Beyond Core Business: How CEOs Can Drive Growth Through Strategic B2C Ventures

The corporate landscape is shifting dramatically. A traditional medical-device manufacturer now doubles as an online marketplace where consumers purchase wellness products and consult with healthcare providers. This transformation isn’t isolated—it represents a fundamental strategic pivot happening across industries.

McKinsey’s recent analysis, outlined in their May 2025 article “How CEOs can outcompete by building new B2C businesses” by Arun Arora, Ido Segev, and Sub Datta, reveals that established companies are increasingly building business-to-consumer (B2C) ventures to capture their share of the $25 trillion consumer market. While the authors present a compelling case for B2C business building, several critical perspectives deserve deeper examination.

The Limitations of Traditional Growth Strategies

The McKinsey article rightly identifies that traditional corporate growth strategies no longer deliver sufficient results. Companies face relentless pressure from digital-first competitors, market saturation, and changing consumer expectations. This perspective aligns with research from Harvard Business Review, which found that 78% of established companies struggle to maintain historical growth rates using conventional strategies alone.

What the McKinsey authors touch on but could emphasize more strongly is the fundamental shift in how value is created and captured. According to research by MIT’s Initiative on the Digital Economy, companies that leverage dormant assets to create new digital offerings achieve 26% higher profit margins than peers solely focused on core business optimization.

The McKinsey Global Survey cited in the article provides an important data point: companies allocating 20% of growth capital to creating new businesses achieve two percentage points higher revenue growth than those that don’t invest similarly. This finding underscores the financial imperative of business building but leaves room for discussion about the operational complexities involved.

Unlocking Value from Underutilized Assets

One of the most valuable insights from the McKinsey research is that more than 80% of companies possess at least one underutilized asset that could form the foundation of a new business. The authors identify five primary types of underutilized assets:

• Data assets with monetization potential (28% of companies)
• Intellectual property or novel technologies (28%)
• Subscale ventures that could be commercially accelerated (27%)
• Products developed for internal use that could be sold externally (27%)
• Internal capabilities that could be sold externally (23%)

These findings challenge executives to conduct thorough asset assessments. However, the article could better address the organizational barriers that often prevent companies from recognizing these opportunities. According to research from Columbia Business School, structural silos and incentive misalignment frequently obscure asset monetization opportunities.

The three B2C business models proposed by McKinsey—advice-as-a-service, embedded services, and B2B2C businesses—provide a practical framework for executives to consider. Each model allows companies to leverage core assets to create new revenue streams with attractive revenue multiples (ranging from 12.1x to 15.8x based on McKinsey’s analysis).

Strategy 1: Advice-as-a-Service Businesses

Advice-as-a-service businesses help consumers navigate overwhelming choices by providing expert recommendations. The McKinsey authors correctly identify this as a high-potential area, particularly in markets requiring specialized knowledge like healthcare and financial planning.

The article outlines five promising advice-as-a-service business models:

• Purchase assistants (e.g., PayPal’s Honey)
• Decision guides (e.g., MyFitnessPal)
• Concierge services (e.g., Resy)
• Personal advisers (e.g., Hims & Hers)
• Life domain partners (e.g., Policygenius)

What’s particularly compelling about this approach is how it allows companies to monetize expertise they’ve already developed. For example, the article mentions how a public health organization built a behavioral health coaching app that attracted over 100,000 active users in its first year by leveraging its medical expertise and carefully cultivating partnerships with social media influencers.

However, the advice-as-a-service model faces growing challenges. Recent research from Forrester indicates that 65% of consumers are increasingly concerned about advice bias when the entity providing recommendations also sells products or earns commissions. This potential conflict of interest wasn’t fully addressed in the McKinsey analysis but represents a significant consideration for companies pursuing this strategy.

Strategy 2: Embedded Services

The embedded services approach integrates consumer-focused products or services directly into a company’s core platform. The authors highlight how these integrations solve a critical consumer pain point: the frustration of navigating multiple websites to complete related tasks.

The McKinsey research identifies four types of embedded services business models:

• Single feature/single journey platforms (e.g., Grubhub)
• Multiple features/single journey platforms (e.g., Kayak)
• Single feature/multiple journey platforms (e.g., Shopify)
• Multiple features/multiple journey platforms (e.g., Amazon)

The article shares a case study of a global travel company that established a trip insurance business embedded within its reservation system. This venture generated significant EBITDA by the third year while also boosting core travel business revenue.

What’s particularly valuable in this section is the emphasis on creating win-win ecosystem dynamics that benefit both the host platform and the service provider. However, the article could better address the growing regulatory scrutiny facing embedded service models. Recent research from Stanford Law School shows that embedded financial services, in particular, face increasing regulatory challenges around consumer protection and anti-trust concerns.

Strategy 3: B2B2C Businesses

The B2B2C model involves collaborating with business customers to deliver products or services directly to consumers. This approach helps bridge the gap between manufacturers and end users, addressing consumer decision fatigue by making it easier to purchase products normally sold through intermediaries.

The McKinsey authors identify three primary archetypes for B2B2C business builds:

• Marketplaces connecting merchants with consumers (e.g., Etsy)
• Aggregators combining multiple B2B companies on one platform (e.g., ClassPass)
• Vertically integrated platforms providing direct-to-consumer access (e.g., Warby Parker)

The most compelling case study in this section involves a medical-device manufacturer that built an app and website connecting patients, providers, and products. This venture generated $25 million in annual run-rate revenue within three months of launch and helped the manufacturer gain 4% additional market share for one product line.

The authors recommend three strategies for successful B2B2C builds:

• Look for areas where the industry is underserving consumers
• Leverage partnerships for rapid scaling
• Explore novel operating models

While these recommendations are sound, they understate the execution challenges. Research from Deloitte shows that 67% of B2B2C initiatives fail due to channel conflict with existing distribution partners. This risk requires careful management that wasn’t fully explored in the article.

Implementation Challenges and Organizational Considerations

The McKinsey article provides excellent strategic guidance but could offer more perspective on implementation challenges. Building new B2C businesses requires organizational structures, talent, and culture that differ significantly from traditional corporate environments.

Research from CB Insights indicates that corporate new-venture building faces unique hurdles: 58% of corporate ventures fail due to misalignment with core business incentives, while 43% struggle with talent acquisition and retention. These challenges deserve greater emphasis when considering B2C business building.

The authors briefly touch on the need for “flexible operating models that are more pliable than the ‘mothership’ model,” but greater detail on governance structures and talent strategies would strengthen their recommendations. According to research by Alexander Osterwalder, successful corporate ventures typically require dedicated teams with separate performance metrics, autonomous decision-making authority, and specialized talent.

Selecting the Right Path Forward

The McKinsey authors conclude with three exploratory questions to help CEOs determine if B2C business building is right for their organization:

• Is there an opportunity to leverage core assets to fuel revenue growth in adjacent areas?
• Does the company have underutilized assets, such as proprietary data or customer relationships?
• Could these capabilities transfer to consumer markets, thereby diversifying the revenue base and creating long-term customer stickiness?

If the answers are affirmative, the authors recommend choosing among the three pathways based on the company’s strengths and offerings:

• Advice-as-a-service for companies with specialized knowledge consumers trust
• Embedded services for companies that can integrate complementary offerings into existing platforms
• B2B2C for companies that can create value by connecting directly with end consumers

This guidance provides a useful starting point, but executives should also consider their organization’s readiness for business building. According to research by Rita McGrath, successful corporate venturing requires a “discovery-driven planning” approach that differs markedly from traditional corporate planning processes.

The Future of B2C Business Building

Looking beyond the insights provided in the McKinsey article, several trends will likely shape the future of B2C business building:

• AI-powered personalization: Companies that combine proprietary data with advanced AI capabilities will create increasingly personalized B2C experiences that are difficult for competitors to replicate.
• Ecosystem partnerships: As technology complexity increases, successful B2C ventures will increasingly rely on partnership networks rather than building all capabilities in-house.
• Regulatory navigation: Growing regulatory scrutiny around data privacy, consumer protection, and platform dominance will create both challenges and opportunities for new B2C businesses.
• Sustainability integration: B2C businesses that authentically integrate sustainability into their offerings will gain competitive advantage as consumer preferences continue to shift toward responsible consumption.

Conclusion

The McKinsey article makes a compelling case that B2C business building represents a significant growth opportunity for companies across sectors. The three pathways outlined—advice-as-a-service, embedded services, and B2B2C—provide practical options for companies looking to diversify revenue streams and establish direct consumer relationships.

However, success requires more than just identifying the right strategy. Companies must also address organizational readiness, talent requirements, and governance structures to execute effectively. They must navigate potential channel conflicts while creating truly differentiated consumer experiences.

Ultimately, the most successful B2C business builds share a common trait identified by the McKinsey authors: they solve genuine consumer pain points. In a market where consumers are overwhelmed by choices, bombarded by advertising, and fatigued by inflation, businesses that simplify decision-making and improve customer experiences will generate sustainable growth.

As CEOs consider their growth strategies, B2C business building deserves serious consideration—not as a standalone initiative but as part of a comprehensive approach to transformation that leverages existing assets while building new capabilities for the future.