The Ultimate Guide to Startup Scouting

A practical e-guide to find, validate, and engage the right startups so you can turn strategy into measurable outcomes.

Designed for Heads of Innovation, Open Innovation leads, Strategy & R&D teams in mid-to-large enterprises that need a repeatable, data-driven way to discover and qualify startup partners.

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Download the e-guide for free !

What you will discover

What you will get from this E-guide

・How to define clear scouting objectives and success criteria before you start.
・Ways to use data intelligently to cut through noise and increase accuracy.
・Why AI + human expertise beats keyword lists and manual Googling.
・A standardised screening workflow (from pitch review to evaluation).
・How to set up real-time monitoring to track a dynamic startup landscape.
・An iteration loop that improves match quality over time.
・When to tap open innovation and collaborative scouting.
・How to stay proactive and build a future-proof pipeline.

What makes this different from generic “lists of startups”?

It’s a process, not a directory: data-driven discovery, AI-assisted matching, and human validation to ensure relevance and quality.

How actionable is it?

Each step includes clear actions setting criteria, standardising screening, and establishing real-time monitoring so teams can apply it immediately.

Does it cover tools and workflows?

Yes. It explains how to combine platforms, filters, and team workflows to speed up evaluation while raising accuracy.

Is this for early-stage or mature programs?

Both. New programs get a blueprint; mature teams can plug in the iteration loop and monitoring to improve hit rates.

How does Novable fit in?

The guide shows where a hybrid AI + human scouting approach accelerates discovery and validation across 2M+ startups, with examples and KPIs.

We are proud of our 97% satisfaction rate

“Having a partner caring for the success of the project, daring to challenge and taking on responsibilities made a real difference. We can say that it was a success, and we received a lot of feedback on the quality of the participating companies”

Géraldine Doat
Corporate Innovation Manager, Framatome

"For our latest SCALE program, Novable managed to find 683 innovative companies, of which 72.6% were matching or exceeding our expectations. What's more, their iterative process helped us smoothly spread our outreach workload over the course of a month and a half. We were under a lot of pressure, and Novable never stopped delivering. Such a level of commitment to help us reach our objectives is rare."

Enya Steenssens
Senior Manager, PwC

"Our team scouts startups globally, and what we really like about Novable is that it doesn’t just surface companies, they’re vetted with a human-in-the-loop approach. That made a big difference, and we even brought some of these companies into our programs"

Tim Akgul
Head of incubation programs, Deutsche Telekom‍

"Each year we look for startups that are big enough to collaborate with Orange, based on a specific thematic. Novable helps us in this search, providing us with the right insights, and saving us a lot of time."

Ariane Chan
Open Innovation, Orange Belgium