Experts in the Field: Uzair Shahid

Innovation Scouting for the Incubator Program

After launching an innovation program and structuring it, the next most important task is to scout for startups and innovations to join. Our first experience doing this presented a fair few challenges, stemming primarily from the fact that we were still learning the art of innovation support and that many of the entrepreneurs had not experienced an incubation program nor the benefits of one. This initial scouting provided invaluable insights and learnings that have gone on to inform best practices.

Our first goal was to receive applications. We developed an online form to procure information from candidates about their startups, intending to use this information to narrow down the applicants to the best and brightest. We quickly realized that this form was not fulfilling its intended purpose, rather, it added complexity and highlighted the lack of awareness on both sides. So we scrapped it. We simplified our vetting process by presenting applicants with only three questions:

  1. “What is the startup name?”
  2. “What problem are you trying to solve?” and
  3. “How are you solving this problem?”.

We believed that these three simple questions would elicit the core information about the features of their innovation.

Initial Screening

Our next step was to drum up applications. We reached out to colleges, universities, and the general public with advertisements in newspapers and online platforms. And, to our surprise, there was a flood of applications. By the time the deadline approached, the number of applicants rose to around 4,600. This was quite an astounding number of applications and we had the mammoth task of screening and processing them. By the time we were done with the screening process, the number of valid and legitimate applications was around 1800. Most of the applications that were dismissed were either incomplete or had irrelevant information. There were a considerable number of applications that had one-word answers, which gave us no choice but to reject them. We learned that to avoid this, you need to ask targeted and specific questions in an application form and set word limit requirements.

Phone Screen

The applicants that passed this first screening were then put through another vetting round, which involved giving them a quick phone call to discuss their idea and their availability for the final round. From these calls, we learned that many entrepreneurs were seeking guidance and knowledge on their startup journey. Based on this, we invited industry experts to assist us in assessing the applicants who made it to the final round, of which there were about 100. These experts were mostly entrepreneurs who had been through the process of setting up their own ventures and were in a good position to assist these aspiring entrepreneurs.

It was a cold December evening when we announced the first batch of 15 startups that were going to be part of our pioneer public sector incubation program. The excitement and sense of achievement was evident by our exhausted faces. After quite a few intense weeks of scouting and vetting, we were proud of the progress we’d made.

Lessons Learned

For subsequent scouting events, we studied the scouting models of leading global innovation programs and tailored them to our needs, just as we did with our incubation program. Since we were a public sector organization, we ensured that industry individuals were involved at every stage of the process and that any feedback and comments were taken seriously. With experience and iteration the process became automated and the time and hassle involved, from shortlisting applicants to making a final selection, was heavily reduced.

Scouting in the academic sector has its own set of unique challenges. In this case, we were dealing with students in a closed environment whose main focus was to tackle their course work and maintain their GPA. Maintaining the motivation of students at this stage of their lives and encouraging them to start their own ventures is key. We inspired them by regularly inviting alumni who had gone on to run their own startups, by hosting business plan competitions with cash prizes, and by emphasizing the importance of the journey from a project to a product.


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