As part of our ongoing series examining the ecosystem necessary to bring technology to market, we asked Carleton University’s Tony Bailetti to share his thoughts on regional economic development and common pitfalls startup technology companies can avoid. This is the first of his commentaries and we welcome your feedback.
By Tony Bailetti
When bringing technology to market, a supplier typically produces a set of sound bites in order to feature and describe how its products and services benefit potential customers, partners and investors. A sound bite is a very short piece of information considered to be an important feature the supplier wishes current and potential stakeholders to remember. Sound bites also serve as points of emphasis in a supplier’s message to individuals and organizations in the business ecosystem in which the company operates.
The marketing collateral of 12 local technology companies distributed over the last four months was examined and it is evident that the quality of sound bites needs significant improvement. A technology company that is serious about commercializing its products and services needs to produce a set of high-quality sound bites.
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By Leo Valiquette
It has been a thirty-year journey for Ottawa’s QNX Software Systems, largely under what has jokingly been referred to as “stealth mode.” Last year, the company saw its brand boosted through its acquisition by Research in Motion as the mobile device maker sought out QNX’s expertise in realtime operating systems (RTOS) to help make its Playbook a reality.
But though it remained relatively unknown in its own backyard, QNX had already cemented its market position before RIM came knocking thanks to its own unique customer-centric approach and the support of its previous owner, Harman International. Derek Kuhn, vice-president of sales and marketing, and Sebastien Marineau-Mes, vice-president of engineering, spoke this morning at OCRI’s execTALKS breakfast about how their company has evolved over the years.
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This post is by Associate Peter Hanschke, an Ottawa-based product management specialist. Peter’s post is part of our continuing series about the ecosystem necessary to bring technology to market. We welcome your comments.
By Peter Hanschke
Up until now I’ve talked about getting to your Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and creating your Market Validation Plan. To re-cap, MVP is your product with the minimum set of features and capabilities to satisfy the needs of your early customers. The key is to make sure that the features and capabilities are connected to provide use cases that address the needs of your target market. In other words, your MVP cannot be a disjointed set of features.
The Market Validation Plan is needed to provide a framework to get validation from the various markets you are targeting. Make sure that you include potential customers, analysts and experts related to your target markets and also others who sell non-competing products and services to your target markets. Asking “would you buy this” and “how much would you pay” are essential questions to have answered. (BTW – don’t be shy about asking for an order … you may end up with your first!)
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This is the next contribution to this blog by Associate Bob Bailly, a Calgary-based neuro-marketing practitioner.
By Bob Bailly
In my first posting, I promised that this blog would investigate how human evolution has impacted the way we do business, why we are the way we are, and why we act and feel the way we do in our personal and business lives. When it comes to evolution, two areas of investigation are of interest: first, the evolution of the human brain as it relates to how we make decisions, and second, how and why we like to live and operate in tribes.
A few weeks ago a Globe and Mail column by Margaret Wente, The Amygdala Election, provided an eloquent discussion of both phenomena visibly on display in the current Canadian federal election.
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As part of our ongoing series examining the ecosystem necessary to bring technology to market, we asked serial entrepreneur Jason Flick to share some of his insights on getting tech to market with lean thinking. This is the first of his commentaries and we welcome your feedback.
By Jason Flick
You would have to be living under a rock not to have heard about the billions in venture capital flooding into the Valley. Venture firms raised over $60 billion in Q1 2011 alone. Some companies are ramping from zero to billions in revenue in years rather than decades. Students fresh out of school are being offered six-figure salaries, four-month signing bonuses and iPads to come on board. (VentureBeat summed it up well in this recent story.)
Of course, these stories seldom report that for every company like this, there are 99 others that flounder and end up as large financial craters.
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By Tony Bailetti 
