Innovation Pipeline Desk / Financial Services Desk
BANKS, INSURERS AND ASSET MANAGERS
Innovation Pipeline for Financial Services: Fintech Pilots That Survive Vendor Risk Review
The fintech demo went well. Then third party risk asked for the security report, the business sponsor moved to another role, and the innovation lab has nothing to show at the quarterly review except the demo recording.
The Financial Services Desk scores fintech and insurtech candidates on public production evidence, writes the vendor risk path into every pilot brief, and ties each problem to a business sponsor who signs it.
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Financial Services Desk
What the Financial Services Desk works on first
These are the problems this desk hears most from banks, insurers and asset managers. Your Mandate Brief sets the real list; each one gets a named owner before any candidate is scored.
| Problem the desk hears first | What the desk returns |
|---|---|
| Client onboarding and KYC time | Candidates with a named regulated customer, scored against the onboarding step your sponsor wants shorter. |
| Claims and servicing operations | Candidates mapped to one claims or servicing queue, with a yes or no success test from your own queue data. |
| Advisor and analyst research work | Candidates scored on the data they read, the review they need, and who in the business runs them after the pilot. |
| Back office reconciliation | Candidates for one reconciliation, with the cost ceiling and kill date set before scoring. |
Same four parts on every desk
How the Financial Services Desk works
PART 01Mandate Brief
Your mandate rewritten as three to five problem statements, each with the business owner who asked for it, the budget line it draws on and the date it matters by.
Check: every problem statement names an owner who agreed to it in writing.
PART 02Scout Sweep
Startups, vendors and internal ideas found against each problem statement, each with a dated link to public evidence that it runs in production somewhere.
Check: every candidate row has a source link and the date it was read.
PART 03Screen Scorecard
Every candidate scored against the eight rule rulebook below and marked pass, hold or drop, with the rule and the evidence behind each mark.
Check: every mark cites a rule number and a source.
PART 04Pilot Briefs
The strongest candidates written up as one-page pilot briefs: the success test, the internal owner, the cost ceiling, the security path and the kill date.
Check: each brief has a success test the business owner can mark yes or no.
What correct looks like
The Screen Rulebook: eight rules every candidate has to pass
Named owner of mistakes: Mike Rodgers. If a row marked pass fails a rule on facts that were public when it was scored, it is rescored or replaced within five business days at no charge, and the miss is counted in the next monthly report.
- It maps to one written problem statement with a named business owner.
- It has public evidence of production use, such as a named customer, a case study or a filing, dated within the last 24 months.
- Its pilot cost fits under the ceiling the owner set before scoring began.
- Its data path is known: what data it touches, and which team reviews security.
- It has a success test the business owner can mark yes or no when the pilot ends.
- It has a kill date, set before the pilot starts.
- Someone inside is named to run it after the pilot if it works.
- Every mark cites its source and the date it was read. Nothing passes on a vendor's say-so alone.
What stays with you
What your people keep owning
- Your innovation leader owns the mandate and signs off the problem statements.
- Your business owners decide which pilots start and which get killed. The desk recommends; it never decides.
- Procurement, legal and security run their own reviews. The desk hands them the brief and the evidence, not a verdict.
- You own every vendor relationship. The desk never contacts a vendor in your name without your written OK, and every file is yours to keep.
Not included
- Not a venture fund. The desk does not invest in, or take equity or fees from, any company it scores.
- No pay to play. No vendor, startup or platform pays to be listed, scored or recommended.
- Not an ideation workshop, a hackathon or an innovation lab you have to staff.
- No build. The desk does not build, integrate or run the solutions it scores.
- No legal, security or procurement verdicts. Those teams run their own reviews.
- Not a startup database subscription. Output is documents and a board in your own tools.
Straight answers
Questions banks, insurers and asset managers teams ask.
- How does the desk handle third party risk management?
- Every pilot brief lists what the vendor would touch, the reports your risk team usually asks for, and whether the vendor publishes them. Your third party risk team makes the call; the desk makes sure they see it before a pilot is promised.
- Do you recommend vendors you have a relationship with?
- No vendor pays the desk anything, and none can buy a place in your pipeline. Every mark cites public evidence and the date it was read.
- Can the desk work with our existing fintech partnership program?
- Yes. Your partnership pipeline becomes one source for the Scout Sweep, and its candidates are scored against the same eight rules as everything else.
Start with one mandate
Request a Pipeline Health Check.
The Health Check report is yours to keep whether or not you go further. Sign the Sprint within 30 days of the report and the $2,500 comes off the Sprint in full.
Health Check $2,500. Pipeline Sprint $12,000. Then $3,500 a month.
The Health Check is a fixed price, returned 10 business days after the kickoff call. The Sprint runs six weeks. The Run is month to month with 30 days notice, and covers 10 new scored candidates a month, board upkeep and the monthly report.