Formulating a Strategy to Capitalize on Nanotechnology

"Whether your company is like traditional manufacturer Air Products and Chemicals or 20-year old Nanofilm Ltd., the first step in formulating a strategy for capitalizing on nanotechnology is understanding parameters...

The keys to successful nano projects are alliances and partnerships in the spirit of open innovation...

"What's confusing," she [Martha Collins, technology director, Air Products] says, "is that the nano knowledge explosion is a growing disruptive force through all kinds of diverse scientific disciplines. Thus while nano implications are running rampant through all the domains of science, corporate product developers are simply overwhelmed. They're confronting an epochal technology challenge their R&D strategies were never designed or equipped to handle.

The solution? First, science has the conceptual challenge of organizing and compartmentalizing nano knowledge. Second, yesterday's R&D strategies need revisions if they are to handle the reality of the nano knowledge explosion.

The rewards, says Collins, will be the emergence of products and processes that exploit the nano dimension in ways unthought of today.

Every sector of the economy will be affected..."

Read more in this IndustryWeek article.

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Open Source Startups Cautioned on Enterprise Application Market

"A series of social and technological forces are converging to permanently change the way software is developed, delivered and managed. These changes are tearing down the barriers that existed between the commercial software industry and end users and fostering an era of participation, while empowering these businesses through greater access to information."

Jeff Nolan comments on the foregoing statement quoted from an article on Sandhill.com:

"I think it's fair to say that the reason you don't see a lot of open source enterprise application companies getting funded is that the bigger problem with enterpise software is not the manufacturing but the sales and distribution, and open source does nothing to fix this. Large enterprise IT just won't adopt open source application products, broadly, if a supporting organization is not behind it...

There is gold in them hills but the simple fact of the matter is that open source and subscription licensing, two completely separate trends that often get lumped together, are not silver bullets for emerging companies. Furthermore, each of these trends imposes risks on buyers that are emerging as the market evolves, and in the case of open source there is no turning back. Proceed with caution would be my advice to startups considering either option for building an enterprise software company on, and don't lose sight of the fundamentals of building and delivering great software to customers."

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A Primer on Emotional Intelligence

This article by Patricia Wheeler, Ph.D. provides an excellent summary of the construct of emotional intelligence. While focused on CFOs, the lessons are applicable to any executive or leader and to us just plain folks.

What is emotional intelligence? Ms. Wheeler describes it "a small constellation of key competencies which make the difference between highly performing, creative CFO’s and solid, but average performers...

The core skills as defined here that make up Emotional Intelligence are:

* Conscious self-knowledge - the ability to recognize thoughts and emotions, strengths and weaknesses as they occur.
* Maintaining appropriate control – the ability to deal with situations without over- or under-reacting.
* Maintaining motivation – the ability to keep a healthy and realistic perspective.
* Recognizing others’ interests – the ability to recognize the needs and perspectives of others.
* Communicating with flexibility – the ability to vary your influence style based on the needs of your audience.

These skills, which may seem “soft” on the surface, actually translate into improved performance and a better bottom line. While we tend to think of such skills as intangible qualities that one is either born with or not, our experience demonstrates that executives can develop greater competency in these skills if they know what to look for..."

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Nominate a Small Business Hero

From this PRA Post post:

"Recognize that outstanding entrepreneur or the person who tirelessly gives to small businesses by nominating him or her for the U.S. Small Business Administration Small Business Awards. The SBA Pittsburgh District Office, in conjunction with the Western Pennsylvania Small Business Network, will honor the winners at a luncheon on Wednesday, May 17, 2006 at the Westin Convention Center Pittsburgh. This annual event attracts in excess of 500 attendees. The link www.sba.gov/nominationsguideline.html will take you directly to all the information you need to complete a nomination."

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Small Business Hiring Tips

From this post from The Entrepreneurial Mind comes the following tips for hiring in a competitive labor market:

"1. Keep Staffing Forecasts Current...
2. Base Staffing Plans on Milestones, not on Time. Never tie your staffing plans to the calendar...
3. Measure Your Employment Triggers...
4. Never Just Hire Warm Bodies. Hiring someone just for the sake of hiring rarely works...
5. Keep Current on Wages and Salaries...
6. Don't Forget to "Close the Back Door". The single best staffing tool you have is retaining the good employees you have right now..."

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An Executive Summary of "The Art of the Start"

"In The Art of the Start, Guy Kawasaki writes that his goal is to help you use your knowledge, love and determination to create something great without getting bogged down in theory and unnecessary details. At Apple in the 1980s, Kawasaki turned ordinary consumers into evangelists. As founder and CEO of Garage Technology Ventures, he has field-tested his ideas with dozens of newly hatched companies. In The Art of the Start, Kawasaki takes you through every phase of creating a business, from the very basics of raising money and designing a business model through the many stages that will eventually lead your company to doing the right thing and giving back to society. "

In this Soundview Executive Book Summary from BNET.com of the book, you’ll learn:

"✓ What the entrepreneur’s key tasks are. Every startup must make meaning, make mantra, get going, define its business model and weave a MAT of critical Milestones, Assumptions and Tasks.

✓ How a new company can articulate what it is all about. Pitching, positioning and writing a business plan are the ways in which a startup defines itself and communicates its message to others.

✓ How you can “activate” your business. Bootstrapping (operating on little cash), recruiting and raising capital will all give you the human and financial resources you need.

✓ How you can “proliferate” your business. Creating win-win partnerships, building a brand and “rainmaking” (generating large amounts of business) all expand your startup beyond its original horizons.

✓ What the entrepreneur’s obligation is to repay society. In exchange for the right to exist and do business, each of us is required to give back to society and to be a mensch — a generous, honest, socially responsible, fully moral person."

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SoYouWanna resign from your job?

"Those who resign from their jobs usually fall into one of two categories.

-You're changing your career path. You want to change your job completely (say, from a paralegal to a stand-up comic).
-You're escaping an unhappy environment...

All you need now are the tools to bow out as efficiently as possible...

Make sure you have a new job...
Give your oral and written resignation...
Inquire about health insurance, unused vacation days and 401-k...
Deal with your coworkers...Be Positve...Be humble...
Take care of unfinished business...wrap up any assignments that you presently have... train your replacement.
Go through the exit interview..."

Read more in this SoYouWanna post.

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The ABCs of Supply Chain Management

"Supply chain management is the combination of art and science that goes into improving the way your company finds the raw components it needs to make a product or service, manufactures that product or service and delivers it to customers. The following are five basic components for supply chain management.

1. Plan-This is the strategic portion of supply chain management. You need a strategy for managing all the resources that go toward meeting customer demand for your product or service. A big piece of planning is developing a set of metrics to monitor the supply chain so that it is efficient, costs less and delivers high quality and value to customers.

2. Source-Choose the suppliers that will deliver the goods and services you need to create your product or service. Develop a set of pricing, delivery and payment processes with suppliers and create metrics for monitoring and improving the relationships. And put together processes for managing the inventory of goods and services you receive from suppliers, including receiving shipments, verifying them, transferring them to your manufacturing facilities and authorizing supplier payments.

3. Make-This is the manufacturing step. Schedule the activities necessary for production, testing, packaging and preparation for delivery. As the most metric-intensive portion of the supply chain, measure quality levels, production output and worker productivity.

4. Deliver-This is the part that many insiders refer to as 'logistics.' Coordinate the receipt of orders from customers, develop a network of warehouses, pick carriers to get products to customers and set up an invoicing system to receive payments.

5. Return-The problem part of the supply chain. Create a network for receiving defective and excess products back from customers and supporting customers who have problems with defective products..."

Read more at the Supply Chain Management Research Center - CIO.

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Business Plan Outline

"As an entrepreneur, you must prepare a business plan to: evaluate the feasibility of your enterprise, develop a document to help you acquire needed resources and start you toward the sound planning that will be part of your management style. The time and effort that you invest in developing a complete and detailed plan will be regained many times over in future business success."

This MBA Toolbox pagecontains a useful outline of such a business plan.

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Pitching to a VC [Updated]

Jason Ball points to and updates a post from Brad Feld containing a great list of questions you should be prepared to answer or be sure to cover in your VC presentation:

1) WHAT IS YOUR VISION?
2) WHAT IS YOUR MARKET OPPORTUNITY AND HOW BIG IS IT?
3) DESCRIBE YOUR PRODUCT/SERVICE
4) WHO IS YOUR CUSTOMER?
5) WHAT IS YOUR VALUE PROPOSITION?
6) HOW ARE YOU SELLING?
7) HOW DO YOU ACQUIRE CUSTOMERS?
8) WHO IS YOUR MANAGEMENT TEAM?
9) WHAT IS YOUR REVENUE MODEL?
10) WHAT STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT ARE YOU AT?
11) WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR FUND RAISING?
12) WHO IS YOUR COMPETITION?
13) WHAT PARTNERSHIPS DO YOU HAVE?
14) HOW DO YOU FIT WITH THE PROSPECTIVE INVESTOR?
15) OTHER
- What assumptions are key to the success of the business?
- What "gotchas" could change the business overnight? New technologies, new market entrants, change in standards or regulations?
- What are your company’s weak links?

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Free Management Library

I have added a link to this site in my sidebar under Running Your Business:

Free Management Library for For-Profit and Nonprofit Organizations, a highly integrated library of resources on a myriad of topics at http://www.managementhelp.org

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Basic Guide to Small Business Financial Management

"New business leaders and managers have to develop at least basic skills in financial management. Expecting others in the organization to manage finances is clearly asking for trouble. Basic skills in financial management start in the critical areas of cash management and bookkeeping, which should be done according to certain financial controls to ensure integrity in the bookkeeping process.

New leaders and managers should soon go on to learn how to generate financial statements (from bookkeeping journals) and analyze those statements to really understand the financial condition of the business. Financial analysis shows the 'reality' of the situation of a business -- seen as such, financial management is one of the most important practices in management."

This managementhelp.org website will help you understand basic practices in financial management, and build the basic systems and practices needed in a healthy business.

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Blog Subscribers

Following the lead of several compatriots who have tired of on-again, off-again problems, I have just moved this blog's e-mail subscription service from Bloglet to FeedBlitz. If you subscribed before, you will now get your email updates from FeedBlitz.

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Compliance Policies Key to Corporate Crime Prevention

"When a law enforcement officer looks at a company, one of the first questions he or she asks him or herself will be: "Are these people good guys or bad guys?" Much is at stake for the officer. Initial information about the company's activities helps the officer decide not only how to begin the inquiry but, more importantly, how best to protect the safety of the officer and his or her fellow officers when dealing with the company...

At the initial stage of an investigation the single best indicator of whether a company is law abiding is whether the company has an effective compliance program. 'According to available information, only 2 of the 865 corporations sentenced for federal crimes during the last eight years had effective compliance programs. Of the 143 organizations sentenced under Chapter 8 in 2002, not one maintained any type of compliance program whatsoever.' These sentencing statistics must be understood properly. It does not follow from these statistics that a company can avoid possible criminal liability by merely officially adopting a compliance program. What does follow is that there is a strong correlation between crimes committed by corporations and a complete disregard of their compliance responsibilities by the management of those corporations.

In other words, companies whose managers choose not to take their compliance responsibilities seriously are flying blind. They are significantly more likely to commit violations of complex regulatory regimes, such as those governing exports, than companies that maintain reasonably effective compliance programs. They also are much more likely to generate the sort of "smoking gun" memos and email that reveal full well their negligence or their knowing and willing intent to violate laws impeding their short term business plans. An experienced federal investigator knows that when he or she finds a company operating without an effective compliance program, the odds are in favor of discovering evidence of a crime."

From this post on the Corporate Compliance Prof Blog quoting from the introduction by Mark Menefee to the highly recommended article by Tara L. Dunn, "Surviving United States Export Controls Post 9/11: A Model Compliance Program", 33 Denver Journal of International Law and Policy 435 (2005).

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Copyright Expiration FlowChart

Check out this neat flowchart for determining when U.S. Copyrights expire from Bromberg & Sunstein LLP.

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Term Sheet Series Wraps Up

Brad Feld and Jason Mendelsen completed their excellent series of articles with this post containing links to their discussions of the following provisions in a typical venture capital investment term sheet:

Price
Liquidation Preference
Board of Directors
Protective Provisions
Drag Along
Anti-Dilution
Pay-to-Play
Dividends
Redemption Rights
Conversion
Conditions Precedent to Financing
Vesting
Information Rights
Registration Rights
Right of First Refusal
Voting Rights
Employee Pool
Restriction on Sales
Proprietary Information and Inventions Agreement
Co-Sale Agreement
Founders Activities
Initial Public Offering Shares Purchase
No Shop Agreement
Indemnification
Assignment

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The Founders' Pie Calculator

Interesting article by Frank Demmler in which he presents a tabular representation of a "founders' pie calculator."

Demmler suggests that splitting ownership evenly among the founders of a startup is not usually the optimal solution. He suggests that the startup determine the relative importance of the following five factors to the startup and then calculate the relative contribution of each founder to determine the allocation of ownership.

"Idea
The company wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for the original idea, and that is certainly worth something, BUT there’s a lot of truth in the saying, “A successful business is 1% inspiration, and 99% perspiration.”

Business Plan Preparation
The development of an initial business plan is a surprisingly difficult and time-consuming effort. To pull together and organize all the thoughts of the founding team, filling in the blanks, identifying and reconciling the differences, and producing a document that captures the essence of the business and helps persuade banks, investors, board members, and others to support the company is a mammoth undertaking, as anyone who has done it will attest.

Again, the plan is a necessary element of starting the business, BUT execution against the plan is where the real value lies.

Domain Expertise
To what degree do you and your partners have meaningful experience in the business of your business? Knowing the industry, having relevant experience, and having a Rolodex full of accessible contacts can greatly improve the company’s probability of success and speed its growth rate. Otherwise, it will take longer to get commercial traction and you’ll have to pay for these assets, usually by hiring someone and including equity in their compensation package.

Commitment and Risk
You’ve probably heard the old saying that “a chicken is involved with breakfast, but a pig is committed.” Similarly, the founders who join the company full time and are committed to making it a success are much more valuable than founders who are going to sit on the sideline and be cheerleaders. In addition, the opportunity cost for those who join the company instead of pursuing a career is not trivial.

Responsibilities
Who is going to do what? Who is going to go stay up at night when you can’t make tomorrow’s payroll? Where does the “buck stop”?"

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Is it Time to Rebuild Your Team?

"You know that you need to rebuild your team if the following things are occurring:

Ineffective meetings...
Lack of clear goals...
Complaints...
Loss of productivity or output...
Employees feel that their work is not recognized...
Lack of innovation or risk taking...
Lack of initiative...
Conflicts between personnel...
Confusion about assignments...
Decisions are made that people do not understand or agree with...
Poor communication...
Lack of trust..."

Read more, including tips for remedying the situation, in this post in Random Thoughts from a CTO

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Overcoming the Fear Factor

Some excellent advice for would-be entrepreneurs and anyone contemplating a career change or other major life shift.

"Most startup articles focus on the mechanics of launching a business. But the inner journey to starting a business is just as important as writing a business plan and getting financing...The following 31 strategies...worked for me and can work for you, too:

1. Say yes to your yearning...
2. Start a journal...
3. Write down your goals...
4. Visualize your success...
5. Create and read affirmations...
6. Evaluate your beliefs...
7. Do what you love...
8. Do something different every day...
9. Act "as if."...
10. Go out and scare yourself...
11. Spend time in nature...
12. Accept all your feelings...
13. Finish unfinished business...
14. Get educated...
15. Accept and believe compliments...
16. Acknowledge your gifts...
17. Give up excuses...
18. Eliminate "I can'ts."...
19. Accept confusion....
20. Know there is no "right" time...
21. Start small...
22. Say no when you mean no and yes when you mean yes...
23. Resist self-judgment...
24. Stay out of overwhelm...
25. Expect resistance...
26. Answer your "what ifs."...
27. Practice patience...
28. Overcome the "not good enough" syndrome...
29. Ask for help...
30. Trust your instincts...
31. Treat yourself with tlc..."

Read more in this article from entrepreneur.com.

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Addressing IP in a Business Plan

"Most companies that are worthy of raising venture capital have proprietary Intellectual Property (IP). In fact, the quality of the IP and the management team are often the two most important aspects of a venture capitalist’s investment decision. The challenge that many ventures face, however, is that most investors will not sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), and NDAs are critical to maintaining the proprietary nature of the IP.
This article [from Growthink] details the appropriate strategy for addressing proprietary IP in your business plan in order to attract investor attention while retaining the confidentiality of your inventions.

Focus on the Benefits of and Applications of the IP...
Focus on Customer Needs and the Relevant Market Size...
Focus on Competition and Competitive Differentiation...
Prove that you can Execute on the Opportunity...

If you are able to convince the prospective investor that the IP is integrated into a product/service which yields real customer benefits in a large market, then the investor will take the quality of the invention for granted when reviewing the plan. Later, during the due diligence process, the investor will review the actual technology. At this point, a discussion regarding signing an NDA would be appropriate."

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