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I thing I’ve learned over the years is that technology purists hate advertising even when it is that revenue stream that truthfully drives much of our industry. We talked about patents. He invented the category of sponsored search. He created GoTo.com (later renamed Overture) out of a frustration with search.
Don’t bash the competition. Every investor knows how vulnerable a new startup is to competitors, so investors always ask about your sustainable competitive advantage in the marketplace. That says you are competitive today, have a real barrier to entry, and the potential to remain ahead of the competition for a long time.
Patents held by startups generally have a limited ability to reduce competition. The average time required to obtain a patent is 36-to-40 months, during which there is no guarantee your adVenture will ultimately receive patent protection. Thus, if a startup team asks, “What is this patent worth to us?”,
Don’t bash the competition. Every investor knows how vulnerable a new startup is to competitors, so investors always ask about your sustainable competitive advantage in the marketplace. That says you are competitive today, have a real barrier to entry, and the potential to remain ahead of the competition for a long time.
As an investor, I always listen carefully to what an entrepreneur says, and does not say, about competition. Every business area has competition and every customer has alternatives, so a smart entrepreneur needs to acknowledge these as a positive in defining a big market, and position the features of a new solution in this context.
Know your market and competition, or don’t spend a dime on anything else. There was even talk of some phone companies using the patented system for serving communities of guests, not just from a single hotel. In this case, the competition was not from a company but a new technology. There is no competition.”
As an investor, I always listen carefully to what an entrepreneur says, and does not say, about competition. Every business area has competition and every customer has alternatives, so a smart entrepreneur needs to acknowledge these as a positive in defining a big market, and position the features of a new solution in this context.
One of the toughest and yet most important questions you will be asked by savvy potential startup investors is “What is your sustainable competitive advantage?” Yet many entrepreneurs, maybe in their passion for their new product, gloss over this one, or even announce that they have no competition. Dramatic cost improvement for cause.
One of the most important questions you will be asked by potential investors is how your solutions beats the competition, not just today, but over the three to five year life of their investment. The concept is called “sustainable competitive advantage.” That implies competitive now, and the potential to stay in the lead.
Know your market and competition, or don’t spend a dime on anything else. I have stated previously that I love absolutes – statements with no wiggle room for gray-area responses. There was even talk of some phone companies using the patented system for serving communities of guests, not just from a single hotel.
As an investor, I always listen carefully to what an entrepreneur says, and does not say, about competition. Every business area has competition and every customer has alternatives, so a smart entrepreneur needs to acknowledge these as a positive in defining a big market, and position the features of a new solution in this context.
One of the toughest and yet most important questions you will be asked by savvy potential startup investors is “What is your sustainable competitive advantage?” Yet many entrepreneurs, maybe in their passion for their new product, gloss over this one, or even announce that they have no competition. Dramatic cost improvement for cause.
Competition for your new hydrogen fuel auto engine is not limited to other hydrogen auto engine offerings, or even other autos. So what are some of the key points that you should highlight in your investor slides to convince investors that you indeed do have a long-term competitive advantage over other alternatives in the marketplace?
The practical uses for uBeam technology is limitless. Did anybody hold patents that would prevent us from using this technology? I seldom hire patent attorneys during due diligence but this was too important. This kicked off a frantic process of discovery for me personally. Did the physics actually work? Was it safe?
The honest answer is that ideas and new technologies are worth nothing, outside the context of a specific business plan that meets a market need for a fair price. Invention is the process of creating a new technology. Business innovation is taking that technology and successfully bringing it to market in a way people want.
Most entrepreneurs are quick to assert to potential investors that their product or solution will kill the competition, but unfortunately your opinion alone is not enough to convince most experienced investors. A competitive advantage to a non-problem or tiny niche is not interesting to investors.
Competition for your new hydrogen fuel auto engine is not limited to other hydrogen auto engine offerings, or even other autos. So what are some of the key points that you should highlight in your investor slides to convince investors that you indeed do have a long-term competitive advantage over other alternatives in the marketplace?
Music Prodigy , a Los Angeles based music education technology firm serious on improving the way people learn, play and interact with music beat over 70 startups with their app Rock Prodigy to win the Silicon Beach Awards. The post Music Prodigy Beats 70 Startups To Bring Music Education Technology to the Masses appeared first on TechZulu.
Don’t bash the competition. Every investor knows how vulnerable a new startup is to competitors, so investors always ask about your sustainable competitive advantage in the marketplace. That says you are competitive today, have a real barrier to entry, and the potential to remain ahead of the competition for a long time.
Bill’s advice reflects Microsoft’s hardnosed culture, which encourages internal competition and a ruthless pursuit of the truth. Unless your venture is focused on researching potential scientific breakthroughs, it is likely that your technology can be easily copied and your patents circumvented. " [Tweet this quote].
A number of teams have recently been looking to turn that vision into reality, as a result of the Qualcomm Tricorder Prize , a $10M competition being run by the X Prize Foundation to create a real life Tricorder. That''s essentially how the Tricoder competition was formed--it''s time for this to happen. Mann implantable device area.
Don’t bash the competition. Every investor knows how vulnerable a new startup is to competitors, so investors always ask about your sustainable competitive advantage in the marketplace. That says you are competitive today, have a real barrier to entry, and the potential to remain ahead of the competition for a long time.
Know your market and competition, or don’t spend a dime on anything else. There was even talk of some phone companies using the patented system for serving communities of guests, not just from a single hotel. Technology advances cannot be stopped. In this case, the competition was not from a company but from a new technology.
For a software startup, a patent can be the intellectual property providing the key competitive advantage, or it can be an expensive non-defensible bureaucratic nightmare -- or both. Some argue to simply eliminate software patents, while others put their hopes in U.S. There is no such thing as a world-wide patent.
One of the most important questions you will be asked by potential investors is how your solutions beats the competition, not just today, but over the three to five year life of their investment. The concept is called “sustainable competitive advantage.” Our product is truly disruptive technology.” Our patent will protect us.”
Too Techie - Tone down emphasis on the technology underlying your venture; an interested investor will perform tech diligence at the appropriate time. Patents and Trademarks. Competition. No VC Fit - Match your venture with appropriate funding source. Distribution and Sales. Management Team.
The firm recently raised a $15M series C funding, and we caught up with Kevin to learn more about why its customers, and investors, are interested in its technology. We have created a wireless technology and solution, end-to-end, that allows you to cost effectively connect devices that can be very, very remote.
Innovative technologies have no value until they are turned into solutions to real customer problems. Creating intellectual property, including patents, is the kay to long-term value and a sustainable competitive advantage. Sustainable innovation is really the only sustainable competitive advantage. Value creation.
The honest answer is that ideas and new technologies are worth nothing, outside the context of a specific entrepreneur and a specific business plan that meets a market need for a fair price. Invention is the process of creating a new technology. Business innovation is turning technology into money."
The critical success factors for a product business are well known, starting with selling every unit with a gross margin of 50 percent or more, building a patent and other intellectual property, and continuous product improvement. You have no shelf life, so you can’t make money while you sleep. Practice being a good communicator.
The more potentially disruptive your technology, the more important it is that this message be quick, simple, and quantified. Will the solution give you an “unfair competitive advantage,” meaning no competitor already has it, or can replicate your solution without your skills or intellectual property. Do include some quantification.
Thanks to all of our sponsors, who make our coverage of Southern California's technology industry possible: Sponsors. Backing Southern California's next great technology companies. Binary Pulse Technology Marketing (www.binarypulse.com). We Create Demand for California's Technology Companies. Technology.
Innovative technologies have no value until they are turned into solutions to real customer problems. Creating intellectual property, including patents, is the kay to long-term value and a sustainable competitive advantage. Sustainable innovation is really the only sustainable competitive advantage. Value creation.
One of the toughest and yet most important questions you will be asked by savvy potential investors is “What is your sustainable competitive advantage?” Yet many entrepreneurs, maybe in their passion for their new product, gloss over this one, or even announce that they have no competition. Dramatic cost improvement for cause.
For example, “I just patented a new cell-phone technology that will double battery life for half the cost. Unlike [competition], we [differentiation].” Present a sustainable competitive advantage. You need to effectively communicate how your company is different and why you have an advantage over the competition.
In the recent surge in interest in the clean technology and energy investment area, we're constantly surprised by the number of startups in the area focused on some aspect of the industry. Let's start on the technology side--can you tell us about the technology, and its origins? We refer to them as plastic solar panels.
Prior to Tilofy, I had technical positions at Yahoo, Microsoft, and Samsung, ranging from development, to program management, to senior technology person on Samsung''s smart TV platform. Ali Khoshgozaran: Before we started the company, me and my partner had participated in the USC Viterbi startup competition. How did Tilofy come about?
I call this linear thinking , and it’s a sure way to be ultimately overrun by your competition. Plus you can challenge yourself to keep abreast of technology advancements in related industries, looking for a fit in your own. You need to see these as opportunities for growth and a chance to get ahead of competition.
A business plan is the outward facing definition of the business you hope to drive with your hardware solution, with a hardware overview in the intro to highlight customer value and competitiveness. For example, “We just patented a new battery technology that will cut your smartphone charge time and cost in half.”
Tell me about Bitvore - what''s your technology used for? Whether that''s for competitive analysis or market analysis, our product is basically able to monitor--on a very large scale--things that are important to your particular company. Where did all of that technology come from? That''s the unique nature of this technology.
If you are an entrepreneur starting a business for the first time, I recommend that you find a product concept that is already accepted and improve on it, rather than tackling that ultimate disruptive technology. Of course, the first one gets the patent. Evidence of success using this approach is all around us.
Skip the fuzzy marketing terms, such as "easier to use," "lower cost" and "disruptive technology." " Investors want to buy into an entrepreneur with a startup that can provide evidence of an ability to double customer productivity, at half the cost, with patentedtechnology.
We wrote all of the core components of our technology, from the ground up--even our SIP stack, OIP application, session-border, softswitch, and media server--which runs on standards-based, off-the shelf servers. The technology is really what sets us apart from our competitors, who are mostly resellers of someone else's technology.
In fact, I think the evidence is clear that many entrepreneurs started their journey while still in college, and capitalized on all the resources there, before moving on: Extend your technology focus with business basics. Contrary to a popular myth, a great invention and passion alone won’t drive a great business.
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