Craig Stark's insight:
Most startups I have worked with assume that the first line development work will lead to an investment round- basically a "miracle happens here" stage leading to massive success.
I always try to frame this with" is this investable AND by whom?" The most familiar path may be straight grind with no success in finding funding.
Accelerators are typically gated and the vulture capital unique to them is also out of reach. So why take a lower, similar route with fewer chances of success?
We are looking to Open Innovation models to avert this funding grind. We start by pairing companies, sponsors and technology partners to find validated, investable needs which then are backed by the process.
This model flattens out risk and generates a new line of IP, which can be shared by diverse groups of interested parties. Startups get broken down into raw skills and experience, then applied in functional, business driven teams.
This process gets rid of the credit card debt phase, the grind of validating needs, the MVP in a vacuum and the agony of pitching for angel funding.
We aim to help drive IP based technologies into scalable, global markets.