Too Big, Too Soon – Too Far, Too Fast

Enthusiasm. Confidence. Passion. Belief. All of these are important to the success of any new venture. They can also be the biggest pitfalls for the new venture. The momentum and the drive to do everything at once can lead an entrepreneurial team to expand before the...

Product, Resources, and Customers – The Three-fold Objective

Every organization begins with the same three-fold objective: develop the “product”, obtain sufficient resources, and capture the market/customer. The manifestations of this three-fold mission vary in magnitude, scope, and timing. The underlying processes and...

The Tyranny of Customer Choice

A truism for any organization is that its customers have choices. They can chose from a range of products, services, and alternatives to satisfy their needs, from doing nothing to “do it yourself,” to doing it the most expensive way possible to finding a cheap...

Commercialization : Viability, Visibility, Capability, and Credibility

To begin a discussion of commercialization, we must begin with a few definitions. First, for convenience, the term “product” will be all inclusive of the following: technology, software, protein, textile, device, system, component, etc. Second, “commercialization” is...
Business Plans Are More Than Academic Exercises

Business Plans Are More Than Academic Exercises

Funding Early-Stage Companies in Tough Economic Times The Reality of Tight Funding Under the current economic conditions, saying that funding is tight for early-stage companies is the epitome of understatement. The budget is tight, but it is available for sound ideas...