How to show your authentic self in your innovation fund application
This blog post was written by Rosie Afia-Ford, Senior Innovation Fund Manager, and co-created with Janet Shulist, Senior Insights Manager for Mastercard Strive.
Why is innovation necessary?
Innovation can be a hazy concept. But at its core, we understand that innovation means solving problems with new ideas, solutions, products, services, and processes. It can involve applying an existing system in a new context. Innovation is meant to drive positive and long-lasting change — but that’s not always guaranteed.
While digital tools and technologies often play a role, innovation doesn’t have to be tech-centric. As long as the process involves core characteristics, such as experimentation and growth, it’s innovation. It is about learning from setbacks and gathering information to create successful solutions. As such, there is always an element of risk, one that can come with a feeling that it “might not work out.”
Innovation is core to Mastercard Strive’s work. We support small businesses in building resilience and growth in a changing digital economy, and innovation enables us to test new approaches and solutions to reach our goals.
Through the innovation funds we’ve run to date, and following the recent review of applications to the Mastercard Strive EU Innovation Fund, where we received nearly 500 promising project ideas, we’ve had a chance to think about what made certain applications stand out more than others. If you’re planning to apply to an innovation fund or a similar competitive process, here are some top tips based on the strongest applications we reviewed.
How to communicate your idea or solution effectively in an innovation fund application
- Demonstrate how your idea is innovative.
What makes your solution unique? How does it differ from similar solutions, products, and offerings? Make sure to highlight whether the market is already crowded or nascent. Be honest and demonstrate your readiness to learn from others who are doing the same thing differently.
2. Be concise and not too technical.
Use straightforward language to communicate your most important ideas, as the people reviewing your application may have no prior knowledge of your idea or solution. Avoid jargon and acronyms that might be unfamiliar to some readers.
Longer answers are not necessarily better, so always aim for the word limit (or less). Use bullet points when possible, and include real-life examples and stories to articulate your ideas. For instance, describing a user journey — how a customer or user (even an imaginary one) would access and experience your product offering — is a powerful strategy.
3. Talk about catalytic capital and scale.
Generally, donors avoid distorting markets or funding projects that are unlikely to receive sustainable follow-on funding. Make sure to include information about your funding runway and plans, any match funding you’ve secured, or investors identified to co-fund or co-support your project. A well-explained plan for sustainable scale can temper some of the riskier elements associated with funding novel ideas.
Always outline plans for securing future funding and ongoing support needed to ensure that your project lasts beyond the initial investment. Mention potential collaborations with businesses, investors, community organizations, NGOs, focus groups, policy think tanks, and other partners.
4. Make the impact feel tangible, and highlight any measurement gaps.
Most innovation funding mechanisms are typically governed by a charitable entity, such as a US-based 501(c)(3) foundation. This means that as a basic requirement, any investment must have a charitable purpose. For the Mastercard Strive EU Innovation Fund, this meant we looked for applicants able to demonstrate their ability to contribute to social, environmental, or economic impact within the EU, particularly where impact focused on sustainable and equitable economic growth or financial inclusion.
Use both qualitative and quantitative measures to indicate the impact your solution will have. How will it improve lives or life? Be sure to address underserved segments, such as women and people with disabilities, as well as any risks in gathering the data or assumptions you’ve made.
5. Describe the activities you plan to execute and the risks associated with them.
Detail activities that will help you achieve your main goal and list any key milestones that will form the basis of the project development. We’ve found that 5 to 6 milestones for a 12- to 18-month project sounds right (if it’s a milestone-based project). It’s important to find a balance between being conservative with your timelines without being too unambitious. Avoid including events in your milestones that would likely be out of your control. For example, a long-term partnership with a major bank might take years to develop rather than a few months. All innovation projects have risks, so be honest about them and demonstrate you’re thinking and how you plan to mitigate them.
AI tools, like ChatGPT, can be an effective tool to clearly communicate project plans. However, make sure that the application permits the use of AI. We strongly discouraged the use of AI tools in our Mastercard Strive EU Innovation Fund application process, but this topic should be debated further.
6. Include the voice of end users/customers who will benefit from your idea.
Ensure that you mention how your end users — whether customers, small businesses, communities, or clients you work with — have been part of the design process of your project and how they can expect to benefit from your solution. If you cannot demonstrate benefits, showcase an example of a user journey and describe the profile of your target users/customers and how an “average user” would interact with your solution.
7. Always upload a pitch deck.
When reviewing hundreds of applications, it can be very difficult for reviewers to quickly understand how one application differs from the next. A pitch deck always brings an application to life. In our recent EU Innovation Fund application process, pitch decks were optional to make the process smooth, quick, and with few barriers to submission. While plenty of applications without pitch decks were shortlisted as finalists, we found that they did not score as highly in the review process.
We reviewed nearly 500 applications as part of our recent Mastercard Strive EU Innovation Fund. Those who included many of the above-mentioned elements in their applications generally scored higher than those who didn’t. These are useful strategies for anyone working on innovation-based projects to consider in their applications.
In the coming months, we’ll share more about the winning applications and their projects on our blog.
