Skip to content Skip to footer
Idea qualification

Ideate2Innovate

P-ton Home Entrepreneurs Ideate2Innovate
Ideate2Innovate

Democratising innovation and kicking off new ideas

As early-stage company builders, we already get involved in the ideation phase. Ideate2Innovate is the qualification process we use to support idea providers in evaluating the marketability of their business ideas. In the Ideate2Innovate process, we work together with the many experts from our network and thus achieve very valid results.

Ideate2Innovate is divided into four phases: the collection of ideas (Gather), the first vote (Vote), the building of a team and the creation of a first business plan (Focus) and the “celebration of ideas” with which we conclude the evaluation (Pitch).

Icon

Gather

Collect start-up ideas and start a gather and pre-evaluation process.
Mehr erfahren
Icon

Vote

Using collective intelligence to gauge market fit and team interest.
Mehr erfahren
Icon

Focus

The right people find each other, focus on the idea and develop a business plan for it.
Mehr erfahren
Icon

Pitch

Decide together in the P‑ton group which ideas should be accelerated in the Company Builder.
Mehr erfahren
1.Gather

Collect start-up ideas and start a gather and pre-evaluation process

01

New ideas

Gathering ideas - both internal and external.
02

Pre-Evaluation

Pre-evaluation of ideas based on a 42-question system.
03

One-Pager

Selection of the best ideas and creation of a one-pager.
04

Distribution

Output of the one-pager to the network of over 100 P‑ton members.

Idea phase

In this stage, we are open to all new ideas. The ideas can come from P‑ton members or from external sources.

We ask that anyone with an idea fills out an online questionnaire. Here we have gathered 42 questions that can help us easily understand what stage the idea is in, what experience the founder(s) have and what level of support is required from P‑ton in order to maximise the potential.

Once we have gathered all the submitted ideas, we pre-evaluate the ideas based on our 42 point criteria. For example: “Who are the Top 3 Competitors?” If a lot of research has already been done, the idea receives a maximum of 2 points. If the question is left blank or no research has been done, the idea receives 0 points. If an answer has been submitted, but it is not clear or vague or not quite justifiable, the idea receives 1 point.

An idea can receive a maximum of 84 points, but we have added 12 red-flag questions. The idea will not be considered further, if we see issues with key gating criteria. There might be some issues, which we should only accept if they are easily fixable by our contributions. For example: “Does this idea socialise digitalisation?”. If the answer is no and we do not see a way of adapting the idea to meet this criteria, then we cannot continue exploring this idea.

During this pre-evaluation process, we are not evaluating the core content of the idea. Instead we are creating gating criteria for us to filter the ideas and allow us to focus on the right ideas for P‑ton. To avoid any unconscious bias at this early evaluation stage, we will evaluate each idea twice and make the scoring transparent to all P‑ton members. In order to benchmark the answers, we will compare the scoring with the current scores of “completed” ideas like Rodinia, Ava, Ticktory and Press2Get.
P-ton-entrepreneurs
Would you like to learn more about this process? Contact us!
2. Vote

Using collective intelligence to gauge market fit and team interest

01

Review

One-pagers are sent to all P‑ton members for review and voting.
02

Net Innovation Score

Six key questions are used to vote on each idea.
03

Participation

If any idea resonates , then it will be evaluated accordingly and should be worked on further.

Voting phase

As part of the collection and pre-evaluation process described above, we select the best three to five ideas, which we actively distribute among P‑ton members.

Members receive a one-pager for each idea. This contains a summary of the idea and all relevant available information, e.g. images, pitch deck, business case, videos, etc. The one-pagers are sent to all P‑ton members for review and voting. Using a “Net Innovation Score”, we collectively determine a representative result.

Survey

Net Innovation Score

Voting on the selected three to five ideas is again done via a short survey with seven essential questions. This section of the process is very exciting because it is extremely mathematical and involves the concept of collective intelligence.

We collate all all of the submitted answers, using the Net Promoter Score model, adapted to our needs and rebranded as the Net Innovation Score. The NPS system is widely used in market research. It is not an exact science, but combined with the collective intelligence of all members, it allows us to move away from subjective bias and arrive at reproducible results.

With over 100 P‑ton members spread out all over the world, we have an amazing opportunity to gather a representative sample and insights into how good an idea actually is and what the market fit / size could be. This process allows us to truly digitise the social aspect of finding new ideas and democratises the ideation.

3. Focus

The right people find each other, focus on the idea and develop a business plan for it

01

Focus Groups

Everyone who signaled their interest in the idea will be invited to the focus group. Openes, honesty and innovation are key.
02

Idea Development

The idea will be developed to a point that the product is clear and investor readiness has been established.
03

Leaders & Team

Through the focus groups and idea generation, a natural group of drivers and leaders will develop.

Focus group phase

The list above is missing one last, probably the most important question: “Are you interested in joining the focus group for this idea?”

We allow members who want to further explore a particular idea to engage in focus groups.

In weekly or bi-weekly focus group meetings, the young idea is brought to investor readiness. The idea is taken apart and put back together with the goal of creating a business case, proof of concept, MVP and pitch deck as quickly as possible.

Focus groups can be dynamically populated: Some people may be most interested in the initial brainstorming phase, while others may see their strengths in startup and product development.

4. Pitch

Decide together in the P‑ton group which ideas should be accelerated in the Company Builder

01

Pitch

In a group event, online or offline, all developed ideas are presented. A celebration of ideas!
02

Evaluation

Decision time! The P‑ton management and core team makes the final selection of which ideas and start-ups will be included in the Company Building.
03

Company Building

When P‑ton decides to go all in on an idea, the full team and mechanism comes into play.

Decision phase

Once ideas have reached the desirable level of investor readiness, decisions need to be made about how to proceed. Hopefully time, distance and the geo-political situation will allow us all to meet regularly and celebrate our new ideas by pitching and sharing them with the full group of P-to members.

In step 2 ‘Evaluation’ it is important to select the right projects. Then we invest in the initial shaping of the ideas with our network. Based on this preliminary work, the P-ton team decides which ideas and startups will actually be built. Not all ideas submitted will make it to this stage. However, if P‑ton takes on a new subsidiary, this idea is accompanied intensively until it is spun off.

We are open for new

Do you have any questions? Contact us!

Let us know if you'd like to learn more about the Ideate2Innovate process or get involved!

Meet the team: Jürgen Hase | P-ton AG management board member
Your contact person

Jürgen Hase

CEO P-ton AG

Qualification process: Ideate2Innovate | P-ton AG