Tips for Aspiring Connectors
The InnoCentive Challenge referral program rewards potential Connectors like you for referring the winner of any Challenge. Use the referral tools to generate a unique referral link for any Challenge to send to your friends, family, or anyone else — if they win the Challenge, you receive a 10% referral award (up to $10,000)!
Since Ben Sikora’s blog post about his experience referring the winner of the Games for Health Challenge, subsequent Connectors have referred several more winners and shared Challenges with thousands of potential Solvers. We’ll be featuring more Connectors on the blog in the near future. For this post I’ve compiled some great advice and strategies used by successful Connectors. Follow these tips, and you can be in the running for a referral award on every Challenge — it’ll only be a matter of time until you refer a winner!
Focus on interests as well as capability
Capability is necessary but often not sufficient for solving a Challenge. Winning Connector Ben Sikora advises that “it isn’t about who you think is the smartest, most innovative, or even most creative (even though these help), it is about the interests of the people around you.” One clever Connector referred several solutions of the craft beer packaging Challenge by posting his referral link to Beer Advocate — an online community of craft beer lovers. For technical Challenges, a quick literature search will often uncover relevant papers with authors whose interests may be aligned with the Challenge.
