The little startup pitching an idea or project to a major corporation with resources but sometimes only vague ideas for a project is a pretty standard image in the business world. In technology, it's especially true, since they may not even know what the rapidly growing opportunities presented by technology can do for them. Actually getting the two together, though, isn't always easy even for well-connected and massive companies like Monumental Media, comScore, The Washington Post, and major non-profits like NPR and PBS. That's why last week dozens of local startups came to SwitchPitch, where the big companies could give short presentations on the kind of ideas they hoped the D.C. tech scene could partner with them to create.
"Entrepreneurs can have a tough time connecting with big companies looking for a startup to partner with," said Michael Goldstein, a local serial entrepreneur who founded SwitchPitch.
Since the first SwitchPitch was held in D.C. last year, Goldstein has taken his events around the country leading to a dozen partnerships worth around 1.2 million. "It's a need we saw here firsthand," he said.
The eight presenting companies all wanted different things from the listening tech startups but they all shared certain key elements. Any tech startup looking for the kind of partnerships SwitchPitch promotes should definitely keep them in mind regardless of who is pitching whom.
1. Think Analytically
"How do we make this cooler?" asked Washington Redskins chief strategy officer Shah Shripal of the audience. The football team has plenty of data about how people use social media to talk about the football team, but applying that data to new projects is a lot more difficult. NPR has ideas about a personalized radio, but turning all of the information on what people listen to – and why – into a useful tool isn't straightforward. Big companies have big data, but that doesn't mean they know what to do with it. Tech companies that have ideas or ways of turning massive data collections into a useful way to measure and improve a brand will definitely catch the ear of big corporations. Or, as The Post's Angela Wong put it, "Some of content is going viral and we want to know why."
2. It's About Time-Saving
For Monumental Sports, putting out videos from the Verizon Center of the Wizards, Mystics and Capitals is a constant battle against the technical limitations of video rendering. "It's a volume issue," according to Randy Boe, who presented on behalf of Monumental. Finding ways to speed up the process would be a huge boon, rewarded with "Chick-fil-A sandwiches for a lifetime," he said. In different ways, the race against time applies to some of the other companies, too. Machine-learning to make automatic news quizzes at the Post are ultimately a way to improve content without extra work of making the quizzes by hand and even data analytics can often be thought of as putting together useful data more quickly.
3. Companies Aren't Always Sure What They Want or What You Can Do
PBS may describe what it wants as better brand recognition, but what does that mean? Enthusiastic sports fans may be looking to engage with their teams as much as possible, but how can the teams provide that to them? While there were some very fleshed-out ideas presented, it would be easy to come away with the idea that what big companies really want is a fresh take on their brand almost as much as a company that can actually create that new take for them. The companies may be just as uncertain about what's on offer from the tech startups. Ambitious new companies full of bright ideas pop up all the time, and the ones that see how to fit their product to the larger company's goals will be the ones that really strike it big.
That, of course, is the whole point of SwitchPitch.
"It can be tricky to navigate [to a partnership]," Goldstein said. "That's part of what makes SwitchPitch worthwhile."
Image via Twitter
