Matches startups with community problem owners for bounded discovery and experiment design, explicitly separate from procurement, investment and endorsement.
Where this idea came from
Playbook entry
M-T1-BV-22 · Rotary Startup Collaboration Event
Theme
Theme 1: Attraction & Visibility · Subtheme BV: Business Visibility
Source material
Existing checked Theme 1 guide
Linked playbook entry
M-T1-BV-22 · Rotary Startup Collaboration Event
Why a club might use this
Community organisations can explore new approaches safely and startups learn from real needs without extracting unpaid insight or personal data.
Use it when
Early-stage startups, social enterprises, community organisations, users, technical advisers and support services. Use when problem owners have specific challenges suitable for discovery.
Before the club starts
Published non-procurement terms, IP boundaries, conflicts and selection criteria.
Problem briefs exclude sensitive or live personal data.
User participation, accessibility and reimbursement approach agreed.
Capacity guide
Likely cost
$$ — facilitation, access and user participation support; pilot funding is separate.
Lead time
8–12 weeks.
People
5–7 organisers plus problem owners, users and startup teams.
How to put it into practice
Detailed implementation steps for Rotary Startup Collaboration Event
Step
Action
Suggested owner
1
Prepare community-owned problem briefs with harm and exclusion constraints.
Collaboration curator
2
Invite and screen startups for relevance, conflicts and conduct.
Selection team
3
Run facilitated discovery tables led by problem owners and users.
Table facilitators
4
Draft only bounded experiment concepts with owners and stop conditions.
Mixed teams
5
Choose whether to explore further under a separate written pilot agreement.
Problem owner
Controls and safeguards
Participation creates no tender advantage, investment offer or Rotary endorsement.
Startups cannot collect user contacts, record sessions or reuse insights beyond agreed terms.
HIGH — procurement perception, idea or insight extraction, user privacy and startup promotion require explicit non-transaction terms.
What to measure
Problem briefs matched with relevant teams.
Follow-up: Return the problem owner's outcome within five working days; delete event-only data and require a new agreement before any prototype or user contact.