Assuming of course startups have built a product which solves a real problem, and assuming of course that market validation (through accelerators or other programmes) has been established, this would be the critical chasm most startups need to cross. the point at which commercialization happens, (as opposed to user acquisition). it's in getting these reference customers, the tipping point, which many flounder at.
there're many existing initiatives for this, the most prolific being MDeC's market development programmes. the challenge here is that many startups are not MSC Malaysia companies, thus don't get included in such programmes. nevertheless, when at MDeC, i'd initiated a programme which addressed the commercialization challenge two fold, both local reference customers and regional reference customers.
what we'd done (and to my knowledge still being done at MDeC), is to first find the opportunity. this was done by partnering with larger corporations and customers, and getting them involved in the solutions building. by having problem owners from these customer organizations in the same room as startups (MSC companies then), and throwing out their real world challenges, we invited solutions from these startups to solve these challenges. solutions the customer would adopt and fund. during that period (held over 5-6 days), startups would iterate their solutions towards what was needed by the customers, guided by the customers themselves. one way of looking at this is a form of market validation, or co-creation of the solution in collaboration with the customer thus leading to a much, much higher probability of acceptance of the solution by a paying customer.
in addition, traditionally, startups aren't considered by large customers due to their size and perceived stability. this was mitigated by stacking complementary solutions together, under the aegis of a larger solutions provider who'd be able to navigate the procurement and deployment stage, and the same time provide an umbrella to startups.
startups would thus gain a reference customer, and tremendous experience in real world deployment commercially.
there're many existing initiatives for this, the most prolific being MDeC's market development programmes. the challenge here is that many startups are not MSC Malaysia companies, thus don't get included in such programmes. nevertheless, when at MDeC, i'd initiated a programme which addressed the commercialization challenge two fold, both local reference customers and regional reference customers.
what we'd done (and to my knowledge still being done at MDeC), is to first find the opportunity. this was done by partnering with larger corporations and customers, and getting them involved in the solutions building. by having problem owners from these customer organizations in the same room as startups (MSC companies then), and throwing out their real world challenges, we invited solutions from these startups to solve these challenges. solutions the customer would adopt and fund. during that period (held over 5-6 days), startups would iterate their solutions towards what was needed by the customers, guided by the customers themselves. one way of looking at this is a form of market validation, or co-creation of the solution in collaboration with the customer thus leading to a much, much higher probability of acceptance of the solution by a paying customer.
in addition, traditionally, startups aren't considered by large customers due to their size and perceived stability. this was mitigated by stacking complementary solutions together, under the aegis of a larger solutions provider who'd be able to navigate the procurement and deployment stage, and the same time provide an umbrella to startups.
startups would thus gain a reference customer, and tremendous experience in real world deployment commercially.
we'd called this then our stacking approach, though programmatically it was known as co-creation: http://www.digitalnewsasia.com/digital-economy/mdec-employs-stacking-approach-to-create-greater-value
wash. rinse. repeat.