Jon Nordmark
Co-founder of Iterate Studio
Kick-starting Innovation
Through Startups
Once the administrative stuff is out of the Startups in the Digital How Startup
way, we get ready to test run the startups
solution. If it is a digital test for the Web Age Communities can
or mobile, we turn on an A/B split test
platform. Within a day to two weeks, Do you think innovation in todays Help Large Enterprises
we usually know whether the business age is very different from 10 or
15 years ago? Is the nature of
Innovate
impact is positive, neutral, or negative.
innovation changing? Often we see innovation
If the test worked, weve found a great
match for the enterprise. It also gives departments that are quite
Yes, it is vastly different. Research has
us great confidence in recommending isolated in big organizations.
shown that the cost of developing a digital How do you foster a culture
the startup technology to other clients. startup has fallen from approximately $5 of innovation throughout the
If we see the test works for one website, million in 2000 to approximately $5,000 organization?
we know that there is a high likelihood as of 2013. There are a number of factors
that it will work in sites that are similar. behind this. When I started eBags in Innovation cant be done in an isolated way,
We really believe that the best thing the 90s, we had to buy, provision, and on an island. The only way innovation can
to do is to test and try things rather supervise tons of hardware. And then, we take up firm ground is when it has CEO-level
than talk too much about technology. had to write all our software from ground support. There needs to be a requirement
The methodology is a bit different for up, in fairly difficult languages. We had to coming from the CEO that business units
tests in physical environments, but the hire people with the specialized skills to must work together seamlessly. Take the
philosophy is the same. configure those servers and write that case of Jeff Bezos. He is a big supporter of
code. We built our own fulfillment systems, innovation and he talks about innovation all
our own A/B test platform, our own Content the time. But, he does not just talk about it
Management System, our own product Amazon committed $15.4 billion to R&D
Our success rate is review system. So, 10 years ago, it was in 2014, ran 1976 website tests in 2013, and
above 80% for testing heavy commitment to labor and hardware they tend to acquire 2 to 6 startups each
expenses. Much of that has just evaporated year. It is outspoken and loud.
online technologies. with the advent of the cloud. Now those
systems are readily available through SaaS
services, off the shelf. Access to speed has
increased. Automation has also removed Our new website
What is the percentage of a lot of technical work. All these things in
innovations that make it from
combination have significantly brought
Iterate.ai has indexed
proof-of-concept?
the cost down in the last ten years. Lower more than 130,000
Our success rate is above 80% for costs combined with explosion of angel
testing online technologies. We also and crowdfunding networks has also startups.
have a high success rate on finding helped create a global baby boom of digital
technologies that will satisfy challenges startups and a potpourri of opportunity for
agile enterprise executives.
presented by enterprises from How can companies compete
stopping suicides to removing standard with giant companies who spend
POS systems from retail checkouts to billions of dollars in R&D?
creating mashups of video technologies.
We have a broad reach across the
The cost of developing The most effective way is through the
emerging technology ecosystem, plus a digital startup startup community and Im saying this from
my experience. Companies should take
spend a lot of time trying to find the right
startup technology that could solve a has fallen from their own route when it comes to innovation
companys problem hence the high including the startup community. Tap into
success rate.
approximately $5 it. On Iterate.ai, a new innovation service
million in 2000 to our company just launched in alpha, we
have indexed more than 130,000 digital
approximately $5000 as startups around the world. The investment
going into those startups money, time,
of 2013. effort, and knowledge is in the billions
of dollars. Equaling or exceeding the $10
Kick-starting Innovation through Startups
Digital Startups are Blossoming Companies need startup curators, to help them
The cost of developing
a digital startup has fallen from Discover new digital technologies from
approximately $5 million in 2000 to all over the world
approximately $5,000 as of 2013.
There are somewhere between 100,000 and Validate business claims made by the startups
400,000 digital startups around the world. in an unbiased and technology-agnostic way.
How Companies can Compete with Tech Giants by Leveraging the Combined Potential of Startups
A startup identied by
Iterate helped companies
Iterate works closely speed up their website Iterates new
performance by up to website Iterate.ai
with 45 startups,
semi-closely with 100 35%. has indexed
and is aware of more than
hundreds more. 130,000 startups.
Jon Nordmark
billion R&D budgets operated by each of One of our Boston-based startups, which How many entrepreneurs and
the GAFA companies (Google, Amazon, has raised nearly $50 million, increases the startups do you work with?
Facebook, Apple). It is just that the global speed of websites and mobile sites by 35%
community of startups needs to be on average. This translates to about a 16% Over the years, we have been exposed to
organized, tested, and deployed quickly, revenue per visit increase. In May 2015, our thousands of startups, but Iterate Studio
as if they are initially created within an in- tests helped the startup replace its primary now works closely with approximately
house lab. If you embrace this distributed competitor a $10 billion incumbent in 45 startups. We work semi-closely with
startup community, you are embracing three large enterprises. Now, many more another 100, and we are aware of hundreds
an R&D effort on the level of GAFA. The tests are lined up based on those results. more. Our new website Iterate.ai has
startup community can be your digital lab indexed more than 130,000 startups, and
or greatly enhance it. What we are trying we can dive into that database in search of
to do is organize this disorganized startup digital solutions. We are also beginning to
community, so they can be engaged and One of our Boston- use Iterate.ai to automatically pair enterprise
embraced a lot easier by large enterprises. challenges with startup solutions. For any
based startups, which executive trying to work on the cutting
edge or even remain relevant in todays fast
has raised nearly $50 moving digital ecosystem, it is critical to be
If you embrace this million, increases the aware of the startup landscape, to be able
to connect dots on the fly, and to do it in a
distributed startup speed of websites and scalable way. Those are services we are
Jon Nordmark
Co-founder of Iterate Studio
Jon Nordmark is co-founder of Iterate Studio a company that discovers and curates
disruptive technologies from startups for large companies. Iterate Studio works with
thousands of startups and helps large enterprises conduct rapid proof-of-concept
experiments to quantify the impact on their business. Jon is also Chairman of eBags.
com and sits on the boards of Colorado Innovation Network, and one of Eastern
Europes premier Tech Accelerators. Prior to Iterate, Jon was the founder and 10-year
CEO of eBags an online bags and travel accessories portal which hosts 36 million
shoppers each year. Between eBags and Iterate, Jon was an advisor and investor in
dozens of startups many of which were graduates of TechStars (Boulder, Colorado)
and Founder Institute (Silicon Valley, California). Capgemini Consulting spoke with Jon
to understand how large enterprises can harness the innovation potential of startups.
About Capgemini
Capgemini Consulting is the global strategy and transformation Now with 180,000 people in over 40 countries, Capgemini is
consulting organization of the Capgemini Group, specializing one of the worlds foremost providers of consulting, technology
in advising and supporting enterprises in significant and outsourcing services. The Group reported 2014 global
transformation, from innovative strategy to execution and with revenues of EUR 10.573 billion. Together with its clients,
an unstinting focus on results. With the new digital economy Capgemini creates and delivers business, technology and
creating significant disruptions and opportunities, our global digital solutions that fit their needs, enabling them to achieve
team of over 3,600 talented individuals work with leading innovation and competitiveness. A deeply multicultural
companies and governments to master Digital Transformation, organization, Capgemini has developed its own way of working,
drawing on our understanding of the digital economy and the Collaborative Business ExperienceTM, and draws on
our leadership in business transformation and organizational Rightshore, its worldwide delivery model.
change.
Capgemini Consulting is the strategy and transformation consulting brand of Capgemini Group. The information contained in this document is proprietary.
2015 Capgemini. All rights reserved.