The Future of Tech Scouting Is Now
Tech scouting is a common practice in companies that are looking to identify solutions that solve problem sets and drive innovation. Enterprise companies usually have a team that focuses on new technology sourcing that falls into the ventures or M&A group. Mid-Market companies may have a competitive intelligence team that focuses on this task or they may have no dedicated efforts at all. Whether you’re a large Fortune 500 corporation or a 200 person firm, tech scouting is essential for your business.
The problem with tech scouting as it is performed today is that it is very labor and resource-intensive. Groups of people spend their days attending conferences, developing deal flow mechanisms, performing market research, cold outreach and more trying to understand what exists and how those solutions could provide value to their business. Another problem is that most mid-market and enterprise companies don’t have the best access to cutting-edge technology and startups because they don’t have the infrastructure in place to find the best opportunities. This is one of the most common responses we receive when we are talking to clients. Most don’t know where to start and they agree that their existing efforts for scouting new technology are sub-par.
What is the solution to these pain points and archaic methods of tech scouting?
The formula is simple: Accelerator + Artificial Intelligence = 21st Century tech scouting.
Accelerators
Accelerators already have the global infrastructure in place to source cutting-edge technologies, and top-ranked established programs, have a decade of data on technology insights and market trends through early-stage companies. Plus, startups are already seeking Accelerators for opportunities, which allows businesses to leverage their relationships and brands to streamline their access to interesting solutions. Also, this infrastructure spans far beyond an Accelerator’s portfolio. The best programs receive thousands of applications each year and even more inquiries from startups looking to get into their programs. This access is unparalleled to any other type of organization.
Artificial Intelligence
The next step to modern tech scouting is machine learning. Data lakes of startups don’t provide any value for tech scouting unless you can build intelligence into your platform. By properly analyzing startup solutions through Ai, we can score rank and filter to identify the most aligned technologies that exist around the globe. This streamlines the sourcing and diligence process to a fraction of the time of traditional methods while finding businesses the most valuable options for problem sets.
21st Century Tech Scouting
This future of tech scouting is now and will replace existing methods and provide far more value to mid-market and enterprise companies and startups. Startups also receive a tremendous benefit to this new age tech scouting because it is aligning their solutions with new customers that they may not connect with on their own. This can help accelerate their path to product-market fit and generate revenue to grow their company, which is the ultimate goal of any successful startup.
If you are interested in discussing the next generation of tech scouting, please reach out to Capital Innovators and we can discuss how our startup sourcing can help you turn problem sets into pilot opportunities in 90 days or less.