Yesterday a group of Cisco execs led by Gary Moore and Phil Smith visited IDEALondon, where SPARKL is one of the sponsored startups. Gary is President & COO of Cisco Global. Phil is CEO of Cisco UK and Ireland. I reckon they whizz about importantly in corporate Lear jets closing international deals, advising on global politics, solving world peace and… oh you get the idea. But startup savvy? Surely not.

But wait a minute. Their visit was to check out the IDEALondon tech hub which has been up and running for 5 months now. I believe this was conceived in a fit of creative corporate madness by Phil and his co-sponsors at some random meeting a couple years back. Whatever - IDEALondon is now paid for and supported by three institutions (Cisco, UCL and DC Thompson). They select and sponsor startups to occupy space in the building, and then surround the delicate little flowers with business mentoring, relationship building, PR and marketing activities.

The complete genius of IDEALondon is how it serves the interests of both the corporate and the startup. Everyone’s heard this bit of rubbish: “We need to make this corporation more like a startup”. It’s like thinking you look younger after cosmetic surgery. We all know it’s better to just look 60 than 60 and carved up. IDEALondon captures what corporations do well and ties it to what startups do well. It’s nothing to do with a corporation trying to do startup - nor vice versa.

An analogy that strikes me is the gravitational slingshot effect by which planets can cause tiny spacecraft to accelerate without using precious fuel. For a startup the fuel - obviously - is cash. Startups that fail almost always look back and say “I spent too much too early”. Often the reason is that the enthusiastic entrepreneur simply underestimates the time and resources required to educate a market. Same applies whether it’s B2B or B2C.

For SPARKL, this gravitational slingshot acceleration has been in several distinct areas. First, in product development through relationships with Cisco technical marketing gurus. Second, by reducing spend and thus increasing runway - especially on office and marketing overhead. Third, by building relationship networks much quicker than we could do otherwise. Sure, the sponsors can keep a beady eye on business-relevant startups whose potential is suspected but not yet realized.

But the main thing they get is brand exposure along with great internal and external marketing resources and collateral. They run marketing events; bring politicians and major accounts around for tours; use it for internal team functions - and generally look damn good. The benefits that sponsorship delivers to a corporation, its shareholders, staff and clients are well known.

Image courtesy of IDEALondon