Emerging-Tech Scouting Sprint for a Family-Office Innovation Fund
Overview
What this challenge is about.
Per sector, map the landscape (around 30 active companies, segment by stage + business model + technical approach). Score companies on a technology-readiness-level (TRL) + commercial-readiness matrix. Run 8 founder interviews per sector (16 total) probing: defensibility, customer-acquisition motion, hiring constraints, fundraising trajectory. Identify 5 worth deeper diligence per sector (10 total), with a 1-page rationale each. Author 2 sector-thesis memos (8 pages each) framing the GPs' investment posture: where the value accrues, what the disconfirming evidence would look like, 18-month watch metrics. Deliver: landscape maps, 16-interview synthesis, 10 1-pagers, 2 sector-thesis memos.
The Brief
What you'll do, and what you'll demonstrate.
Produce 2 emerging-tech sector theses + 10 diligence-ready companies for a USD 80M innovation fund's next quarter.
Earning criteria — what you'll demonstrate
- Map emerging-tech sectors with TRL + commercial-readiness rigor
- Run founder interviews that probe defensibility + go-to-market
- Author venture theses with explicit disconfirming-evidence sections
- Communicate emerging-tech bets to non-technical GPs and LPs
Program Fit
Where this fits in your program.
Sharpens the same skills your degree expects you to demonstrate.
Skills
Skills you'll demonstrate.
Each one shows up on your verified credential.
Careers
Roles this prepares you for.
Real titles. Real skill bridges. Pick the one closest to your trajectory.
Product Manager
PMs who can run emerging-tech scouting sprints and write defensible sector theses cross into venture, corporate-innovation, and product-strategy roles.
This challenge sharpens
- emerging-tech-scouting
- venture-thesis
- innovation-management