The timeworn entrepreneurial model of fund it, build it, sell it is getting turned on its ear. In recent months, we’ve seen a rash of big companies more usually known as acquirers dip into the entrepreneurial process at an earlier stage and in very public ways.
One of the most popular ways of doing this is in the form of contests that seek to harvest entrepreneurial ideas while rewarding the people behind with support, guidance, and, in some cases, cold hard cash.
Far from exhaustive, here’s a list of three initiatives to foster — and fund — innovation that give big companies new ways to speak to their customers. As to the question of whether these programs are gimmicks designed to garner PR, only time will tell.
MDC’s $1 Million Agency Challenge
Over the years, Toronto-based MDC Partners has positioned itself as one of the more creatively-focused public companies that own ad agencies. That rep is due to its prize possession, the famous Crispin Porter & Bogusky, and an acquisition approach that allowed agency founders to maintain meaningful equity positions in their babies — at least for a time. Last week in Cannes, CEO Miles Nadal and Chief Strategist Chuck Porter announced they’re seeking submissions from folks who have cracking ideas for a startup agency. The winner will get $1 million to make the idea happen. (And the winner will, naturally, lose 51% ownership in the agency to MDC in the process.) The window to enter will be open for three months and then Nadal and company will pick ten applicants to interview before choosing a winner.
Nokia Growth Economy Venture Challenge
At the end of July, Nokia will wrap up its Growth Economy Venture Challenge, a contest designed to bring mobile innovation to the developing world. The mobile phone-maker, whose strongholds are in developing places like India,, is looking for ideas for a mobile product or solution designed to improve the lives of people in those places. The winner, who will receive $1 million in venture funding, will come up with an idea that changes the way people use Nokia devices and does some good. Here’s the call for the entries.
PepsiCo10
Compared to MDC and Nokia, the beverage giant is looking for a concept that’s further along in development. PepsiCo10 is not a contest, really, nor wil it end up with a company getting funded. On the program’s website, Pepsi describes the program as an accelerator. Start-ups operating in four categories with $250,000 in funding and/or that much in annual revenue can apply to be part of the PepsiCo10 program. The categories are social media, digital video and gaming, retail and experiential marketing and mobile marketing. The ten shovel-ready, early-stage technologies that are chosen by Pepsi will receive a pilot execution of the concept and possibly activation across more Pepi brands. Other benefits include access to Pepsi brand teams and agency partners like the PR firm Weber Shandwick, exposure to VCs, the visibility that would come with taking part in a program like this and, coverage from Mashable, one of Pepsi’s partners in the program.
