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.
