Business Talk Features EarlyBirds’ Founders Amongst “Disruptive Leaders at the Forefront of Innovation and Strategy 2021”

Business Talk Magazine, features EarlyBirds founders Kris Poria and Jeff Penrose, amongst the Disruptive Leaders at the forefront of Innovation and Strategy 2021. As per the interview cofounders said “how they reached the point where we’re not searching for anything to do for ourselves, but rather how we can give value to our society. The idea and solution we have built, has come from the market challenge faced by both the founders.”

Kris had his new challenge while working for a big global systems integrator. At the same time, Jeff Penrose was working for a startup who had a unique idea that may have helped Kris with his assignment. However, due to a desire not to use an off the shelf solution, the company Kris worked for built a solution from scratch, which ended up being a waste of time and not enough value for money for the client. After the encounter, Kris and Jeff saw a gap in the market and recognised the potential to establish an open innovation ecosystem that would bring together disruptive startup, scaleup and mature innovators with early adopters, and subject matter experts.

To help organisations on their journey they have created ‘Edzlity’ as a framework to assist organisations to become Self-Learning organizations. Edzlity was born out of a desire for organizations to gain a commercial or technological edge while also having the agility to change with the market and capitalize on disruptive developments. They continually build capabilities and align their services to meet these aims using their platform, products, and programs.

The future objective of EarlyBirds is to realize its vision of ‘Engaging Society in Actionable Innovation.’ Using the Edzlity (Edge and Agility) framework, to achieve this goal. Through a variety of innovation efforts, this was designed to aid organizations in becoming Self-Learning organizations. “We will continue to develop solutions and align our services to meet these aims using our platform, products, and programs. As our civilization steadily automates the majority of fundamental human requirements, innovation will become increasingly essential, and we will continue to develop to enable it,” adds Jeff Penrose, COO and Co-founder.

Both Kris and Jeff believe that there is much to do in their roles to achieve their vision and goals. Kris adds that some of the more important things to do include engaging with true Early Adopters who fully understand the benefits of being innovative. This means moving on from ‘business as usual’, challenging oneself and one's organisation to actively work on gaining a business Edge and defining what it means to be truly Agile.

“When we meet these people there is instant chemistry and a shared understanding of what is possible. Once we achieve this understanding and engagement, we can provide them with the capabilities they need to achieve their own vision and goals,” shares Kris.

EarlyBirds aspires to build products and provide solutions that demonstrate clear value to businesses and startups. Kris feels the success behind the rise of a firm lies in understanding whom they are delivering to, respecting and listening to their stakeholders – Customers and their teams. “Once you think that you are here to serve them and make their life better, you don’t need to think much about what you need to do,” believes Kris.

EarlyBirds provides the market with two options: a self-service platform subscription where customers can find Innovators to help them identify solutions or innovations to their problems, and SME-assisted programs that deliver a solution to any business or technical challenge or ongoing innovation as a service. The assisted programs are known as Challenger and Explorer. The Challenger program is designed to tackle a single business or technological issue in a short period of time, whereas the Explorer program delivers continuing innovation as a service to the entire organization. The EarlyBirds platform now has over 1 million worldwide innovators, over 100 SMEs, and over 500 organizations enrolled.