Delaware’s Entrepreneurial Ecosystem: It Takes a Village
written by Dora Cheatham, Director, Economic Development Council, New Castle County Chamber of Commerce & Program Manager, Emerging Enterprise Center
Last week’s Delaware Entrepreneurial Summit – co-hosted by the New Castle County Chamber of Commerce Emerging Enterprise Center and the Delaware Small Business Development Center and held at the DuPont Country Club – with the aim of gathering together entrepreneurs, mentors and small business resources – was proof positive yet again that Delaware’s entrepreneurial ecosystem is unlike any other. Keynote speakers gave a big picture view of entrepreneurship and innovation, while entrepreneurs and innovators who had been there, done that and had the scars to prove it shared their knowledge, expertise and experiences both in the traditional and scientific startup arenas. Small business resources were on hand for assistance and there was networking – lots of networking.
Guest Speaker Michelle Christian – SBA Regional Director – articulated what we in Delaware know all too well but so often fail to shout from the rooftops: that as a state, our entrepreneurial resources work in tandem – rather than compete – to help budding entrepreneurs and startups. This doesn’t mean that every entrepreneur or startup is a star in the making. What it does mean, is that good ideas, the ones that pass the “sniff test”, have an entire support system behind them ready, willing and able to help them succeed.
Take D150 Fueling for example. The brainchild of three friends from Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Jersey who met on the University of Delaware rowing team, the idea for a fueling innovation system that sends fueling professionals to refuel business vehicles at a customer’s lot was incubated at the University of Delaware’s Horn Program. An invitation to apply for an NCC Innovates Sponsorship Award from New Castle County’s Department of Economic Development won them a year’s membership in the Emerging Enterprise Center Resident Program, which was announced at last year’s Entrepreneurial Summit. On winning the award D150 stated that one of the reasons they wanted to keep their ties to Delaware is “the great community and how much people are willing to help us out.” Since winning the award, D150 have generated over $3.5 million in revenue, created 5 full time and 2 part time jobs, invested in additional vehicles are on track for continued for continued growth throughout 2019.
On a wholly different entrepreneurial SAS Nanotechnologies illustrates an even broader ecosystem that Delaware enjoys. Founded by Dr. Sumedh Surwade, it all started with his PhD and Post-doc research in Polymer Science and the fundamental and application aspects of nanomaterials.
After completing his research, Dr. Surwade landed at Delaware Technology Park (DTP) where he continued to refine his technology and develop environmentally friendly, self-healing anti-corrosive coatings. He also began to formulate his business idea. While at DTP, he learned about the Delaware Sustainable Chemistry Alliance (DESCA) and the DESCA TechConnect Workshop. Dr. Surwade says:
“DESCA events were my main source of networking and these helped me tremendously in connecting with experienced professionals. Going through the TechConnect Workshop and getting direct and honest feedback on my technology from experienced industry professionals was very useful. Their feedback helped me to broaden my thinking, evaluate different applications of my technology and focus on commercialization.”
DESCA also helped Dr. Surwade form his Advisory Board, connected him with strategic partners, and brought him into contact with Lou DiNetta of the Delaware SBDC who worked closely with Dr. Surwade to help him win an SBIR Phase I Grant in the amount of $225,000 and apply for a Phase II award in February of 2019.
Realizing the important of connecting and networking, Dr. Surwade also joined the New Castle County Chamber of Commerce where he learned about, and was encouraged, to pitch for the Emerging Enterprise Center’s annual Swim with the Sharks Pitch Competition, sponsored by New Castle County’s NCC Innovates Initiative. This led to another win: $10,000 in cash, a 6 month membership in the Emerging Enterprise Center incubator, 6 months of accounting services and IT consulting services. At the Emerging Enterprise Center, Dr. Surwade has a place to hold conferences, meet with customers and seek additional advice and resource assistance – most recently, connecting him with the Delaware Manufacturing Extension Partnership (DEMEP) to help him source a toll manufacturer and connect him with additional strategic partners.
Just a few months after his Swim with the Sharks win, Dr. Surwade was invited to pitch again at DESCA’s Venture Forum where he was approached by a VC firm seeking to invest in SAS Nanotechnologies.
Since emerging from the research world, SAS Nanotechnologies have navigated what is commonly known as the “valley of death” in science innovation with the help of organizations that are dedicated to helping them commercialize their technology successfully.
These are just two of many stories that illustrate how “it takes a village” working in unison to drive economic development, and a myriad quotes that can similarly illustrate the concept – but let’s go with one from Henry Ford: “Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success.”
Entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart…but help is at hand!
Sometimes the idea is the easy part. And for scientists and technologists it’s just the beginning of a very long road.
For 2018 Swim with the Sharks winner Sumedh Surwade of SAS Nanotechnologies it began with PhD research which led to a proprietary, patent pending anticorrosive coating technology that not only prevents corrosion but also heals and protects metals from corrosion in the cause of surface scratches or damage. Next came an NSF SBIR grant for further development, and conversations with potential strategic partners for technology testing and licensing. Today, Dr. Surwade is evaluating additional applications and routes to market, including manufacturing in Delaware. That’s the short version.
You would think it ends once the technology is developed, proven and accepted. Not quite. Then comes the day to day blocking and tackling of running a business which requires just as critical a foundation. Fortunately, the EEC and its partners are here to help. Having won the EEC’s Swim with the Sharks Pitch Competition, Dr. Surwade will be receiving a New Castle County Government NCC Innovates $10,000 award that he will be using to purchase vital testing equipment. This equipment will speed up product commercialization by reducing the time (and associated cost) of testing from 10 days to 3 hours. And last week, Dr. Surwade met with Rich Roux of Info Solutions, LLC and Sharron Cirillo of SC Associates, SWTS sponsors, and both of whom donated services to the winning company. Info Solutions, LLC have discussed what Dr. Surwade’s IT needs will look like as he seeks to scale SAS Nanotechnologies, and SC Associates will be working with him to ensure that the financial processes he has in place can adapt and grow as his business grows. As for the Emerging Enterprise Center…. Dr. Surwade is all set to hold his first Advisory Board meeting at his new Riverfront Conference Room!
Congratulations To Our EEC Client, Drone Workforce Solutions, For Winning Their Third Grant
The Emerging Enterprise Center is excited to announce that Drone Workforce Solutions has received its third grant from the Delaware Department of Labor, Division of Employment and Training and Delaware Workforce Development Board. This is the third such drone grant awarded by the state of Delaware in its history. DWS is honored to be the recipient of this and all grants for drone training.
In January 2017, DWS Drones was awarded a planning grant to create a Strategic Workforce Training Plan for drone technology that met Delaware employer’s workforce needs, advance the skills of Delaware workers, grow the state’s economy and increase sustainable employment for working families.
In September 2017 DWS Drones was awarded a training grant to teach 10 Delaware citizens how to become a highly skilled and paid commercial drone operator. Students graduated in December 2017.
With this award under the “Adult Occupational Skills Training Programs” unemployed students in selected zip codes will participate in a 10-week, 70-hour course which includes topics such as: the anatomy of drones (building their own), aerodynamics and principles of flight, weather, reading sectional charts, flight planning & air space, aerial photography, videography/editing, drone entrepreneurship and many hours of flying drones. They also receive skills training. Additionally, each student will be given the most advanced drone manufactured by DJI, the leader in drone technology, (Phantom 4 Pro v.2).
Drone Workforce Solutions has started a pipeline of talented commercial FAA certified drone operators through its employment company to expand the state’s technology sector and increase sustainable employment for men and women from diverse backgrounds of today’s working families.
DWS graduates will receive a “Certificate of Completion” from Drone Workforce Solutions; the only drone training and employment company that is approved by the Delaware Department of Education, the New Jersey Department of Education, and the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development.
Said President Theo Nix, Jr., Esq., “The expansion of commercial drones could add $82 billion in economic value over the next ten years and by 2025 employ an additional 100,000 Americans. Delawareans in particular and Americans in general can be at the forefront globally in this technology”.
DWS also offers employment opportunities for FAA certified drone pilots through its drone staffing and employment part of the company. Pilots are encouraged to contact DWS through its website.
Drone Workforce Solutions was formed by visionary and company President, Theophilus R. Nix, Jr., Esq. and his wife Suzanne Nix, COO. Their goal is to be recognized as “THE” premier global staffing and placement company for DWS validated drone operators, with the “Best in Class” standards for providing service and solutions to organizations interested in incorporating drones into their operations.
8 Priorities of an Enlightened Company
Written by Cheryl Beth Kuchler, CEO Think Tank
([email protected])
In late 2014, right before what turned out to be the worst recession in the Oil and Gas industry since the 1970s, the team at Hawke Aerospace (Uniflight), a diversified helicopter services company, decided to embark on a journey to create a more enlightened and exceptional company.
Unbeknownst to them, it turned out to be the perfect storm. Given that the helicopter industry is positively correlated with the price of oil, Hawke Aerospace, along with many other companies in the space, was hit hard.
The Challenge
Deciding to implement “Scaling Up” best practices while entering a significant downturn might seem like an “addled and misguided decision”, says Chairman and CEO Joe Hawke, who readily admits to having had plenty of addled and misguided moments, but he recognized that there really is no “good” time to implement change. And, while the company is headquartered in Grand Prairie, Texas, it has additional locations in Pennsylvania and New York and does business across the United States and overseas. Pulling together such a far flung team requires an investment in time and money.
But Joe, who began investing in the helicopter industry while a partner in a private equity firm, knew that the discipline and proven methodologies of the One Page Strategic Plan™ and the “Scaling Up” Execution and People decisions were necessary mechanisms to achieve his vision of a sustainable $100 Million business. So, pulling together his team, they set out on their journey towards creating a sustainable and profitable company.
The Journey
Together they focused on eight priorities and slowly but surely the pieces began to fall in place.
1) They developed, then refined, the Company’s Core Values, Core Purpose and Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG) – Joe wanted to grow the business but his Leadership team had not spent time as a team determining the Company’s longer term goals, nor had the Core Values to support an engaging Culture and anchor behaviors been articulated. Developing the Core Purpose, “Superior Solutions” required the team to have numerous conversations with customers and other constituents in the industries they serve to understand better the challenges they face flying and maintaining rotary craft (helicopters).
Hawke’s primary line of business, through its subsidiary Uniflight, is the customization, maintenance and overhaul of rotary-wing aircraft for a wide variety of mission-critical civil applications. The emphasis on “supporting mission-critical operations” became the driver for their strategic positioning and their plan to deliver uniquely tailored solutions to their Core Customer – organizations who can’t afford to be without their aircraft. As a result of their efforts, the overarching purpose for the company became crystal clear, enhancing commitment and providing meaning for their employees.
2) They focused on a few, very clear priorities – Hawke’s major priorities for the first year became managing Cash (owned by the CFO) and driving Sales (owned by Joe as CEO). While there were a lot of areas that they needed to address, having a “one-two punch” helped the team and their employees to focus on the critical items, keeping them on track and out of the weeds.
3) Each team mapped out the Implementation steps – Driving Sales across multiple industries with a sales team that was spread across the country was a challenge. Using a Who/ What/ When framework, the Sales team “mapped” out the project plan, assigning deadlines and accountabilities that included fully implementing Salesforce.com, reaching out to Customers proactively and often to get feedback, bringing in key sales people with core contacts in the right vertical markets, such as law enforcement, and being very strategic with their approach to marketing and tradeshows. The Cash priority got the same treatment. This level of detail can be excruciatingly painful to document but the Who/What/ When format helped to keep everyone accountable and on track.
4) Operations started using written Systems and Checklists – Most priorities, as Joe’s team found out, can’t be accomplished in 90 days. But you can make progress – if projects are “mapped” out and assigned one key person to drive the project to completion. The third company priority, “Improving the Quality of maintenance and delivery”, was owned by the General Managers of each FAA-certified facility/ operation, with overall accountability resting with the Texas HQ-based COO. Inspired by Dr. Atul Gidwani’s book, “The Checklist Manifesto”, the Team’s mission was focused on not just fixing the Quality problems the business had had historically but, more importantly, putting in place the necessary systems that are required to prevent defects and poor workmanship from happening.
5) The team used Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) with Targets to drive accountability – You can’t manage what you don’t measure. Driven by the CEO and owned by line of business and functional area managers, the company “Dashboard”also took some time to develop but is now what the Leadership Team uses to measure daily, weekly and monthly progress and to hold themselves accountable to the Plan.
6) Core Values were reinforced through relentless reinforcement – Joe will tell you that implementing the Core Values wasn’t a cake walk. Numerous conversations were held at Town Halls every quarter and in monthly Coaching conversations but it was the relentless grading and self-assessment of the Leadership Team at every Quarterly Meeting that really helped drive the behaviors they were seeking.
7) Employee Engagement and Input were actively cultivated – After a few mis-steps, the company implemented “Tiny Pulse” to help get employees engaged in the recognition process and are now living the Core Values more consistently and getting feedback regularly from their employees as well. While this priority was “owned” by the Human Resources manager, full implementation took the commitment of the entire Leadership team.
8) Bi-weekly Tactical Meetings for the entire Executive Leadership Team (ELT) held them to their Plan – This meetings became critical components of great Execution, enabling individual team members to report on hits and misses, and also establishing a regular forum to foster communication, requests for help, and problem solving. Holding effective meetings can be challenging but the Level 10 Formatprovided a solid guide to the team.
The Results
Over the next 24 months, as a result of their dedication and commitment to the planning process, Hawke went from less than $1M of booked backlog, a non-existent sales pipeline and negative operating profitability in Q4 2014, to over $10M of booked backlog, and more than $300M (gross), $120M (net profitably adjusted), of qualified sales pipeline at the end of 2016.
The Quality Improvement efforts have taken several years of hard work and a step-by-step disciplined approach. But the persistence and dedication of the General Managers and the techs on the floor and support staff has paid off. Feedback through informal conversations and formal surveys of customers has reinforced that the company is on the right track and getting high marks for operational execution and customer satisfaction. And as the team has learned, as goes the Leadership team, so goes the rest of the company.
As 2017 comes to a close, Hawke is on track to post 20% growth over 2016 following two years of top line contraction. And the company is poised to accelerate growth and achieve profitable operations in 2018. Most importantly, the Hawke Aerospace team is committed and on board to the plan and the company’s long-term direction!
There lots more to the story of course. There are no “magic wands” for Scaling Up. But if you’re interested in learning more about the tools and best practices that helped Hawke to be a successful company OR if you’re ready to begin your own journey to enlightenment, reach out!
Sign up and come to our One Day “Scaling Up” workshop in January! For more info click here!
7 Ways to Use LinkedIn to Grow Your Small Business
written by Kristin Drake, LinkedIn Careers Team.
Grow your small business with LinkedIn by using these seven proven tactics.
There are nearly 30 million small businesses in the United States, but only half of them will make it past five years. To ensure your small business is in the successful half, we encourage you to capitalize on the various ways LinkedIn can evolve your business.
With LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional network, you can generate leads, produce sales, and hire top professionals to fuel your growth. Here are seven ways to grow your business using LinkedIn:
Create a LinkedIn Company Page
We’ve found that LinkedIn members are 50% more likely to buy once they’ve engaged with your business on LinkedIn. But they can’t connect with you if you don’t have a LinkedIn Company Page. According to Forbes, only 57% of companies have pages. The remaining 43% are missing out on a free opportunity to generate leads, talent, and, ultimately, revenue.
If you don’t already have one, create a LinkedIn Company Page. Personal profiles don’t have the same marketing, advertising, and recruiting features as Company Pages, making them less effective at promoting your business. As you create your page, think about the kind of impression you want to create among potential customers and employees. This will help you select the right photos and messages to use on your page.
For a step-by-step guide on how to create an above and beyond Company Page, view our LinkedIn Company Page Best Practices.
Promote Your Company Page
Once you have a Company Page, announce it to your clients, employees, and personal network. This will help you gain your first followers, who in turn will help to promote your Company Page on the content you post to it.
Promoting your page on other platforms or via email is also a great way to grow your audience. Here are some simple ways to get the word out:
- Announce the launch of the Company Page on your personal LinkedIn profile
- Encourage employees to follow the Company Page by making it a part of your onboarding process—Social Media Today reports that content shared by employees receives eight times the engagement as brand shared content
- Link to your Company Page in the footer of your marketing emails or newsletters
- Embed a Company Follow button onto your website so visitors can easily follow your LinkedIn Company Page
Share Content Regularly
The more you post, the more people you can potentially reach and convert. Best-in-class LinkedIn Company Pages are consistently updated to ensure that visitors have plenty of new content to consume and share.
To get started, try posting at least once per week. It’s not uncommon for companies to post three or more times per day. Post whenever you have something worth saying. Posting consistently shows Company Page visitors that your company is active on LinkedIn. Use LinkedIn’s Company Page analytics to see your top performing updates, your best times to post, and which members of your audience are the most engaged. With this information, it’s easy to make data-driven decisions to optimize your Company Page content.
In addition to posting often, here are a few more stats to help you boost engagement:
- Posts with links receive up to 45% more engagement
- Images see an incredible 98% increase in engagement
- Posts that have relevant “best-of” lists get almost 40% more amplification
When a post gets good engagement, consider promoting it to a wider audience with LinkedIn Sponsored Content. Take the Sponsored Content Tour and discover how Sponsored Content amplifies your best content.
Showcase Thought Leadership
Seventy nine percent of buyers say thought leadership is critical for determining which companies they want to learn more about. To get started with thought leadership content, try to provide a unique perspective on your industry, product, or organization. Sharing your opinion on the future of your industry or creating a definitive guide on your product are just two ways to demonstrate your expertise and position your company as a credible partner.
For more ideas and advice on expanding your brand’s authority, download our Sophisticated Marketer’s Guide to Thought Leadership to learn more.
Target Sales Prospects
LinkedIn has over 500 million users to date. That may seem like a lot to sort through, but LinkedIn also provides you with tools to identify and target your ideal audience.
LinkedIn members are more likely than other social media users to keep their profiles up-to-date, making it easier for you to find the right people. Use LinkedIn profile data to search for LinkedIn members based on geographic location, education, experience, and even connections. Once you’ve found prospects using the search feature, visit their profiles. Their endorsements or recent profile views might surface additional qualified prospects, too.
For more ways to reach your ideal audience, learn how to advertise on LinkedIn.
Build an All-Star Team
LinkedIn has helped 75% of job switchers make informed career decisions, making LinkedIn a top recruiting network. What are candidates looking for when making those decisions? Our research shows that 66% of candidates want to see company culture over everything else. To take advantage of this preference, consider enhancing your Company Page with a LinkedIn Career Page.
Career Pages allow you to target audiences with a personalized look into your company, culture, and jobs. They give you dedicated Life and Jobs Tabs on your Company Page that attract and engage relevant professionals.
In addition to creating Career Pages, encourage employees to share job postings and “day in the life” content as well. This gives visitors a genuine idea of what it’s like to work for you and adds to your authenticity. If you have a few employees who lead the pack in sharing content, consider linking them to your Company Page’s Life Tab. Their shared articles and recent updates will automatically populate, providing visitors with up-to-date information. Watch our video below on how to use the Life Tab to attract the right talent for your company.
Hire Freelancers
You’ve probably had an employee who took on a task outside of their domain. You might have even done it yourself a few times. While the effort is commendable, learning on the fly can also be detrimental.
Fortunately, finding the right talent for the task at hand isn’t as tricky as it once was, even if you can’t afford the salary of a full time employee.
LinkedIn ProFinder enables you to post your projects, receive free proposals, and hire trustworthy professionals all in one place. ProFinder will even pair you with local professionals to ensure you have the best freelance experience possible. With 172 professional services available on ProFinder, it’s easy to find the perfect professional for any task.
LinkedIn vets all the professionals on the platform to ensure they are qualified and leverages your network to find freelancers your connections have used, so you’re never in the dark about who you’re hiring.
By using freelancers, you’ll get access to outside perspectives & broad experience of professionals of all kinds, from creating websites and designing logos to managing your books or crafting your marketing strategy. Plus, with none of the management overhead of a full-time employee, you can focus solely on the job at hand.
Help! I Need a Better Business Plan!
On the face of it, a Business Plan should be relatively straightforward: an executive summary, a company description, market research and information, marketing and sales data, and financial projections. So how come so many business plans miss the mark?
Anyone who’s done Business 101 knows the basic elements of a Business Plan, and anyone who has looked into starting their own venture or sought investor funding has tackled the challenge of writing their own plan – yet so often business plans fail to reach their intended goal.
A business starts with an idea – a seed – but that idea only yields fruit if it’s planted in the right soil and given the right growing conditions. In other words, an idea – even a great idea – isn’t enough if it doesn’t have a market, a realistic plan to reach that market, and an effective team to execute that plan. Most business plans fail not because the idea isn’t great, but because the marketing and financial elements are unrealistic or because the team fails to execute effectively.
Think back to the dot-com bubble – the bursting of the bubble was caused by the huge investments and overvalued stocks in dot-com companies based on little more than a basic idea, the overblown hype surrounding the potential of customer acquisition through the internet, and the success of a few key players (Google, Amazon). The reality was that most of them never actually had sound enough business models that would actually generate business in real terms – and ultimately yield profits for their investors.
So while to you the most interesting part of your business plan is the idea itself, to your potential investors, the most interesting part is the return on their investment. Regardless of how novel the product is, the real value to the investor lies in the business plan answering some very key questions:
- How large is the market and is it a growth market?
- How do you plan to access the market?
- Do you have a sound, sustainable business model that can yield a return on my investment?
- Is there a potential exit strategy for me?
So how do you put together winning data into your Plan?
First of all – make sure your research is thorough and valid! Just as your product should be proven and validated, so should your market and financial data. While some assumptions are acceptable, they should be based in “what is” not on “what should be”.
Industry Background: When you describe your industry make sure you include its current size and projected growth rate, its characteristics, trends, and segments. Once you have an outline of the industry, zero in on your specific target market or segment. For example, if you are targeting the aviation industry, is your focus on commercial aviation, business aviation or military aviation? Are you focused on a specific region, aircraft type, service type, or business model? If your focus is on the consumer side, which variables did you use to segment your market? Geographic segmentation? Demographic? Psychographic? Socioeconomic?
More importantly, look at your target market’s needs and how they are currently being met. What is the size of the segment, who are the major and the secondary players in the industry, and how much share do you think you can gain? How do you plan to gain entry into this market? What is your value proposition and what are your proposed market channels?
Make sure you understand how you fit in the industry big picture, including barriers to entry, regulatory environment and in relation to the competition. What are your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses and how important is your target market to them? If your target market is their primary source of income, then you can be sure that they will fight to maintain their position within the industry and they will have many advantages. Do you have a strategy as the new entrant?
Remember that the more defined your target market (or markets) and the better you understand the competition, the clearer you can be in not only defining your market’s individual needs but also in defining your specific value proposition and target share.
Again – realism is the key. If the total market is $100M and there are 3 key players, each of which has 15% share of the market, then be realistic in your expectations: you are unlikely to gain 10% share in your first year of business!! If you believe that your product is so great that your customer will want to use it on their equipment 8 times a year when the industry standard operating procedure calls for the process to take place 4 times per year, think again! Your sales projections will be severely off the mark unless you have a solid plan to change customer behavior!
Pricing & Profit Margins: Pricing and profit margins can often be a major pitfall when developing a business plan. Make sure your pricing structure – including discounts – is clearly defined and that all relevant costs are included in your profit calculations. Too often, profit margins are grossly over-estimated as key costs are omitted from this calculation. Make sure you understand both your fixed and variable costs as you develop your pricing structure and include a breakeven analysis so you truly understand where you need to be to start making a profit. If your fixed costs are $7,000 a month, you will need considerably more than $7,000 in sales to break even, so make sure you include a realistic estimate of variable costs.
Business Model & Financial Projections: Literature abounds with information on how much detail should be included in the financial projections. What is just as important however, is the business model itself and the knowledge and ability of the management team to execute that model. A good business plan presents the financial projections in multiple scenarios to show how the company would respond and the projections would be impacted if the expected market or environmental conditions were to change unexpectedly.
Think back to 9/11 – a day that not only changed history, but also changed the face of several industries. The aviation industry was changed virtually overnight: airlines and suppliers to the industry went out of business virtually overnight; new entrants came onto the scene; the regulatory environment changed.
While this example is extreme, outside events can – and do – impact a business: regulatory changes, new technologies, new competitors. So a business plan should reflect a business model that can respond quickly to a changing environment. William Sahlman, in his excellent article on writing a business plan, states that “a typical professional venture-capital firm receives approximately 2,000 business plans per year. These plans are filled with tantalizing ideas for new products and services that will change the world and reap billions in the process – or so they say. But the fact is, most venture capitalists believe that ideas are a dime a dozen: only execution skills count.”
Sahlman makes an important point: investors are inundated with ideas and business plans. What you need to focus on when putting together your own plan, is ensuring you have a sound business as well as a good idea.
As always, I’ll leave the final word to an expert, Joe Mansueto
“I found an approach to investing that made enormous sense to me: rigorously analyzing a company’s fundamentals, understanding exactly how it makes money, developing a view on the business’s future prospects, and deciding if it’s a good business.
5 Steps to New Product Development
By Dora Cheatham, Program Manager, Emerging Enterprise Center
New product development is often spoken of but seldom practiced. Yet it is a process that is all-encompassing, risk-averse and eloquent in its simplicity. When coupled with outstanding project leadership, it’s a winning formula guaranteed to yield results.
Too often, product development in today’s larger organizations is fraught with miscommunication, misdirection, lots of activity with little accomplishment, unclear goals. The end result is wasted time, effort, and sometimes a product that does not deliver on its early promise. An effective development process – my personal favorite is the stage-gate process – that is well executed and well led is critical in eliminating many of these problems, increasing speed to market and ensuring that the product under development continues to meet business goals and market requirements.
The 5 Steps of Development
Step 1: THE IDEA – The source can come from R&D (based on new technology), Marketing (based on market need or gap analysis determination), Sales (based on customer need) or Operations (based on a new process that offers manufacturing alternatives). Each idea should be screened to determine its overall viability before moving on to the next stage. Does it meet the company’s overall strategic goals? Business goals? Market development goals? Product development goals?
It is important to note that new product ideas are based on knowledge: customer and industry knowledge, technological and environmental knowledge. The sharing of knowledge between departments enables the connection of dots that may remain unconnected if left floating alone in a vacuum. R&D or Engineering may be aware of a new technology but unaware of a market application while Marketing may see a market need or application without being aware of the technologies available to meet the application. Manufacturing and operations should be aware of both market needs and trends as well as technological developments so that they, in turn, are well positioned with regard to resources.
Step 2: PRELIMINARY REVIEW – Technological, operational and marketing viability. What is the total market size and potential? What are the R&D cost requirements? What are the operational requirements? What are the ROI estimates? Are there any regulatory implications? Product and time parameters, including product functionality and attributes, estimated cost targets and market goals should be established.
Step 3: DEVELOPMENT – A step in which all departments – not just R&D or Engineering – should be involved with frequent communication and updates to ensure that the product criteria established in Step 2 are being met, and that the needs and timing remain unchanged. If at any point during this stage there is a change in product scope, cost or timing, then a review of the business case may be warranted to determine if further development should continue or expectations should be adjusted.
Step 4: TESTING – A critical part of the process since this will validate the product or determine if additional development time is requirement. If possible, testing should be completed in partnership with a launch customer as this offers external as well as internal validation of product performance. This step will also determine if the product continues to meet the criteria and goals established in Step 2, or if these criteria need to be re-evaluated and/or adjusted.
Step 5: COMMERCIALIZATION and LAUNCH – Production ramp up and marketing plan. Are all the operations pieces – from part numbers to purchasing to production – in place? Are all regulatory pieces (if applicable) in place? Does the sales team have everything they need – from marketing materials to samples to trial protocols to industry context – to sell with confidence? Again, all departments should be involved in the commercialization process to ensure that all elements of the Commercialization and Marketing Plan are orchestrated for a flawless launch.
Effective Project Leadership is a Must
The above notwithstanding, it is not enough just to have a good process in place. The keys to a successful new product development process are project leadership and execution, as well as cross-functional involvement and contribution at all stages of the development process. Effective leadership ensures:
- Regular communication across all disciplines at every step of the process;
- That the product continues to meet all criteria established at Step 2 of the process;
- That the activities engaged in the entire development process add value to the overall innovation strategy;
- That – once commercialized – momentum is maintained to ensure that the product yields the expected results.
Too often, a process is put in place but is poorly implemented or poorly led, and therefore fails to yield the desired results. Like any process, success depends on keeping the end in sight, and in this case the end does not finish with first piece approval. Frederick W. Smith said it well when said:
“Leadership is simply the ability of an individual to coalesce the efforts of other individuals toward achieving common goals. It boils down to looking after your people and ensuring that, from top to bottom, everyone feels part of the team.”
Creating and Selling Value: Creating Value: Sales & The Value Pyramid
By Dora Cheatham, Emerging Enterprise Center
Going from supplying a product that meets basic customer expectations to contributing to a client’s organization can be hard to establish and even harder to maintain, but is an invaluable strategy for long term profitability. Keeping a customer requires the creation of a relationship of mutual trust and partnership that goes beyond supplying a quality product.
Seeking to create value and a sustainable competitive advantage is increasingly difficult in today’s data-filled environment. Buyers today are educated and savvy. In the B2B world, the buyer can be 60-65% through the purchase process before he or she even makes contact with an incumbent or potential vendor. They know what’s out there and what it costs so if all you have to offer is a product that meets specifications, then you have effectively created a situation where your only option is to sell on price—and the lowest price invariably wins. That also means that as soon as a competitor emerges with the same option at a lower price, then chances are that customer is lost to the newcomer. So how can you ensure that your customer remains loyal to your product and business?
Smart Buyers Seek Value
A truly smart buyer understands the value of a vendor that contributes to the smooth running of his or her business. If you can deliver a flawless product, on-time, every time, with excellent customer service, then it behoves him to use your product—because spending time dealing with vendor-related problems and quality issues costs money and impacts his own customer service and bottom line (think about the UPS “I’m happy” ads where department managers and customers are happy thanks to UPS Logistics).
By supplying a quality product with excellent customer service you have already established some level of competitive advantage. And many companies today provide good products with good service – it is a prerequisite to staying in business. To sustain that advantage however you need to continually climb the value pyramid and add to your product in terms of additional service and knowledge, eventually making a quantum leap to the peak of the value pyramid to establish yourself as more than a vendor, but a trusted strategic partner.
Can you help lower your customers’ costs or improve their productivity? Can you help them identify new products or markets? At an even broader level, can your customers call on you for advice on operational systems and processes or strategic direction? In other words, does your customer consider you a supplier or a partner?
As you climb the value pyramid, commoditization decreases and company and product value increases, with fewer competitors able to compete at the same level. The fundamental difference between the lower and upper levels of the pyramid is distinct: to be good at the former, the salesperson and business needs to have a top quality product to sell and needs to understand his product and his own business well.
To be good at the latter, the salesperson and business needs to have an understanding not only of his own product and business, but of his customer’s business as well. He needs to understand his customer’s individual and industry needs and must excel at consultative selling, offering solutions that are of mutual benefit to both organizations. Only then can you hope to ensure an enduring partnership and long term rewards.
You don’t close a sale; you open a relationship if you want to build a long-term, successful enterprise. Patricia Fripp.
Why To-Do Lists Are Killing Your Productivity
Written by Brooke Miles, Delaware ShoutOut
Do you start out each week—or each day—with a to-do list? Before I wised up to the dangers of to-do lists, I wrote them all the time. A typical one looked like this:
- Write blog article
- Craft proposal for new client
- Throw out orphan socks from sock drawer—or repurpose into puppets
- Develop PowerPoint for social media seminar
- Pull new gray hairs from top of head
- Make sales calls
- Memorize lyrics to Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody. Consider singing with sock puppets.
You know what happened? I’d do the irrelevant stuff first (sock puppets, gray hairs, and Queen), because they were more fun and easier to check off. Wow, I was getting stuff done, I thought! Sure, I might work on less-pleasant-yet-critical business tasks…if there was enough time afterwards. But usually I found more tempting ways to fill the time.
Maybe you can relate. Okay, maybe you’re not lured by sock puppets, gray hairs, and Queen. But your tendency to check off simpler tasks—pay a bill, make a quick phone call, etc.—may be preventing you from accomplishing tasks that could make a huge, positive impact on your business.
Here are more problems with to-do lists:
- They don’t factor in the duration of each task. Some tasks might take two minutes—others might take two hours!
- They don’t say when you will tackle each task (i.e. no real commitment).
- They don’t distinguish between urgent and important. Urgent and important aren’t always the same thing.
- They rarely get completed in full. Did you know that, on average, 41% of to-do items never get done?
Imagine what your business would look like if you consistently accomplished your big-picture tasks every week.
My business transformed—with revenues quadrupling in one year—when I stopped writing to-do lists and started putting important tasks in a calendar. (I use Google Calendar, but any calendar will do.) Why a calendar? Because it forces you to block out time for the stuff that matters. In other words, you’re making regular business appointments with yourself. Using a calendar also helps you see what your day truly looks like, so you don’t end up over-committing to less important tasks.
Do I still crave a life with sock puppets, gray-hair pulling, and Queen? Absolutely. But now I can visualize what little time I have for it, at least during the workday. (Besides, I’ve found it’s easier to work on gray hairs at night, when my teenage son can help pull the ones I can’t see on the back of my head. Awkward for him, but great for me.)
I’d love to learn what productivity strategies work for you. Block out 15 minutes in your calendar to email me your thoughts. I look forward to hearing from you!