Methodology
TiE50 awards program incorporates standard multiple regression techniques combined with a comprehensive evaluation, screening and judging process. All processes are validated at various levels to provide a transparent, robust and fool-proof system.
1. Nominations : Any individual with one unique authentic email address can nominate any number of companies in any vertical. Companies can also nominate themselves. Nominating individuals must know the company being nominated and should be able to provide key contact details. Nomination is done online on the TiE50 portal www.tie50.net. Incomplete nominations or incorrect contact details automatically disqualify the nomination. No further contact will be made to the nominator. Successfully complete nominations are automatically confirmed by email. Thousands of companies representing virtually every technology hotbed community worldwide are expected to participate.
2. Qualification : Companies are first qualified by ensuring that they meet the criteria set for what constitutes a startup. To qualify, companies must be privately held. The qualification process is relatively loose and most companies that fit the general qualifications can be nominated.
3. Segment Expert Screening : A team of carefully chosen segment experts with direct domain experience screens the thousands of qualified nominated companies to downsize the list to about 100 per segment. This is completed based on a screening process with 3 screeners per vertical. Each panel of segment experts must complete screening all the nominated companies. Failure to do this would invalidate their scores. Scoring is done on each company’s IP, business model, and team. Each parameter is scored on a 10 point scale. Since scoring along these three parameters is objective, the panel’s individual scores are weight averaged for final screening results. The top 100 scores are picked as finalists. If the 100th score is tied, all such companies are also included as finalists.
4. General Judging Process : All finalists are then subjected to a higher level of diligence and screening by a much more experienced panel of judges. There will be 7 judges for each vertical segment. Judge identities are held confidential. A user-friendly judging interface allows judges to make notes, review company information multiple times, prior to submitting final scores. Judges are amongst the most experienced industry experts, CEOs and serial entrepreneurs with specific domain expertise. Upon final submission, the scores will be locked-in and validated.
5. Judging Parameters : Each company will be evaluated on three parameters – Business Model, IP Value, and Leadership Team. Each parameter will be scored on a 10 point scale. The interface will be very user friendly for judges to tag specific companies, make notes/remarks for them to go back later, and compare with other companies for any reason.
6. Confidentiality : Judges will work independently and will not know the scores or identities of the other judges. Judges’ identities, their affiliations, company representations, scoring patterns, and all information related to their participation in the TiE50 selection process will be held confidential and permanently archived for future internal reference.
7. Validation : All 7 judge scores are consolidated for all three parameters equally weighted. Multiple regression analytics are used. Final scores are further validated to eliminate extreme scoring patterns and the selection of the top 10 companies per segment. Individual scores are authenticated in written form with judge signatures and held on file.