SBIR Phase II: Web Enabled System to Assess, Mentor and Accelerate Startup Businesses

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop a Software-as-a-Service platform to provide Assessment, Discovery, Monitoring, Benchmarking, Comparison, and Promotion of early-stage companies, initially in the information technology and clean energy sectors, in order to provide scalable support with predictable outcomes for entrepreneurs. Guidewire Group is developing the underlying technology platform, assessment methodology, assessment training, automated work plans, curriculum, and portfolio management applications that enable startups and those that work with them to more effectively grow their businesses. If successfully commercialized, the application stands to significantly scale the delivery of business development and advisory resources to early-stage companies and deliver predictable outcomes that improve a company's likelihood of success. By aggregating assessed data on startups worldwide, the application will provide a global context that enables startups to compete more effectively in world markets and to connect more efficiently with a global Innovation Ecosystem that buys and sells services from and to startup companies. Moreover, by delivering the platform in conjunction with a suite of best practices curriculum and a global community of entrepreneurs, the platform will enable organizations that support and incubate startup companies to more effectively manage and map the training of their companies.