Finding startups
and scale-ups
How do you look for good startups and scale-ups?
For any innovative organization, partnering with startups and scale-ups seems like an interesting strategy. We believe it can certainly add value, as a cooperation partner or customer, as a participation or acquisition, or to get ahead of a threat of industry disruption. We are happy to help with an ‘investment thesis’ for the corporate.
Identifying interesting startups in an early phase can become a distinguishing factor. But if you want to work with startups, you first have to know how to find them. You can of course wait for startups to register with you, but you can also actively seek out startups.
Databases
A number of tools and databases are available for free or as freemium. These can be very useful to scout for a particular type of founder or startup. These databases offer a list of (Dutch) startups and are therefore a good starting point. The disadvantage of the databases is that they are not complete (especially startups that have not yet raised funding are missing), they are available to everyone and therefore also to competitors and it is difficult to assess the quality of the startups.
How we can help you scout relevant startups
We are startup analysts with a background in conducting market analysis for (or about) startups. We use a combination of tools and channels, including our own software and startup database, to find good startups. In addition, we have a large network in the Netherlands, including at the technical universities. This enables us to find startups quickly.
It is not our goal to find as many startups as possible. It is our goal to find good startups that fit the search criteria.
Typically, our process is as follows:
- We create a search profile for (types of) startups based on your needs;
- We search directly for good startups and approach organizations (such as incubators, accelerators and hubs) that themselves have a large network of relevant startups;
- We will identify startups, make a quick assessment of whether the startup is relevant and good, and prioritize the startups;
- We share our scout results and progress periodically (weekly summary) or real-time;
- We can approach the contact person ourselves or provide the data to you. If we approach the contact person, we will always send a personal invitation.
Depending on the scope of the search we can make an estimate of how many startups we think we can find.
