Entering a new domain with a determination to excel? It’s crucial to possess comprehensive industry knowledge, understanding the intricacies, and being capable of driving innovation to overcome challenges.
Wouldn’t it be advantageous to have a guiding presence illuminating your path towards excellence?
Highlighted in this edition of The Enterprise World’s Enterprising Companies of the Year is EarlyBirds, a company equipped with the necessary tools to assist you on your journey.
Before delving into the interview with Kris Poria, Co-Founder and CEO, here’s a brief overview of the company.
Company Overview:
The Early Birds Marketplace functions as a Business to Business (B2B) platform designed for Innovators (including Startups, Scaleups, and mature companies) and Early Adopters to engage in early value exchange. Innovators have the opportunity to list their innovations, ranging from Minimum Viable Products (MVPs) to fully developed products or solutions, and configure offers starting from US$ 500 up to US$ 25,000 for each sale.
Early Adopters can browse and purchase innovations within their industry and business functions based on the specific business outcomes they provide. Additionally, Early Adopters can list Challenges on the marketplace to solicit potential solutions from Innovators. The platform offers escrow capabilities to mitigate risk for both parties and provides a feedback mechanism for all involved.
Interview with Kris Poria:
“Success is not merely a destination but rather a journey encompassing personal, professional, and spiritual growth.”
Brief us about your company and what inspired you to start it.
Kris Poria, Co-founder of EarlyBirds, identified a market gap for large companies to collaborate with startups offering innovative solutions. Recognizing the need for a platform to bridge this gap and facilitate value exchange between startups and early adopters, Kris, along with his business partner Jeff Penrose, launched EarlyBirds.
EarlyBirds is a global platform connecting tech innovators, startups, and independent experts to share knowledge and expertise, accelerating business growth. The platform offers capability solutions within a trusted networking environment, allowing businesses to quickly address technical challenges with expert solutions. Additionally, EarlyBirds provides innovation programs, products, and services to keep companies informed about global market trends. Subject matter experts are also welcomed onto the platform to collaborate with customers and deliver business-focused outcomes, enhancing the innovation lifecycle and expediting the development of products and services.
What are the company’s primary products or services, and how do they differ from others in the market?
EarlyBirds focuses on transforming organizations into self-learning entities by:
- Facilitating continuous learning across all business functions.
- Providing rapid solutions to business and technical challenges.
- Exploring disruptions, including new technologies, processes, and models.
- Addressing Wicked Problems.
These objectives are achieved through the EarlyBirds Ecosystem, which comprises Innovators, Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), and Early Adopters, utilizing the platform and innovation programs – the Challenger and the Explorer. The Challenger program is designed to tackle individual business or technical challenges, while the Explorer program offers ongoing innovation as a service to the entire organization.
EarlyBirds’ platform boasts access to over 3 million global Innovators, with a network of over 100 SMEs and more than 600 organizations registered on the platform.
EarlyBirds provides two options to the market – a Self-Service platform subscription allowing customers to search for Innovators and identify solutions or innovations for their challenges, or SME-assisted programs to deliver solutions to any business or technical challenges, or provide ongoing innovation as a service.
Tell us about your team.
The founding team of EarlyBirds consists of Kris Poria, Jeff Penrose, and CFO James Palmers. Each member has extensive experience in global markets, ranging from small to multinational organizations. In addition to the founding team, EarlyBirds boasts a specialized technical team and Subject Matter Experts who are highly regarded in their respective industries, as well as 14 advisory board members. Together, the team possesses profound expertise across three primary focus areas: Early Adopter, Innovators, and Subject Matter Experts, spanning various industry sectors.
Brief us about your professional experience.
Kris has established his own businesses and worked across sectors such as ICT, Media, Real Estate, and Education. He has also provided assistance to clients in sectors including Public Sector, Financial, Energy, and Education, among others. Kris has held various roles ranging from Software Engineer to business leadership positions and has gained experience working in Asia, Europe, the US, and Australia.
What are the key accomplishments of your business journey?
EarlyBirds is dedicated to fulfilling its purpose of “Engaging Society in Actionable Innovation.” We have developed the Edzlity framework (Edge and Agility), designed to assist organizations in becoming Self-Learning entities. Our ongoing focus is on enhancing our platform, products, and programs to align with this objective. To date, we have successfully established a comprehensive ecosystem, encompassing over 3 million innovator organizations, more than 100 Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), and over 600 organizations utilizing our platform. We have secured partnerships with tier-1 public and private sector organizations in Australia and are actively expanding our reach.
Can you share a notable client experience?
We collaborate with prominent public and private sector organizations in Australia, including two of the top 10 ASX listed companies and various large public sector agencies. Feedback from our clients indicates that we are instrumental in accelerating their innovation capability, enhancing speed, and addressing complex challenges through our platform and frameworks.
