanding how complex and messy enterprise data and compliance workflows are. “Enterprise data is really messy and complex. Startups that do well in our ecosystem are built with compliance and scale in mind,” he says.
Many startups build lightweight demos but struggle when it is time to integrate into large client workflows.
“Enterprise data is really messy and complex… start with scale and compliance in mind.” — Sam Nasser
The winners, according to Sam, are those who go beyond flashy UX and think through security, permissions, integrations, and legal hurdles early on.
“We are not just evaluating the idea. We are evaluating whether it can live inside a highly regulated and scaled platform,” Sam shares.
A Trifecta Win: The Nayya Case Study
One of the most successful examples Sam offers is ADP’s investment and integration with Nayya, a benefits navigation platform.
“We integrated Nayya into our Workforce Now platform… over 600,000 employees reached,” he says. What made it a win was the alignment between Nayya’s product, ADP’s roadmap, and client demand.
“It was a trifecta. We had internal buy-in, client need, and a startup ready to scale,” Sam recalls. The partnership helped Nayya grow faster while giving ADP a differentiated offering for its customers.
It also validated ADP Ventures’ model of pre-validating startup solutions with real teams. “It’s not about throwing money around. It’s about picking the right partner and helping them win with you,” says Sam.
Evaluating AI Startups: Beyond Buzzwords and Demos
Sam is skeptical of startups that rely on generative AI buzzwords without a clear plan for product defensibility or workflow integration.
“If OpenAI can do it better in six months, we take a pause,” he says.
For ADP Ventures, the bar is high. The team looks for startups that can either offer a data advantage, a unique application layer, or a deeply integrated workflow that builds stickiness.
“You’re really investing in the founder’s vision, their strategy, and how defensible their tech is—especially around proprietary data and workflows.” — Sam Nasser
“We ask: what moat are you building that will matter in two years?” Sam says.
AI founders need to think past model performance and toward long-term differentiation. For Sam and his team, trust, safety, and real enterprise utility are non-negotiables.
“You cannot just bolt on a model and expect it to scale,” he adds.
