The study addresses an important literature gap concerning open innovation and startups. The purpose of this article is to deliver tools and guidelines for innovation managers to support their decision-making when aspiring to openly innovate with startups. The study proposes five spectra that show the variance across different collaboration on the following parameters for analysis: 1) investment required; 2) risk level; 3) corporate control; 4) Startup support; 5) ecosystem leverage. The article arrives at a simple weighted decision matrix to be used as a decision-guiding tool in determining the best choice of a startup-collaboration option from a corporate perspective. The research builds on a framework of references to previous literature and follows an explorative approach based on field research and design science research