Pilot Studio
What It’s All About
Pilot Studio is a joint offering from Silicon Foundry and Kearney, built to help large enterprises identify, pilot, and scale AI solutions, faster, with less risk, and with more strategic precision.
We bring together Silicon Foundry’s global startup access and Kearney’s deep operational expertise to cut through AI hype and deliver real outcomes. Whether it’s accelerating digital transformation, modernizing infrastructure, or exploring new growth bets, we move corporates from exploration to execution in weeks, not years.
Most corporate–startup pilots fail due to misalignment, slow timelines, and unclear ROI. We’ve built a model that fixes that. The result? De-risked innovation, faster time-to-impact, and a front-row seat to the technologies shaping a particular industry, without the overhead of late-stage competition or innovation theater.
Why This Matters Now
In the age of AI, speed and clarity matter, but most large organizations are stalled by internal complexity and external noise. With pressure mounting to deliver real AI impact across the enterprise, leaders are asking: Where do we play? Who do we partner with or invest in? When do we double down?
The truth? Over 90% of corporate–startup pilots fail to scale. Internal friction, siloed data, black-box models, and hype-fueled decision-making all contribute to missed potential and wasted momentum.
Pilot Studio was built to fix this.
It offers a methodical, proven framework to identify promising AI technologies that are aligned with key strategic objectives and test them—confidently, quickly, and at scale—before committing major resources. By piloting across multiple startups simultaneously, organizations gain real-world performance data, hedge risk, and make smarter bets with speed and precision.
What You Get
Pilot Studio delivers a hands-on, execution-focused approach to AI adoption, built for speed, scale, and business relevance. Each engagement includes a mix of strategic planning, curated startup matchmaking, and structured pilot delivery. Here’s what you can expect:
Opportunity Framing Workshops
Collaborative sessions with key stakeholders to identify business-critical challenges and map high-value AI use cases grounded in your strategic priorities and market dynamics.
Startup Discovery & Demo Days
A curated shortlist of AI startups sourced from Silicon Foundry’s global ecosystem, followed by founder-led demo sessions designed to stress-test capabilities, spark conversation, and surface best-fit partners.
Pilot Design & Execution
End-to-end support to scope, structure, and run your pilot(s), including goal setting, KPI frameworks, stakeholder onboarding, and agile sprint planning.
Governance & Compliance Support
Enterprise-grade templates, playbooks, and frameworks that ensure your pilot meets internal risk, procurement, and IT standards…without slowing momentum.
Performance Tracking & Results Reviews
Real-time dashboards and structured retrospectives to measure impact, gather feedback, and decide whether to scale, pivot, or sunset each pilot.
Scale-Readiness Planning
Business case development, integration planning, and change-management blueprints to help high-performing pilots transition from innovation to core operations.
Optional Add-Ons
Multi-pilot orchestration, cross-functional playbooks, post-pilot roadmaps, and ongoing startup ecosystem monitoring to feed your future innovation funnel.
Performance Tracking & Results Reviews
Real-time dashboards and structured retrospectives to measure impact, gather feedback, and decide whether to scale, pivot, or sunset each pilot.
Scale-Readiness Planning
Business case development, integration planning, and change-management blueprints to help high-performing pilots transition from innovation to core operations.
Optional Add-Ons
Multi-pilot orchestration, cross-functional playbooks, post-pilot roadmaps, and ongoing startup ecosystem monitoring to feed your future innovation funnel.
How It Works
Pilot Studio engagements are modular and customizable, tailored to your enterprise priorities. We provide strategic framing, curated startup sourcing, and hands-on pilot execution with clear ownership across every phase.
Our 6-step PILOTS methodology entails:
Engagements typically run 12–16 weeks, with optional multi-pilot tracks.
Why Silicon Foundry
Pilot Studio is delivered through a close, hands-on collaboration between Silicon Foundry and Kearney, bringing together two highly complementary skill sets to create one uniquely powerful offering.
Silicon Foundry brings unmatched access to best-in-class startups, emerging technologies, and strategic deal flow. Kearney contributes the operational rigor and enterprise-grade transformation expertise needed to scale effectively.
Together, we deliver a 360° solution, from identifying the right innovation opportunities to launching and executing high-impact pilots designed for real business value. This integrated approach enables our corporate partners to move from exploration to implementation in 3–6 months, with speed, confidence, and cost-efficiency.
Who This Is Built For
Pilot Studio is a strategic ally for leaders driving AI deployment and digital transformation, offering effective and efficient support to advance their corporate objectives. It is especially well-suited for:
- Chief Executive Officers
- Chief Innovation & Strategy Officers
- Digital & AI Transformation Executives
- Functional and Operational Business Leaders
- Heads of Tech, Data, and AI
- Venture and Partnership Teams
What It Looks Like In Action
Challenge
A leading financial institution aimed to accelerate digital transformation through AI partnerships but lacked the internal structure to identify and test startup solutions at scale.
Approach
Pilot Studio sourced, vetted, and executed 20+ AI pilots over 6 months, across credit risk, personalization, and AI-enabled training. We ran a structured process from use case identification to startup demo days, pilot execution, and post-pilot review.
Results
The client reduced their idea-to-implementation timeline from 18 months to ~3 months, gaining executive alignment and cutting costs while significantly improving speed to value.
