How Big Firms and Digital Invaders Can Flourish Together with the Internet of Things

By Mike Edmonds Managing Director, VP Product

A close-up of two people shaking hands in a dimly lit room, with a glowing light bulb representing an idea above them.

Big companies can flourish by forging relationships with smaller “digital invaders.” They just don’t always know how. That’s one reason I’m excited that Moonshot is collaborating with the Chicago Connectory. Together we’re going to help big and small businesses find ways to accelerate the Internet of Things (IoT) in Chicago.

As discussed in a press release, Chicago Connectory is the first Midwest innovation space dedicated completely to IoT. The idea of building a space for the IoT community to collaborate was developed by Bosch, and 1871, a hub for innovation.

It’s critical that large business and small businesses collaborate in areas such as IoT. As I blogged in December 2018, businesses across every industry I see are creating ecosystems of partners to be more relevant to their customers. Large companies realize that they either need to disrupt from within, find a partner to accelerate self-disruption, or be disrupted by someone else. Digital invaders can help them avoid becoming left behind. A start-up named Sampler, for example, partners with big players like L’Oreal Canada to help them get their product samples directly into the hands of consumers.

But startups can also learn from the incumbents, and herein lies the key to a successful relationship: symbiosis. For example, large players usually possess:

Marketing muscle
A broader pool of talent
Repeatable processes that help bring about scale and speed to market
A customer base from which to learn

IoT is ripe for big firms to collaborate with digital invaders. IoT is predicted to be a $520 billion market by 2021, according to Bain. But IoT requires an ecosystem of businesses coming together to manage IoT’s successful uptake across multiple industries ranging from manufacturing to retail. IoT is also perfect for development approaches such as design sprints that help businesses rapidly test new ideas in a way that mitigates cost and risk. For every IoT solution that gains market traction, there are many more than never see the light of day. This is where Moonshot comes into play.

As a member of the Chicago Connectory, Moonshot will apply the training and product expertise we have developed helping businesses develop successful products and experiences. For example, we have extensive experience using design sprints as part of our FUEL methodology for discovering, designing, and scaling products people love. We’ll provide the training and processes that will make it easier for businesses to collaborate on common solutions.

Stay tuned. We’re going to collaborate to spark innovation in the IoT!