Barb Wired

Several blogs and listserv postings I read seem to get the same basic set of questions every few months. I was responding to a request for good sources of business plan outlines and executuve summary tips with the usual suspects:

– the SBA and SBDC web sites have great infor for small businesses, especially retail, consulting, and other services

– the MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge has a great list of links for tech-based companies, even those with consumer electronics

– several venture capitaists have links on their sites

   Then I ran into this:  http://www.hbs.edu/entrepreneurship/resources/businessplan.html It is a very useful set of documents from a wide audience of experts. Check it out. Full disclosure, one of my articles on “the Team” that I wrote for Mass High Techmade the list.    It must be good!

WPI Venture Forum hosts Making Green from Green program (case and panel) in Worcester, MA on Sept. 8th. http://www.wpiventureforum.org/

My question is: Are the business models that exist today, ones that require 2-3 year ROI reasonable? Or, do we need a new reckoning?

I am working with a startup that has a fun technology that generates power but currently, the ROI will likely take quite a while. Are good intentions enough? Longer term payback?

I am involved with a team of senior-level people interested in starting a company. We’ve been going through some brainstorming about common problems that can be solved with technology and trends that will probably take on a life of their own.

One of the trends involves the confluence of 3D graphics and 3D worlds [think SecondLife], gaming, and shopping [whether for clothing, electronics, day camps or vacation spots].

What are your thoughts?

Will e-commerce 3.0 (or 4.0) be a 3D environment where you troll the aisles, pickup and view all sides of a product?

Will it include communities where you meet your friends to shop together?

Will we try on clothes to see if they (really, based on measurements) fit?

Will we watch people play blackjack so we can learn?

If you are a fan:

When do you think people will be ready for this? What application is most appealing and would get your stickiness? [tell us your age, gender and country...we're not setting cookies!]

I was just at a meeting with a tech company that grew from a sophistated VAR/SI to a developer of hardware/software products that are OEM’d to others. After several years, some pain, a lot of hard work, being opportunistic and tenacious, they are poised to cross the chasm. I don’t run in to too many of these in the tech sector.

I spoke with a bunch of Angel investors last week. In the old days, angels invested in people they believed in, often in technology or markets they knew. They knew they’d get rewarded. It didn’t have to be huge money through an acquisition or IPO. Today, angels seem to only invest in companies with these exit strategies.

Both M&A and IPO paths are fraught with constraints; decisions are made that help the company get to this goal. They are often mutually exclusive from decisions that would be beneficial longer-term. Let’s face it: the stock market rewards short term thinking.

So, are there still companies that can develop a product and get it to market using customers (sales) to fund growth? What are some of the parameters?

Created this list to help startups find angels.

http://www.quivivity.com/angels.pdf

A group of us are starting to turn the startup model upsidedown - an upstart! Several execs that are currently unassigned (read: not fully employed) decided that, since most businesses fail due to poor teams and poor execution, we get the team first and the product second.

If you have an interest, contact me. RULES of engagement though:

– Technology-based product/service

– B2B target best but will consider B2C

– Product has to have a large market (perhaps VC-fundable) — not ad supported or membership-based

– You have spoken to VCs, angels, and/or high-level advisors and gotten and taken feedback

– The most critical component for your success is getting an experiened team

– Willing to be based in Massachusetts

– Pragmatic

Thoughts?

Having been laid off recently, I’ve been going to even more meetings of professional associations than usual. There is a lot happening and it is very uplifting. An MIT Enterprise Forum meeting had a panel of experts on energy storage (fuel cells, batteries); another sponsored by MassHighTech was about clean tech; a WPI Venture Forum meeting toured the incubator (MBI) for bio-tech and med-tech companies.

I’ve concluded two things:
1. There is a lot of cool stuff going on and it makes more sense to go where the employed are creating than to job fairs.
2. It’s a good time to start a company. In fact, many of the best companies have been started during times like these.

Care to ask me why I think this??