VodafoneZiggo: Corporate startup engagement fosters success for startups and corporates

Engagement between startups and corporates is essential because it brings value to both. Such an engagement gives startups the opportunity to push their products, while in return corporates can offer a new product or service that their competition does not have yet. VodafoneZiggo, which has more than five years of experience in working with startups and is one of the first partners of Startupbootcamp in Amsterdam, facilitates corporate startup engagement through various pilots and partnerships with startups as well as with nationwide campaigns.

Corporate startup engagement

Corporate startup engagement fosters successful development for both startups and corporates: startups keep corporates sharp and are not inhibited by long term strategies or investments, hence, have the space to be disruptive. At the same time, corporates can learn a lot from startups – they can not only spot new products and services but also learn from their way of quickly validating customer interest and finding out what works and what does not, Max Kranendijk, Senior Innovation Manager at VodafoneZiggo, explained.

Besides, startups are passionate about their product or service and love to pitch their solution while at the same time that pitch is relevant for the corporate, Kranendijk elaborated. He also advised startups: “Don’t use the one pitch deck including the same unique selling points for every company by only changing the company name. A corporate is not just another corporate. Take the effort to do your homework and know what the strategy and focus areas of your potential partner are.” According to him, before pitching, startups really have to think how they can add value to the corporate because often one startup has to compete with internal innovations or fixed suppliers.

Kranendijk added that there are several important things that every startup has to bear in mind when approaching a corporate: first, you should know your target group and what you are willing to change in order to build a successful relationship. Also, you should choose the timing of approaching a partner wisely and decide on what you are looking for: “Do you want to co-develop a beta product or are you only looking for a sales partner?,” are among the questions that startups have to think about, according to Kranendijk.

Collaboration between startups and VodafoneZiggo

VodafoneZiggo has been trying to engage with promising startups for the past few years. It does this through a clear governance model which facilitates quick collaboration with startups and other partners so that they can pitch their innovative products and services. Usually, startups get feedback within one week and if VodafoneZiggo decides to proceed and build a partnership, the team can approve it internally within six to eight weeks. Then, the making of a contract follows – a “light contract for pilot agreements with startups” which depends on the size, impact, and risk of the cooperation.

Moreover, depending on the progress that a particular startup has made, VodafoneZiggo and other corporates can help to develop the prototype further or test it with real customers in order to validate the product market fit. “Depending on the readiness we can decide how big we want to launch or how to involve the customers. In this way, we can collect a lot of feedback which helps to develop the product or service further,” Kranendijk said.

VodafoneZiggo has already engaged with the following startups: KiGO, Blendle, and Tespack. “Moreover, we are one of the launching customers of FuelUp, a B2B startup search and match platform that connects corporates to startups.” One important factor for VodafoneZiggo when choosing a startup to work with is that there should already be a stable working product or service in case of a B2C focus. VodafoneZiggo also has its own channel www.vodafone.nl/plaza where more innovative products and services can be validated before being moved to mass market.

Intrapreneurs in Residence

As an Intrapreneur in Residence, Kranendijk has to select and filter possible potential startups and connect these teams with relevant internal stakeholders. Then, he has to inform the relevant stakeholders about the startups and check the startups with his innovation manager colleagues. In case of a probable partnership or pilot, he has to build a business plan with the help of the involved departments. These partnership options depend on the product and services of each collaboration and mainly on the core services which are included, such as connectivity or content. “For startups, it has great value when we push their products. In return, we can offer a new product or service that our competitors do not have,” Kranendijk explained.

Since VodafoneZiggo is a large organization with a lot of ongoing activities and projects, agendas are usually very busy. This is why the company has its Innovation Board Meetings every two months. “At these meetings we provide an update on the innovation initiatives and we can pitch new ideas and partnerships together with startups.” So far, the company has three possibilities for partnerships:

Light variant: placing new products in its online shops and promoting them through its channels;

Medium variant: next to online, selling the product or service through its own account managers and retail stores;

All the way: actively selling the product and integrating it in its core propositions.

Feature image by Shutterstock.