Mon 6 Aug 2007

Acceptible Risk

Posted by jtmcarthur under New Markets, Product development, Security, Technology
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Last month, at the request of a friend at Genesis Partners, I facilitated a roundtable discussion with Chief Security Officers (CSOs) and Chief Information Officers (CIOs) from a few major global companies.  The assembled group was part of a technology advisory council that the firm leverages to help guide them in investment decisions.  There’s nothing like a few generals in the trenches to tell you what the “real world” is like.

Prior to the roundtable discussion there was a brief introduction by Dr. Henry Kressel, who has just written a book entitled “Competing for the Future: How Digital Innovations are Changing the World.”  He closed his remarks with a cautionary comment that those of us who live in the United States need to prepare emotionally for a world in which our children are substantially worse off than we.   The premise is founded in part, at least, on his accumulated evidence that digital innovation is moving rapidly away from its previous center of concentration in the United States.  I’m not sure if it’s some sort of accelerated innovation entropy, but there’s little doubt that very innovative technologies are now coming out of countries and regions that had previously contributed very little to the digital revolution.

(more…)

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Thu 19 Jul 2007

A Reminder That Not All Inventions are High Tech

Posted by jtmcarthur under Product development
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OK, it’s summer, and while that doesn’t mean any less work, it does mean additional responsibilities, such as car-pooling three children (mine and one other) to a day camp.  It puts a squeeze on time, and the only release valve is 9 pm until whenever.  My last conference call yesterday was 11 pm, thanks to some very helpful development folks in India.  I’ve also written drafts of , but have yet to complete, several blog postings. 

In the meantime, I thought I would share with you this link to Metropolis, published by Japan Today.  It includes some very creative and entertaining inventions, which are, for the most part, completely outside of the world of high tech.  My favorite is the “commuter’s helmet.” Enjoy.

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Sun 1 Jul 2007

SMOT – Startup Moment of Truth

Posted by jtmcarthur under Affiliate Marketing, Startups
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I spoke with my brother, Ken, during the past week, and we were talking about his business.  I’ve never fully understood Ken’s business, but he is, in his words, in the business of “Helping people realize their dreams of starting their own business.”  Ken is an internet and affiliate-marketing expert.  He runs successful conferences on the topic, writes software, writes books, and teaches people how to make money through affiliate marketing programs.  Now, a lot of people want to have their own business, and since Ken is in the business of helping people “realize their dreams,” I was a little surprised to hear him also say, “Some people shouldn’t run their own business.”  It just goes to show you, he’s an honest fellow.  And he’s right; some people don’t belong in the pool.  This morning, I thought of my conversation with Ken, when I saw some small critter making tiny waves in our pool.  The critter turned out to be a chipmunk, paddling furiously, getting nowhere, barely keeping its nose out of the water.  I pulled the chipmunk out of the pool, but for the record, chipmunks don’t swim well or for long, and don’t belong in the pool.  (more…)

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Fri 29 Jun 2007

When Technology Gets Ahead of Common Sense

Posted by jtmcarthur under Enterprise 2.0, New Markets, Technology
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For those of you who are watching closely, you will notice that I added a new entry to my blog roll.  I recently got reconnected with Denise Shiffman, former marketing executive at Sun Microsystems, through another former client who has found her way to Mimosa Systems.  Denise has a new book coming out in the fall, which I hear is on Enterprise 2.0.

I met with an investor last week at a hotel in Boston.  He was in town to attend the Enterprise 2.0 conference.  The basic goal of his attendance was to get a better handle on when, or if, money was going to start changing hands for his Enterprise 2.0 company.  Let’s face it.  It takes time for some things to develop.  As one storage-industry watcher reported, a lot more money has been invested in storage companies than will be returned in profit.  I suspect the same may be true for Enterprise 2.0, though I haven’t done the math. (more…)

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Thu 28 Jun 2007

Sell What You've Got

Posted by jtmcarthur under Product development, Selling, Startups, Storage and Data Management, Technology
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I’ve made more than a few mistakes in my various careers.  One of them was buying a near bowling-alley length automated tape library (ATL) with a robot whose size, if not speed, would rival any in Detroit.  I made the purchase based upon the promise of future enhancements that would ensure this would be the last tape library I would ever buy.  You see, the ATL was going to be upgradeable to a Virtual Tape Library (VTL), and all my backup and restore problems would be, if not solved, at least contained.   To be fair, it was a committee decision, but I was a strong internal proponent.  Suffice it to say that the VTL upgrade was late and more virtual than real, and the ATL wasn’t the last library the company had to purchase.  In fact, I heard rumors that a second ATL was  offered for free, since the VTL upgrade was late.  But I can’t verify the rumor.  By that time, I had moved on to a new company, where my job was predicting the future.  The irony is not lost on me. (more…)

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Thu 14 Jun 2007

Unlocking the Doors to Opportunity

Posted by jtmcarthur under Product development, Storage and Data Management, Technology
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I had the pleasure today of spending some time with Acopia, a leading supplier of file virtualization solutions.  For those of you who haven’t lived and breathed storage for the past 20 years, suffice it to say that file virtualization brings a number of benefits to file-server and storage administrators, not the least of which is flexibility for the buyer.  Which brings me to opportunity.  

If we’ve learned anything over the last 300 years, it is that flexibility can be just as valuable as capability.  The Revolutionary War in the British colonies more than 200 years ago showed the benefit of flexibility over the much more capable British Regulars.  I flew back from Europe a few years ago sitting next to a NATO general, and we spoke at length regarding NATO’s re-engineering efforts, as they increased focus on flexibility.  Prior to the re-engineering efforts, no one would have doubted NATO’s capabilities, but certainly NATO’s flexibility could be called into question. (more…)

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Thu 7 Jun 2007

A Good Name

Posted by jtmcarthur under Branding, Funding
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I added a new link on the resources page of the blog a couple of weeks ago, and thought I would add a post, just to ensure you take a look.  The link is to The Funded, which is an online repository of customer experiences in working with venture capitalists.   The customers are in large part entrepreneurs that received venture backing, or at least sought venture backing.  The site contains commentary of these entrepreneurs regarding their specific experience in working with various venture capital firms. In some cases the postings contain  commentary on individual partners at those firms.  Postings are allowed only by approved writers, and there is a public and a private section.  The private section is viewable only by individuals who are approved to post commentary.  VCs are excluded from posting – along the lines of not allowing the horse to guard the oats.

What I learned in reading through the public and private posts is that there are individuals with some very strong opinions, both positive and negative, regarding particular VCs.   I also confirmed what I had long known: It doesn’t take long to spoil a good name which was years in the making.  And finally, if someone attacks you unjustly, someone else will rise to your defense, but the voice of the attacker will likely be louder.  If you are seeking venture capital, I would suggest at least a review of the site to see what has been said.  It’s not an end point in an investigation regarding a particular VC, but it is a data point. If you are a venture capitalist, I would recommend having someone monitor the public portion of this and any similar sites.  It may provide an early warning to problems in your company’s client-engagement process or in partner behavior.

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Thu 31 May 2007

Pitching is not Selling

Posted by jtmcarthur under Selling, Startups
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I told you in an earlier post that I would tell readers about some institutions “about which I care deeply.”  One of those is Metrowest Jewish Day School, and tonight I spent time on the phones trying to raise scholarship money for students who want to attend.  As with most private religious schools, particularly those in startup mode like ours, the cost of tuition is substantially less than the cost to educate.  In addition, many families can not afford the cost of tuition.  But because we want to make this unique education open to all in our community, we do the fundraising.  So far this year, we are more than 80% of the way to meeting our goal of raising $700,000. 

As an inexperienced solicitor, I was thankful for the script that was provided for my pitch.  In short, this script, which was a good “pitch,” explained who we are and the fact that we are raising money for scholarships.  Short and sweet.  Next to me was another inexperienced solicitor and parent of a student at the school, who made more calls and raised more money than me tonight.  But I accomplished something that, over the long run, I hope will turn out to be just as valuable.  I sold the school.  Or more accurately, I began the process of selling the school. (more…)

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Wed 30 May 2007

Alignment of Interests

Posted by jtmcarthur under Compensation, Funding, Startups
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When my partner and I founded our company, we wanted to ensure that our interests were aligned with that of our clients.  That drove several decisions in terms of our business model and fee structure.  On the one hand, we needed enough revenue to keep the lights on.  That’s in our clients’ interest and in ours. But, we intentionally kept our costs extremely low, taking the minimum office space that is necessary to operate the business and only spending money on those things absolutely  required to operate the business.   There’s no “flash” when you come to visit.  The chairs, the desks, the filing cabinets, and the computers have all been around the block more than once.   That allows us to keep our retainer fees comparitively low.  Again, that’s in our clients’ interest and in ours.  

On the other hand, we expect to be compensated fairly and proportionally, if we help our clients grow their revenue and increase the value of their businesses.  If we drive a million dollars in sales, we’ve increased revenue, but we’ve also increased the value of the business, and we expect to participate in that increased value.  That notion is difficult for some, who are used to a commission-only, a fee-for-service, or an hourly-rate model. 

In keeping with our aligned-interest model, if we work with one company, we don’t work with their direct competitors.  That might seem patently obvious to some, but probe a bit on the companies offering to make introductions or help promote your company, and you may be surprised at how many of those offering to work with you also work with your direct competitors.  (more…)

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Wed 23 May 2007

Internet Leverage

Posted by jtmcarthur under Affiliate Marketing, Branding, Storage and Data Management
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I had a long conversation with one of my nephews, Mike, this evening.  He had a lot to report, including record sales this week at the restaurant he co-founded with his brother Chris.  The topic turned to one of my favorites, which is “personal brand.”  I’m acting as a part-time mentor for Mike, and I want him to start focusing more on his personal brand.  By that I mean he should begin to take an active role in determining what people think of when they think of Mike. 

One of the suggestions that I made was to consider starting his own blog to begin creating his personal brand, independent of his restaurant’s brand.   He could start it on the restaurant business.  I did a quick Google Blog search and came up with several interesting sites.  But then I asked Mike what he was really passionate about.  Mike is really passionate about cooking.  Certainly his restaurant, Black and Brew, gives him an opportunity to experiment some.  And he tells me they have been changing a number of things in their second year of operations.  These include evolving the drink and food items to appeal to a mixed, more-mature crowd, meaning, not only the local college students, but also the 25 – 45 year old age group.  This change enabled them to avoid the after-college-is-out sales drop they experienced last year.   On the culinary side, it is still a largely sandwich and soups place, however. (more…)

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