In the field of ICT, the birth of start-ups, their development, their buyout and their disappearance are often in the news, in the same way and with the same force as the news related to the “big players”. It can even be seen that alliances between start-ups and large groups, when they are concluded, further strengthen the attention of all, both for large groups and for start-ups. Is it because it is difficult for us to imagine the alliance of a “David” and a “Goliath”?

They have different profiles, yet their objectives seem to be complementary. The digital start-up is a young innovative company with strong growth potential. It has limited resources. Its organization is human-sized, simple and fast. The challenge for the start-up is twofold: to ensure its growth by finding its market, and its financing by finding investors. The start-up seeks to survive, to live.

The large group (whether its sector of activity is digital or not), for its part, is a company established in the economic and social landscape. It has significant resources accumulated throughout its history. Its organization, which includes a large number of employees, is complex and today in full mutation. With the effect of globalization, the major international groups have been able to assert a certain supremacy on local markets. The challenge for the large group is to maintain its leadership in an extremely competitive globalized economy dominated by digital technology. The large group is trying to live, to survive.