Who hunts startups?

What will the oil company do here?

Hello!

You are on the Gazprom Neft blog, or rather, the part that is responsible for the Gazprom Neft gas station, service for cargo carriers and sale of small wholesale fuel to industrial and agricultural enterprises, as well as storage and delivery of fuel for industry consumers. . For some time now, the product of our company is not only fuel, we are working closely on new non-fuel (and sometimes digital) products for customers. Development, data science, backlog, product team are now quite familiar words even for our vertically integrated oil company (it sounds a bit creepy, right?).

We have teams that create services, applications and platforms for clients. And we have accumulated experience and development, and receiving feedback, and errors. What are we going to talk about? Not only company news, but also specific stories about products, product development, how the company checks the quality, and even about the hockey club!

Corporations hunt for startups. Effectively?

The company has been working with in-house product development for 2 years. We will be sure to talk about what products for customers there are and how they work, but about them later. Today is about launching StartupDrive corporate accelerator.

Of course, you know about acceleration programs, and that startups are usually gathered there, they are taught, they learn a lot, then they meet with mentors (not always relevant), then they take out somewhere in a crowd, then they learn again require as much as possible pivots, loud numbers for headlines and often - a complete separation from their business.

Acceleration in itself has many negative side effects for developing innovation or transforming a company. But more often, the structure, processes, culture and people in corporations are not ready, not motivated and do not know how to work with startups that go through the acceleration program, and it is more logical to focus on other forms and tools for the development of innovations, primarily within the company. We have launched this process - with internal development. Today, Gazprom Neft employs more than 20 food teams, at the same time it has become clear that it is necessary to more actively go to the external market, where strong companies work. As a result, developed a program.

StartupDrive was created as a tool for developing a joint business for a startup and for a company. It will help residents to promote and refine their ideas for a specific customer segment, expand the sales channel, and companies to expand the digital product line.

Acceleration program - does not mean learning, general coworking or coliving, because the urgent task is to earn, to take the maximum market share in a short period. And we leave everything that does not develop the business of the participants outside. The work will be built according to understandable principles: a business customer with a curator from the company and residents build a roadmap of product or solution development, target hypotheses are defined, and then we test clients on-line and evaluate performance, including sales.

It should be understood that investors are investing in startups that do not work according to the “design office” principle, but who have a solid team, clear ambitions in the market, and also show time-to-market product development and rapid growth. And now more about what the startup gets from participating in the accelerator:

• Client assets (by the way, Gazprom Neft has over a million transactions daily only at gas stations)
  
• Ready-made products that can be integrated
  
• Understanding the market and business processes in a corporation
  
• Help from specific curators of the company's business
  

So, the first program was launched for 3 months. The first selection was not public, but this does not mean that the participants were “native startups” - they selected startups and demo day through various competitions, connected scouts and partner accelerators and foundations.

According to the results of this selection, out of 200 projects, 26 were interviewed, with which they conducted in-depth interviews. At the interview, in addition to questions about the product, the team and users, they learned, for example, about the average check per client, revenue and profit for the relevant period, they also asked about the amount of investment in the startup and the costs that the company incurs, and also many important questions the next 2-3 years. Six startups have become participants - they are developing technology products in the areas of freight, taxis, car sharing, as well as in the field of urban automotive infrastructure.

Who entered the first program StartupDrive

An IT platform using machine learning to find parking spaces in urban settings for car drivers — developed by ParkWise . The service is already popular in Germany and the USA.

The creators of the online platform Guru taxi , which helps drivers quickly find a car to work in the field of taxi, will promote the service for Gazprom Neft customers.

Carsharing is actively developing in megacities. And Rent a ride is a service for renting a car for personal trips and travels. The service allows you to rent your own car.

Service for a quick call of a tow truck - Cartaxi - is actively used in Russia in 360 cities, and plans to enter the markets of Belarus, Kazakhstan, the USA and Saudi Arabia.

The solution for car enthusiasts who are not ready to wait for a long receipt of insurance payments - Neos .

Also the participant was the team that created the platform for the transportation of goods. Shipit.to is a smart solution for cargo tracking during transportation using predictive analytics.

A couple of tips for startups who would also like to participate in accelerators or become a partner of a large company:

1. Participate in pitches
   
2. Immerse yourself in the business processes of the company, understand who the customers are, what the company earns, what products are in the basket (look not only at the site, but analyze the situation in depth)
   
3. Prepare a presentation about yourself and your product.
   
4. Take part in contests and events, and remember that there may be representatives of companies that do not advertise their participation
   
5. Write in social networks, post articles on available resources.
   

Program participants focus on a specific result, for 3 months it is necessary to show in partnership the effectiveness of the partnership. Together with the start-up teams, the company will be engaged in customer research, the development of new business models, flexible product development, and unit-economy. Business metrics, which will determine the success of the project, developed jointly and in advance. For example, 200 new customers using the service or 100 new orders a day. Different participants have different metrics relevant to their business.

How to get into the accelerator?

A new set starts in the fall. The application can be submitted via the form on the website of the accelerator startupdrive.ru. But we must be prepared for the fact that a startup and our fuel business must have mutual value and benefits. Our goals are to develop the ecosystem of the supply oil business, turn a gas station into a service hub and develop a line of digital products or services for customers.