Rolling a capability out to one cohort to prove it works costs a cycle and tells you less. Provisioning both live cohorts at once means the evidence arrives from the whole programme in the same window.
Back to all proofs
Agentic research capability powering an entire accelerator programme
Client
Date
$5B+ global travel technology group
05/2025
The challenge
A $5B+ global travel technology group runs an internal accelerator that takes employee teams from an idea to a reviewed business case. Every team hit the same wall: the research. Each sized its own market and read its own competitors with whatever method it had, so a business case reflected the team, not the idea.
The solution
FifthRow put one research capability behind an entire accelerator programme. A team's own question goes in - market size, competitive read, feasibility - and a sourced answer comes out, with a purpose-built system that turns a team's work into the one-page brief the programme's own review process asks for.
174
research studies run by the client's own teams147 seats
equipped across two cohorts at onceProgramme coverage147 seats across two live cohorts
CoachingWeekly, one standing session per cohort
Submission systemBuilt to the programme's own brief format
Evidence base5,299 sources analysed across the account
An accelerator's teams do not arrive in a queue; two cohorts were live at the same time. Access was provisioned across the whole attendee list in waves, so no team waited on another team's onboarding.
Core Activities
- Provisioned the full attendee list in waves as the programme supplied it
- Ran a programme-wide launch session with recorded walkthroughs teams could return to
- Made the capability available to both cohorts simultaneously rather than piloting on one
- Left the recordings in place so a team joining late did not need a live session
- Kept provisioning open as the programme's roster changed
The Results
An entire accelerator programme equipped at once, with every team able to start research on its own schedule rather than in a rollout sequence.
147 seats
provisioned across two live cohortsAccess is not capability. Each cohort got its own standing weekly session, so teams brought live questions from their real business cases rather than working from documentation.
Core Activities
- Ran a separate standing weekly session for each of the two cohorts
- Worked teams' live business-case questions in the session rather than demonstrating features
- Added a second weekly check-in with the programme's own organisers
- Adjusted what was shown week to week as the cohorts moved through their stages
- Held both cohorts to the same coaching cadence, so neither ran ahead on support
The Results
Teams using the capability on their own business cases within the programme's timetable, with the two cohorts progressing on comparable support rather than one being the test case for the other.
2 cohorts
each with its own standing weekly sessionEvery team had to produce the same artefact for the programme's review: a one-page brief. That was the point where research turned into a submission, and it was built as a system rather than left to each team.
Core Activities
- Built a purpose-made system that turns a team's inputs into the programme's own brief format
- Matched the output to the structure the review process already asked for
- Added an executive report build for teams needing more than the one-pager
- Announced it to both cohorts mid-programme so teams could use it on live submissions
- Kept the format consistent, so reviewers compared cases rather than layouts
The Results
Submissions arriving in a consistent shape across two cohorts, so the review process could compare the strength of ideas instead of the polish of documents.
1 system
turning any team's research into the programme's own briefOnce the capability was in the building, teams outside the accelerator started using it on live commercial questions. None of this was in the original scope.
Core Activities
- Ran standing competitor monitoring on the group's own platforms
- Delivered a future-proofing read on one of the group's core products
- Produced a full sector landscape scan on demand
- Supported an innovation event design for a regional growth market
- Ran an intellectual-property exploration for a separate function
The Results
Demand for the capability spreading past the programme it was bought for, into competitive monitoring, product strategy and intellectual property, on the group's own live questions.
5
commercial workstreams run outside the acceleratorWhat it proved
Two cohorts of an internal accelerator were equipped at the same time: 147 seats provisioned in waves, a programme-wide launch with recorded walkthroughs, and a standing weekly coaching session for each cohort. The programme's own teams ran 174 research studies on 5,299 sources. A purpose-built system turned a team's work into the one-page brief the programme's own review asked for, and five further workstreams ran outside the accelerator entirely.
What the programme got was a research standard rather than a research service. Before, the strength of a business case tracked whoever happened to be on the team; after, any team could size a market, read a competitive set and produce a submission in the programme's own format without commissioning anything. The most telling part is what happened at the edges - competitor monitoring, product strategy and an intellectual-property read all came from functions the engagement was never scoped for.
Results
| Metric | Benchmark | Result | Improvement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Research behind a business case | Each team working alone, with whatever method it had | One capability behind every team in both cohorts | A programme standard, not a per-team result |
| Programme coverage | Support reaching teams one at a time | 147 seats across two cohorts at once | Whole programme equipped simultaneously |
| Submission consistency | Every team writing its brief its own way | One system producing the programme's own format | Reviewers comparing ideas, not documents |
| Reach beyond the programme | Nothing. The capability existed only inside the accelerator | 5 workstreams from functions outside it | Demand spread past its original scope |
Provisioning is the cheap half. A standing weekly session per cohort, working real business-case questions rather than demonstrating features, is what turns a seat into a team that can research.
Every accelerator has a document its review process runs on. Building the system that produces *that* format, rather than a generically good report, is what gets it used on live submissions.
When every case arrives in a different shape, reviewers unconsciously grade presentation. One format across two cohorts moves the comparison back onto the idea.
A programme's roster keeps changing. Recorded walkthroughs mean a team joining in week three starts immediately instead of waiting for the next live session.
The five workstreams that appeared outside the accelerator - competitor monitoring, product strategy, an IP read - were never scoped. Unscoped demand is the clearest signal of what a capability is actually worth inside an organisation.
Finding the next high-growth US metro in five days
Client
$5B+ Global Design and Engineering Firm
Date
08/2026
5 days
naming the next growth marketMaking consultants 3–5× more productive on the research behind their work
Client
$30B+ Global IT Services and Consulting Group
Date
08/2026
3–5×
productivity on consulting deliveryFor Enterprises
ProofSee all
From a standing start to an AI venture serving small businesses
From 72 patents to 4 commercialisation-ready technologies
Cutting a four-month research cycle to six weeks across five validation workstreams
From a weekly newsletter to a self-running innovation radar
A full year's validated-concept target, met in the first quarter
A utility innovation lab that answers its own questions in a day
Finding the next high-growth US metro in five days
FifthRow – The Agentic Consultancy
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