Tech scouts must turn to tech to get the job done

Historically, Tech scouts were accustomed to forming relationships with entrepreneurs by traveling around the world to attend conferences and demo days in search of the latest and greatest technologies to fix the problems their companies were working to mitigate. Now they find themselves working remotely, trying to build relationships from a screen and asking themselves “How do I develop relationships with potential partners?” “How can I increase my awareness of emerging technologies when I’m not regularly mixing with others in the startup ecosystem?”.

These are just two questions COVID-19 has spotlighted. But the fact is, many traditional approaches to scouting weren’t working anyway. As innovators, it’s critical that we continue to do what we do best when facing challenges — creating solutions to meet the needs of the present and future.

A Potential Future for Tech Scouting

Finding the right process and tools to digitize and scale tech scouting is timely, and these two things go in hand in hand. There are a plethora of tools, databases and software platforms that exist, however, the real challenge is how to evaluate these potential solutions.

I believe technology, purpose-built for tech scouts and the innovation function, can help companies realize the following benefits:

1. Improve scouting efforts. Tech scouts can better spend their time on the innovators and startups that have the best potential of becoming a quality partner to meet the specific needs of their business leaders.
2. Expertise and knowledge. Scouts can gain a much deeper understanding of the startup ecosystem and share this data along with team insights about emerging startups and innovators in one place allowing for greater transparency across teams and organizations.
3. Time and efficiency. Scouting was a role that relied heavily on travel and in-person events. With the right toolset and process, internal and external data along with market research can provide a whole new level of strategic value to organizations in a more timely and cost-effective way.

The new day in the life of a tech scout may look drastically different from what it used to be. However, every participant in the ecosystem suffers if the system is inefficient. At Startgrid, we believe that if software-driven networks and processes can be used to expedite the rate of connecting problems to solutions, then everyone’s a winner.

Who Benefits

We believe modernizing the work of innovators benefits everyone:

• Product teams in business units creating competitiveness by driving revenue, reducing costs, and evolving core products and solutions
• C-level executives who want clear measurements on the work being done and the ability to capture market intelligence
• Startups, venture firms, accelerators, universities and other ecosystem participants who seek to partner with enterprises and strengthen their relationships across the ecosystem

But it doesn’t stop there. Developing more efficient ways to create and innovate will bring countless benefits to the people and institutions trying to address the problems and inequities the world faces today. Human rights organizations, nonprofits and governmental agencies will be able to better meet their purpose if we can improve the flow of innovation.