This is the third installment in our blog series exploring Silicon Foundry’s full suite of offerings and the thinking behind each one. In this post, Managing Director Farzin Shadpour breaks down The Collectives, an immersive and tailored membership program for senior leaders and executives to benefit from a peer-based environment focused on advancing strategic initiatives. In this Q&A, Farzin unpacks why The Collectives are relevant now, how the offering bridges a critical gap left by traditional accelerators, and how it can ultimately accelerate innovation through clarity, connection, and community.
What inspired Silicon Foundry to create ‘The Collectives’ and what gap in the market does the offering aim to solve?
In recent years, corporations have come to understand the value and power of open innovation and outside-in perspective. While they continue to invest in their own R&D and product development, they’ve realized the importance of looking beyond internal resources for ideas and solutions. There’s significant value in scouting the market, especially in engaging with startups, to uncover new innovations and approaches.
As a practitioner in this ecosystem, I’ve seen firsthand, along with many others, that the open innovation process goes beyond simply interacting with startups. It also involves engaging with peers, whether they’re in the same function, the same industry, or working in entirely different sectors with distinct perspectives on innovation. Through these conversations, unexpected opportunities often emerge to learn from one another and benefit from shared experiences.
That insight led us to recognize a clear need in the market and to create a program that brings together all the essential elements of open innovation in an intimate and curated format that goes beyond accelerator programs and broader industry events. The Collectives enables corporations to connect with startups, explore new ideas, and engage in peer-to-peer exchange, ultimately allowing them to learn from and support each other’s innovation journeys.
Why do you believe The Collectives is particularly relevant right now?
This is especially relevant right now because, in the past, many corporations viewed open innovation primarily through the lens of accelerator programs. While they found some success and value in these programs, they were often left unsatisfied. The reason is that traditional accelerators are designed with startups at the center. All the activities, programming, and offerings revolve around supporting the startup.
Corporations were typically invited to observe, to sit on the sidelines and watch the process unfold. While they did gain some insight from this “spectator” role, they weren’t actively involved. They weren’t on the field, so to speak. As a result, the value they received was limited and marginal.
With The Collectives, we took a different approach. We designed the program from the ground up with the corporation as the central focus. In this model, the corporation is the athlete, the one in the arena. Every element of the program, including activities, research, programming, and connections, is centered around common innovation interests and industry-wide priorities, yet tailored to align with individual needs of our Members.
What are some of the common questions leaders have during the intro phase to The Collectives?
There are a few common questions we hear. One of the main ones is: what benefits come from being part of the community as a whole, versus what’s available to individual practitioners and corporations? The answer lies in the dual nature of the program.
As a community, we provide shared value. We conduct research and make the findings available to everyone. We host in-person experiences open to all members. We also showcase startups broadly, giving everyone exposure to emerging innovations.
At the same time, we offer bespoke programming tailored to each member’s unique needs. We call this the “Discover and Engage” model. Each corporation can come to us with a specific opportunity or challenge they want to solve. In response, we scout the market to find startups and solutions that directly address their prompt, and we make curated introductions. This part is entirely private and not shared with the broader group.
So, the program includes both an open innovation layer where members benefit from collective insights and shared experiences, and a personalized layer where members can tackle specific goals using targeted resources. It’s this combination of community and customization that makes the offering so effective.
Can you share a favorite anecdote or example where this offering really made a difference for a client?
Sure, I can share a few examples. At one of our early events, two corporations, one from the food industry and the other from the postal services sector, connected over last-mile logistics opportunities. That conversation led to a joint pilot project with a startup aimed at increasing customer visibility and driving engagement. This illustrates how bringing together innovation practitioners from different industries or functions can uncover shared opportunities. Sometimes, different perspectives on the same challenge can lead to mutual benefit, as was the case here. Their pilot is now underway, and we look forward to seeing the results soon. It’s a strong example of both the power of community and the value of peer-to-peer networking.
On the bespoke side, we recently worked with a large manufacturer that wanted to explore automation solutions for their operations. They came to us with specific areas they wanted to improve. In response, we scouted the market to identify startups offering targeted automation technologies. We introduced them to several relevant companies, and they’re now in the process of testing those solutions with the goal of integrating them into their operations.
What’s something you personally learned or found surprising while building or delivering The Collectives?
What I’ve learned is that people don’t want more; they want less. If you search for a market map of startups in a particular area, say, last-mile delivery or renewable energy, you’ll often find charts filled with over 100 logos. These become overwhelming and nearly impossible to interpret. They’re essentially visual noise and what I call an eye chart.
The key insight is that less is more. Whether we’re producing research, market maps, or articles, our goal is to provide clear, concise insights. Corporations are incredibly busy. They’re coming to us for help, not for homework. A chart with over 100 logos does not offer clarity; it creates an extra task. They now have to research each tiny logo, try to understand what each company does, assess relevance, and determine which ones are truly valuable.
What’s far more effective is to curate. Offer just a few high-quality, relevant examples, maybe four standout startups addressing a specific challenge. That delivers real value. It helps the corporation quickly understand what’s out there and which solutions might apply to their needs.
They don’t need to know there are 40 players in a space. They need to know which four are worth paying attention to. That’s the difference between information that educates and a pile of data that overwhelms.
The peer-to-peer community of The Collectives offers an environment where corporates can also hear the feedback and assessment of startups from others, which expands their thinking of application opportunities.
How do you see The Collectives offering evolving in the next 12-18 months?
I see us continuing to grow the two Collectives we currently have, The Collective // Energy + Utilities and The Collective // Supply Chain, by adding more members. These members are global players from a range of industries, all with a vested interest in these topics.
For example, in the Supply Chain Collective, we’ve brought together retailers, logistics providers, manufacturers, and CPG companies. In the Energy Collective, we have energy generation companies, utilities, and large-scale energy consumers. One of our newest members, a major telecom company, surprised me with the fact that they consume 1% of the entire country’s electricity. That’s a staggering amount. Naturally, they’re deeply invested in the future of energy and energy transformation.
Looking ahead, I envision us launching additional Collectives focused on other key topics. Stay tuned. We’ll be announcing those soon.
If you could give one piece of advice to a corporate leader considering The Collectives, what would it be?
It comes down to the value proposition we’ve created. It’s been intentionally designed to be highly compelling for corporations. For a relatively small membership fee, members receive significantly more value than they would by spending the same amount on, for example, hiring an additional scout or associate. With that individual hire, they’d gain only a fraction of the insight and learning. In contrast, a Collective membership offers a comprehensive, holistic view of the subject area, along with the ability to commission bespoke research tailored to their specific needs. The return on investment is far greater.
What excites you most about working in this space?
What excites me most are the connections we’re able to create. Of course, I’m passionate about the topics we explore within the Collectives, the startups we engage with, and the events we organize. But the greatest satisfaction comes from bringing people together.
It’s incredibly rewarding to see, for example, a Japanese innovation leader in one industry connect with a French counterpart from an entirely different sector. These are individuals who, because of geography and industry, might never have crossed paths. Yet through our platform, they not only meet but often form meaningful friendships and collaborative business relationships. Watching those connections grow into partnerships that benefit their organizations, their companies, and the broader ecosystem is what makes this work so fulfilling.
