36Kr New Momentum Project Ranking: We do not judge by superficial packaging, and only focus on the actual progress of the projects.

36Kr Project Recommendation

From more than a decade ago, the very first day 36Kr was founded, "project recommendation" has been embedded in our DNA. 

Over the years, many teams that later grew into the pillars of the industry first left their very first prototype and line of code on 36Kr's free coverage pages. 

More than a decade has passed, the venture capital environment has changed, but the underlying law of innovation has never altered: entrepreneurship never starts with a financing news release. 

At an earlier stage, a project may be nothing more than a young team working overnight at workstations to tackle technical challenges, a hardware solution that has just completed prototype assembly in a factory, or a small software that has run a successful pilot in a niche scenario. These projects have no backing from star institutions, all the capital on their accounts is reserved for R&D and delivery, and there is no extra budget for expensive commercial PR packaging. 

This is exactly why we keep operating "36Kr Project Recommendation" — we insist on opening a lightweight, free submission channel for early-stage entrepreneurs, to move up the timeline when high-quality projects get noticed. 

But as the pool of projects keeps expanding, the market is facing new practical problems: there is too much information, and a large part of it is inflated. 

Investors are faced with dozens of homogeneous business plans (BPs) every day, while physical enterprises cannot find new solutions that can be implemented on site. What everyone lacks most is not project leads, but a window that can filter out inflated content and show the real progress of projects. 

To this end, "36Kr Project Recommendation" has launched a weekly selected column on the basis of basic project archiving — "36Kr New Momentum Project List".

Every week, on the official WeChat account of "36Kr Project Recommendation", based on verified real progress, we deliver a high-signal-to-noise ratio weekly internal reference for the industry that focuses on actual progress rather than superficial packaging. 

01

Venture Capital Does Not Need More Concepts, But "De-inflated Real Progress"

The New Momentum List is not a ranking of honors where everyone gets a spot, nor a commercial game where people pay to buy positions. It is a workbench reference delivered every week to decision-makers in the venture capital and real industry sectors: 

For early-stage investors: You no longer need to spend time distinguishing what is concept hype. The list directly presents real entities that have made substantial progress in product formation, business closure or technology implementation in the past week, providing high-value leads for your next in-depth communication. 

For B2B enterprises looking for solutions: Solutions from large manufacturers are expensive and inflexible, while teams on the New Momentum List are usually in the key verification period of business implementation, with practical solutions and agile responses, which are highly cost-effective supplements for technologies and services. 

For early-stage teams that focus on solid work: Selection is entirely based on the quality of business. Early-stage teams can obtain objective endorsement from mainstream business media without paying expensive PR fees, and this honor will be precipitated into a third-party credit asset that can be accessed at any time. 

 

02

Reject Black-box Scoring: Five Verifiable, Tangible Evaluation Criteria

The New Momentum List does not adopt vague comprehensive scoring. We have refined the evaluation considerations into five verifiable hard indicators: 

Project Maturity: Focus on Actual Progress, Not Hypothetical Plans

Projects at the pure concept stage will be firmly excluded. Software products must have a workable MVP or real beta feedback from seed users; hardware and industrial solutions must have engineering prototypes, pilot production or test data. Even if the scale is still small, the project must be running in real scenarios. 

BP Completeness: Focus on Common Sense of Business, Not Empty Buzzwords

Who are the target customers? What are the specific pain points? Compared with old solutions, can the customer's migration cost and economic account be justified? Teams that cannot form a self-consistent unit economic (UE) model and closed business logic will not be included. 

Popularity in Vertical Communities: Focus on Under-the-radar Reputation, Not Viral Public Searches

We will investigate the reputation accumulation of the project in the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain, tech enthusiast communities or specific vertical circles. We aim to tap potential projects that have initially formed a consensus in the hidden market beyond the public view. 

User Attention: Focus on Real Stay Time of Professional Readers

Based on the real data of projects after they are published on "36Kr Project Recommendation". We focus on the average stay time, in-depth reading rate and contact card sharing actions of investors and industry readers, eliminate fake traffic brushing, to reflect the real industry attention. 

Operation Team Judgment: Focus on the Scarcity of the Solution in the Current Market

Facing large manufacturers and established giants, what advantages does this team have to carve out a market niche? Does it address the long-ignored hidden rigid demand? Does it provide highly differentiated solutions in terms of mass production cost, service response or engineering structure? 

 

03

From New Momentum List to Project Spotlight: Progressive Empowerment

The product lines of "36Kr Project Recommendation" are closely connected:

Weekly List Release to Quickly Discover Leads: All projects that have completed basic archiving on "36Kr Project Recommendation" will automatically enter the weekly candidate pool. The New Momentum List is released on the official WeChat account on time every week, completing the horizontal scanning and selected recommendation of innovative samples. 

Exclusive Interview on Friday to Fully Explain the Business: Teams that show high scarcity, product exploration or trigger industry attention in the New Momentum List will be prioritized into the scheduling pool of "Project Spotlight". Every Friday, through in-depth video interviews, founders will appear in front of the camera to fully explain the product barriers, real pitfalls encountered and business quality to the industry. 

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Free Submission Portal for Early-stage Projects:

https://36kr.com/seek-report-new

Institutional Cooperation Email (Early-stage Investment Institutions / FAs / Incubators):

aireport@36kr.com 

Main Distribution Channel and Connection Support:

Search and follow the official WeChat account "36Kr Project Recommendation" on WeChat. The weekly New Momentum List will be pushed on time; if investors or industry parties are interested in the projects on the list, they can directly reply "Project Connection" in the background of the official account, and our team will assist in facilitating real and efficient business docking. 

 

The starting point of business is always muddy and down-to-earth.

Every week, stay tuned to the official WeChat account "36Kr Project Recommendation". Let's put aside the flashy concepts together, and discover the real business forces that are taking root and sprouting under the surface.

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Shi Hongwei

Zhang Wenduo

36Kr Project Recommendation

This article is from the official WeChat account "36Kr Project Recommendation", and is published by 36Kr with authorization.