How This Startup Aims To Become The Google For Enterprise Solutions Startups should learn to identify the right pain points to collaborate and work with MNCs

Large corporate houses and MNCs are always on the lookout for innovative product ideas and talent. However, segregating the right technology amid an ocean of startups becomes difficult. Here is an innovation platform which connects the David to the Goliath in the technology space.

Hailing from the industrial town of Rourkela, Anup Sahoo along with partner Sanjay Sahoo decided to embark on a challenging journey of creating a B2B platform, which helps companies find business solutions by collaborating with technology partners and solution providers on demand.

Both Anup and Sanjay, who are childhood buddies, quit their cushy jobs at 3M and launched Ideapoke in 2011. "We were very clear about what we wanted to achieve; which was creating a platform that uses innovation as a service," Anup said.

When MNC meets small technology companies and startups

It takes enormous amount of time and resources for startups, who generally have limited amount of resources, to reach out to large corporate houses for a possible collaboration. Ideapoke steps in here and helps startups connect to the large corporates on their platform. Different kinds of technology exists today in packaging solutions, molecular solutions, design and others and this information can be searched easily and accurately on Ideapoke's platform.

"Corporate houses are generally looking for companies or startups that help them resolve R&D and technology related challenges," Sanjay said.

Anup said that corporate companies are always under pressure to come up with new innovation using minimal resources and budget. "Hiring resources is quite expensive for even a billion dollar company today. Companies are realizing that if they continue to stay within their four walls of R&D space, they would end up losing opportunities outside. People sitting at universities, startups and freelancers are capable of carrying out the same task and corporate companies are now willing to go external to adopt their technology," he added.

Speaking on what entrepreneurs should do to work with large MNCs, Anup said that startups should not target a company but rather target and identify a particular pain point of a MNC. "If you are solving the right pain point, you will end up collaborating with an MNC."

Being the Google for enterprise solutions

"Google is the single point of entry for information. But information on Google is structured under different companies; for example if you need to look for information on houses you opt for Magicbricks, Housing.com and other websites. However, Google continues to remain the gateway to access this data. Ideapoke is one entity under Google for information on technology," Anup said.

Today Ideapoke has over 1,80,000 companies, close to 3000 universities, 24 lakh technology listings and 2000 successful solutions. Its clientele includes a host of large MNCs like Loreal India, Britannia, Godrej, Coca Cola, Electrolux, to name a few. The company also crowd sources information from corporate companies