Below is our recent interview with Caty King from MarketBlast:
Q: Could you provide our readers with a brief introduction to your company?
A: MarketBlast is the premier Open Innovation platform where startups, professional developers, engineers, product manufacturers and innovators submit innovation to companies who are actively looking for new products. We are providing a place for product owners and companies to connect with one another—enabling companies to source innovation from all over the world, and affording innovators the ability to access industry-leading companies.
Q: Any highlights on your recent announcement?
A: We have partnered with the National Hardware Show to search for new innovation in the hardware and home improvement industry. The April show will feature an area called the HABITAT NEXT, powered by the United Inventors Association, where top buyers come to uncover innovations by inventors. We have set up a product hunt on the MarketBlast platform for the National Hardware Show, where product innovators can submit for the chance to present at the show. It is a really advantageous opportunity for startups, inventors, engineers, DIYers, and anyone else with hardware innovation.
Q: Can you give us more insights into your offering?
A: We want to make it really easy for companies to source the innovation they need in order to expand their product portfolios and stay competitive. We also want to give product owners the access they need to connect with companies. Bringing these companies and innovators together on one platform is changing the way open innovation is done.
Q: What can we expect from your company in the next 6 months? What are your plans?
A: We are just getting started. We’ve added an impressive number of companies and product hunts to our platform and that number is growing every day. We are always fine-tuning our features and the way we do things to ensure that we are providing the most valuable tool possible for both innovators and companies. We are listening to our users to find out what features they love and what is missing. We have some really interesting partnerships in the works with different companies and associations that are really going to elevate the MarketBlast experience for everyone.
Q: What is the best thing about your company that people might not know about?
A: Although our platform provides a place for companies to source outside product innovation, it also serves as a tool to manage these submissions. A lot of times companies may be open to taking outside submissions, but do not have an organized system in place to manage them. MarketBlast offers the setup and support for free and gives companies the ability to track all of their submissions, decisions, communications, and data. This is for the product hunts they list, as well as for the submissions that come through their website. It’s a really user-friendly system that makes reviewing outside innovation quick and manageable. There are just a lot of secondary benefits to using the platform that can really change the way companies view open innovation.