From a worldwide open call to five enriched finalists

Client

Date

$14B+ European multi-utility group

07/2024

The challenge

A $14B+ European multi-utility group created a corporate venture-building unit and opened a worldwide call for venture ideas. Because the unit was new, nothing existed to judge the intake with: no ranking criteria, no scoring scale, no way to set an idea from one sector against one from another. The submissions and the deadline arrived regardless.

The solution

FifthRow set up the screening and enrichment capability the venture unit ran across its open call. A batch of externally submitted ideas goes in; a ranked shortlist comes out, scored on parameters and weights the unit set itself, with the strongest concepts enriched into evidenced cases a selection panel can decide from.

27 ideas

screened in the first two batches alone

5 finalists

enriched to a decision-ready standard

Ranking methodBuilt to the unit's own parameters and weights

Intake handlingExternal submissions assessed in batches as they arrived

Shortlist depthPersonas, simulated interviews and feature sets per concept

Selection pack5 finalist reports on one standard

01 — RANKING CRITERIA DESIGN

A new function's first problem is not which ideas to back, it is what "good" means. Before any submission was scored, the unit's own view of a promising venture was turned into a scale that could be applied consistently.

Core Activities

Turned the unit's stated priorities into scoring parameters and agreed weights
Set a single scale so an idea from any sector could be placed against any other
Built a suitability score reflecting what the group can actually resource and launch
Tested a further dimension against real submissions and removed it once it proved redundant
Left the finished model with the unit as its own screening standard

The Results

A ranking the unit could defend to its own selection panel, expressing its strategy rather than a generic scoring template, and calibrated against real submissions before the intake closed.

1 scale

ideas from any sector compared like-for-like

02 — BATCHED INTAKE SCREENING

An open call does not arrive all at once, and waiting for it to close would have spent the calendar. Submissions were screened in batches as they came in, each batch scored on the same model as the one before it.

Core Activities

Scored each batch of external submissions against the agreed ranking
Returned a ranked list per batch rather than a single verdict at the deadline
Held every batch to identical criteria, so early and late entries were comparable
Ran expanded reads on individual submissions where the unit wanted more before deciding
Fed the ranked output straight into the unit's own internal review

The Results

A ranked view of the intake that stayed current as the call ran, so the unit's internal reviews worked from evidence rather than from a reading backlog.

external ideas scored in the first two batches

03 — CONCEPT ENRICHMENT

A ranked list narrows the field but does not settle anything. The concepts that survived screening were built out far enough that a panel could judge the opportunity rather than the pitch.

Core Activities

Took the leading concepts from a submission form to an evidenced case
Built synthetic personas for the customers each concept would have to win
Ran simulated interviews to pressure-test desirability before any real-world spend
Set out feature sets and the shape of the offer behind each concept
Reworked and expanded individual concepts on request as the unit's thinking moved

The Results

Concepts a panel could compare on market and desirability rather than on how well each had been written, with the reasoning behind every read attached.

concepts taken from a submission form to an evidenced case

04 — FINALIST SELECTION PACK

The last step was the one the whole competition calendar pointed at: a set of finalist cases, built the same way, in front of the panel in time for the selection date.

Core Activities

Produced a finalist report per shortlisted concept, to one structure
Delivered the full set ahead of the unit's final selection date
Supplied standalone market reads to an adjacent team in the group off the same capability
Designed the landing pages the unit needed to take concepts in front of real users
Handed the ranking model over as the unit's standing screen for its next intake

The Results

A final selection made from five comparable, evidenced cases, and a screening method the unit kept for the next call rather than rebuilding.

finalist reports the selection panel decided from

What it proved

A worldwide call for venture ideas met a function that had existed for months. One scoring scale was agreed and calibrated against real submissions, including a dimension that was tested and dropped. Twenty-seven ideas were scored in the first two batches alone, with later batches held to the same criteria, and the leading concepts were built out with personas, simulated interviews and feature sets. Five finalist reports reached the selection panel on one standard, inside the competition cycle the unit had planned for.

What the unit came away with is a screening standard it owns. The parameters and weights are its own, tested against a real intake rather than designed in the abstract, so the next call starts from a working model instead of the same blank page. The wider point is what the unit was able to attempt at all: a new function with a small team could open a call to the whole world, because the work of reading, ranking and enriching what came back no longer scaled with the number of people it had.

Results

Metric	Benchmark	Result	Improvement
Screening method	None. The unit was newly created and had no criteria	One scale, built to its own parameters and weights	Criteria in place before the intake closed
Comparability across submissions	Ideas from different sectors judged case by case	Every idea scored on the same scale and weights	A ranked field rather than a set of opinions
Intake throughput	The unit expected to need a couple of weeks to work through the ideas by hand	Batches screened as they arrived	Screening kept pace with an open call
Selection evidence	A panel comparing submissions written to no common shape	5 finalist reports built to one structure	One evidence standard behind the decision

CRITERIA BEFORE INTAKE

A new venture function's first deliverable is not a shortlist, it is a defensible definition of what it is looking for. Agreeing the scale before submissions are scored is what makes the shortlist arguable afterwards.

WEIGHTS CARRY THE STRATEGY

A scoring model expresses whatever its weights say it does. Setting them with the unit rather than for it is what made the ranking theirs to defend in front of their own panel.

A DROPPED DIMENSION IS CALIBRATION

One scoring dimension was tested against real submissions and removed once it proved redundant. A model that sheds a dimension on evidence is better calibrated than one that keeps every idea anyone had for it.

SCREEN IN BATCHES, NOT AT THE DEADLINE

An open call arrives over weeks. Scoring each batch as it lands, on identical criteria, keeps the ranked view current and stops the whole reading load falling due at once.

ENRICH BEFORE SELECTING

A panel choosing between submission forms is comparing how well each was written. A panel choosing between evidenced cases with personas and tested desirability behind them is comparing opportunities.

THE SCREEN OUTLIVES THE CALL

The ranking model stayed with the unit after the competition closed. The durable output of a one-off call is the standard it leaves behind, not the shortlist it produced.

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