Get Up-to $150 for Giving Ideas to Companies Through This Platform

Plot Twist: You even get paid if a company doesn't like your idea + Get a chance to work with Fortune 500 Companies! (Including My Personal Experience)

Photo by Giorgio Trovato on Unsplash

I wrote a few side hustle stories, but this one is different, probably unheard of to you. A side hustle usually requires a skill, i.e. freelancing > Graphic Designing, but this is different. Rather than selling a product or skill, you just have to research and gather information on a specific idea in an indexed manner. And who is your customer? Here comes the best part… “Fortune 500” companies (mostly). You can say, “I don’t even get a chance to work on a $5 task for another dumb customer,” but what I mentioned is happening.

“We help young professionals develop their problem-solving skills, earn money, and make a positive impact on the world’s biggest businesses.”

So the platform is Mindsumo, where big companies show up for an idea or advice that will help them grow or achieve a specific task. It is a “Crowd Ideation” company, I bet that’s new to your ears, that helps corporations with brainstorming, optimization and future innovation. Companies like Wells Fargo (Fortune 41, currently) are working with Mindsumo. This was all how it’s beneficial for corporations, but how will Mindsumo work for you as a problem solver? I already mentioned it provides companies with 3 broad solutions, but here comes your part because Mindsumo doesn’t have its own workforce, so it will be you that give them ideas. Mindsumo calls it a “Challenge” whenever a company is looking for ideas. You will find a list of currently active and already-done challenges on this page (Scroll down to find challenges). In a challenge, a company will ask about a problem in a questionnaire, of which you have to provide a possible solution, but it’s not just limited to a question, but the company describes it completely;

• “What is the company doing.”
• “What is the company looking for.”
• “Examples related to possible solutions.”
• “Deliverables (answer the following questions).”
• “How your idea should be aligned.”
• “Additional data (related photos)”
• & even more

Anatomy of a Mindsumo challenge — By Mark Eight

“75+ Fortune 500 companies have run challenges on MindSumo”

Also read;

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How to research & submit the idea?

After considering what the company wants from you in the idea, it drags us to the central part, researching for the idea. No! The idea doesn’t need to be just one in the world; you can take assistance from around the web. Divide the challenge description into bullet points and make notes (after research) for each bullet point. You can use google docs, combine points and make related paragraphs for each problem. You can also ask questions on Quora about a specific point related to the challenge. Many experts on that platform are working on almost every topic, and you can expect a good answer within 24 hours. After you have finished writing:

• Send the draft to the company by clicking the “I have an idea. Start drafting” button.
• Copy and paste your final research there, and then click submit.

Sometimes you may face a problem submitting your draft regarding the region, i.e. this challenge is unavailable in your region. No worries, you can use any VPN to evade that and send your draft without any complications.

Also Read;

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Earning Potential With Proofs & Examples

Every challenge has a time limit of 30 days (or more) for completion and two to four weeks for reviewing submissions to announce winners. Usually, the challenge prize is more than $1500. Think of researching an idea all day as a beginner, and the company didn’t accept it. Would your whole day be wasted? No, the twist comes here; you get paid even if the company doesn’t like it. Since it’s a crowdsourcing platform, the challenge submissions (number of solutions sent for one challenge) can be sent by multiple solvers. The challenge prize is actually a prize pool, for example;

• There is a challenge with a prize pool of $1600
• The “Top 25%” (some are even with “Top 50%”) will be selected from submitted submissions.
• Rewards will be divided into 3 tiers; Gold: “Top 5%” (will share $1000 equally), Silver: Next “Top 7.5%” (will share $400 equally), Bronze: Next “Top 12.5%” (will share $200 equally)

Also Read;

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Actual individual rewards will be based on the total number of eligible solutions.

Pedro’s Mindsumo Earnings and his note — Screenshot by Mark Eight

“Pedro earned $4,000 from 37 challenges”

Mindsumo problem solver’s recent cash out screenshot — By Mark Eight

Advantages

• Work from anywhere
• Since the company wants ideas and the internet is full of them, it might be easier for you; The main thing is to align all the research in one document.
• Get a chance to work with Fortune 500 companies.
• Can do this along with any other side hustle as there are a limited number of challenges active every time
• Great for students
• The average number of characters per submission is visible, so you don’t need to add more than that amount.
• Get paid even if you fail to attract the company with your idea. Still, the condition is your idea should be in the domain of requirements provided by the company.
• Minimum 15 minutes required to earn some money
• Get perks and discount codes through Mindsumo partnerships.
• The account signing-up process is straightforward and requires no payment or hassle.

My experience with Mindsumo & Why I recommend it?

I had a personal experience with Mindsumo in December 2021. I sent my draft, which was very detailed and had more than average characters, and there were 64 submissions for that challenge. The prize distribution was among the “Top 50%”, but unfortunately, I wasn’t selected under any tier. It was my first experience, and I didn’t continue because I started on medium, investing most of my time here.

This is the challenge I submitted my draft for

I believe if I had participated in more challenges, I would have been rewarded. The signing-up is simple and requires no verification, PayPal account or any other lengthy process. Considering all the factors, this is why I recommend it, and you should try it at least once. Comment if you are gonna try or have already tried this.

If you are reading this, means that you have reached the end of this story; loved it? Even a single clap will be obliged.

[I write article-lengthy topics in the shortest stories possible (usually about money & startup). “Lesser Commercial, More Informative”; You may follow me & join my email newsletter.]

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