EntrepreneurshipBusiness Futures

Presented to the Minnesota Futurists by

Duane Byron Carlson David KeenanDBCarlson@comcast.net smalltechnology@gmail.com

Equity Investor Technology Consultant

November 01, 2008

Entrepreneur

Some definitions• a person who organizes and manages any

enterprise, esp. a business, usually with considerable initiative and risk.

• A risk-taker who has the skills and initiative to establish a business.

To start off, lets answer some questions

• Why are you interested in ENTREPRENEURSHIP?• Do you have a dream?• Have you committed your idea to writing?• Have you done any market research? Past and future?• Have you ever experienced what market research is about?• What is your story? Can you articulate it?• Please tell us of your goals!• Is this personal endeavor? • Do you have associates who support your dream?• What motivates you?

More Questions• Have you identified a market? Is there a Need?• How do you know? Are you sure?• Why are you sure?

– What research have you done?– What have you researched recently?

• Internet searches, One on One visits• White papers, Talk with authors• Periodicals• Books

• Have you heard presentations? How do ideas develop ?– Have you made physical visits to potential customers?

• Did you develop a interest or need? Did you create a report?

Market Research• Market research demands the determination of real

customer wants, needs, opinions and perceptions of customer future needs and wants.

• You’ll need to talk with the ultimate decision makers. A market exists when a willing buyer and seller agree to the terms and conditions of sale. The price, the quantity, the quality & the delivery.

• Where and when is the need? Where is the supply?

• Reminder: Nothing happens until something is sold – If you can’t sell it – It ain’t no good -- Park it for the future.

Market Research Defined

“Market research is the process of systematically gathering, recording and analyzing data and information about customers, competitors and markets. This data is used to create the business plan, launch a new product or service, fine tune existing products and services, or expand into new markets.

Market research can be used to determine which portion of the population will purchase a product/service, based on demographic variables like age, gender, location, culture and income level.”

Can you translate your data into a sales forecast?

Market Research Continued• What market research have you done? How did you do it?

– Market trends The upward or downward movements of a market, during a period of time. The market size is more difficult to estimate if you are starting with something completely new. In this case, you will have to derive the figures from the number of potential customers or customer segments. Can you forecast sales?

• What type of data have you collected?– Who did you contact? Face to Face?– What type of data did you select?– Who did you interview?– Was their information of value?– Did you document your interview?– How did you document the data?

How to Do Market ResearchReading? One on One contact?

• FORTUNE MAGAZINE• FORBES MAGAZINE• BUSINESS WEEK MAGAZINE• INVESTORS BUSINESS DAILY NEWSPAPER• WALL STREET JOURNAL NEWSPAPER• ENTREPRENEUR MAGAZINE• SELLING POWER MAGAZINE• ONE ON ONE CONTACT WITH DECISION MAKERS

Market AnalysisWhere is the need?

• A PUSH MARKET– Do you plan to PUSH the product or service into an

existing market? Push markets sell on price!

• A PULL MARKET– Do you plan to PULL a solution into a defined market

to solve a problem limiting successful production.Pull markets sell on performance.

• AN UNDEFINED MARKET – A market does not exist?

• How did you identify the demand.• Can you create or define a need?

More marketing concepts• Push marketing requires that one creates,

produces products/services and presents them to potential buyers. Such products are often commodities which sell on price. Sellers carry finished goods in stock or use a distribution channel to ensure prompt delivery.

• Pull Marketing is in response to a need in the current or future markets. Buyer describes problem and seller proposes a specific solution to the problem which seller accepts.

Pull Marketing continued

• Upon acceptance, seller makes a limited quantity production run of the product

or service. Seller makes the delivery and collects upon acceptance. Upon reorder, seller makes more product/services to fill the customs order within lead time.

• When additional demand occurs and trends up ward, product/service typically becomes a commodity and sells at competitive prices and typically produced by an outsource.

Additional Marketing Concepts

• A service market activity is the sale of a unique product/service designed for a specific customer and often delivered via the internet, US Mail, a delivery service or in person. Heavy personal service is often provided to specific locations. Normal lead time does not exist!

Partial pre payment is often required. Final payment is made after acceptance by buyer

Defining the Type of Markets

• Types of markets are often determined by the following questions.– What is it?– What is the need?– Who is going sell it?– Who is going to buy it?– Who is going to use it?– What problem will it solve?– Who is going to pay for it and when and how?– How quickly must the delivery be made for buyer acceptance? – What is the price point?– What is the desired quality level?– Will there be repeat business?– How frequent will the demand be?

Medical MarketExample

• Bioabsorbable Plastic stent

• Second generation of drug coated stent to address the thrombosis problem

Decisions

• What conclusions have you come to? Options:

– Do not pursue idea, File research for latter review.– Continue researching the identified market.– What size is the market in volume, time and

dollars? How much can you capture?

– Have you created a business plan?

Business Plan Elements

– Executive summary, TWO Pages Maximum!– Market, Sales and Earnings by periods, Week,

Month, Quarter, Year– Team Members, Skills, Education & Experience.– Facility, Location, Square feet, Special

requirements, adequate size and adaptable for the future.– Financing, Funding, Financial Statements

Intellectual property and Venture investments.– Liquidation

The Executive Summary of a BUSINESS PLAN

• The Executive Summary shall not exceed two pages!

• The Executive Summary’s purpose is to get the reader to read the balance of the business plan.

• Example:– WYZ corporation was organized by Mr. Jones to address

“the problem” in ABC market. XYZ corporation/LLB has designed to“………….” and will manufacture/produce it in their facility located at “123 Front Street, Any town, State, 55110, with a management team selected for their start up experience and management skills developed in other companies of similar nature.

Market Assessment of a BUSINESS PLAN

• What size is the identified market? Can you forecast its sales?• If so how much sales/revenue by what time

periods?• Please remember that, nothing happens

until something is sold.• Describe your market research in detail. How you did it? Who did it? How was documented?

Sales Plan of a BUSINESS PLAN

• Can you personally sell? • Can you walk away with the order? • Can you train others to sell? • Will you be willing to step aside for someone else

to take the business to the next level?– If not, do you have an associate who can sell? – Will you accept other’s skills where yours are short

suited? • Are you a leader and a team member?

– Is the ultimate goal good for the team or do you need to be the HERO? What is your management style?

Entrepreneur/ Chief Executive Officer• What is your work experience? Sales/marketing?

What is your market vision? Can you see over the horizon/around the corner?

• What do you bring to the table?– What major objectives have you accomplished? Where and

how many. Are you a natural leader?

• What is your formal education?– Degrees?, Industry Certifications?

• Do you have native ability to sell and lead?– Do you know how to do things intuitively?

• Do you “Just know” what action needs be taken?

Team Membersof a BUSINESS PLAN

• Have you, the CEO, selected other team member candidates to support your goals?– What skills do you need from them?– What skills have they developed over what period of time?– Are they team players or they ego driven?– What is their home life and social background?

• In what geographical area did they develop their marketing and management skills?– Why are they in their location/will they relocate to your area?– Do they plan to stay in your location, if so how long?– Do they have the skill to train junior staff?

Resumes & Biographical Sketches

• Sales & Marketing, Degreed, specific market experience, Start up experience

• Design Engineering & documentation, masters degree, patents, startup experience

• Operations, Process Control, Production, Gross profit Maintenance, Process Engineer, Materials & Outsourcing

• Finance, CPA, Intellectual Property• Quality Assurance, MBA, Six sigma• Human resources, Liberal Arts, MBA Psychology• Regulatory Affairs, FDA Interface. Science background

Example Storyfor a BUSINESS PLAN

Our market research has identified the following need………………. in the ……………………market.

We will pull our/solution/product/service into the market to solve the market identified problem at a gross profit of………….%.

We will maintain profit margins over the life of each product to enhance cash flow for the next product identified by marketing.

We plan to be successful in our chosen market by implementing our sales and marketing plan based on our market research.

Projected Financial Documentsfor a BUSINESS PLAN

• Income statement, Projected Income and Expenses by period for the next five years

produced on demand.• Balance Sheet, Projected Assets & Liabilities by period for the next five years produced on demand.• Cash Flow Statement, Projected cash flow by period for the next five years produced on

demand

Fund raising for a BUSINESS PLAN

• WYZ Corporation will raise operating funds from……Initial Public Offering

• XYZ Corporation will obtain debt financing from financial angels and venture capitalists

• XYZ Corporation will raise operating funds from Private placements

• XYZ Corporation will raise initial start up Funds from Founder, Friends and Family

Long term Liquidity Goalsfor a BUSINESS PLAN

• Initial Public Offering.• Private Funding, Founder, Friends & Family.• Sale thru Private Funded Acquisition.• Privately Held, Entrepreneur Financed.• License Technology and Collect User Fees to Create Cash Flow.• Liquidation, sale, merger, acquisition. • Continued operations.

Never stop learning

HP Memristor Team• New electrical component invented

– memory resistor• Theorized in 1971, to provide conceptual

symmetry Resistors, Capacitors and Inductors• Developed 2008• R. Stanley Williams' solid-state memristors can

be combined into devices called crossbar latches, which could replace transistors in future computers, taking up a much smaller area.

• They can also be fashioned into non-volatile solid-state memory, which would allow greater data density than hard drives with access times potentially similar to DRAM, replacing both components. HP prototyped a crossbar latch memory using the devices that can fit 100 gigabits in a square centimeter

• What will its impact be on future circuits• Who will use it first

Soruces: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memristor, http://www.hpl.hp.com/news/2008/apr-jun/memristor.html

Crystal Pierz Marine

• How does one cope with reduced sales due to limited financing?

• Sales are down. Fight sales fatigue with – Training– Reset incentives toward maintaining relationships

Abengoa Bioenergy

• State of Oklahoma is planting 1,100 acres of switchgrass

• Abengoa Bioenergy, Hugoton KS, is building a biorefinery nearby, online by 2010

• Listed on Madrid Stock Exchange• #1 Ethanol producer in Europe 142 MG

(+ 66 MG under construction)• #5 Ethanol producer in US 198 MG capacity

www.abengoabioenergy.com/

Abengoa Bioenergy

• Abengoa and OK realized… “Rising food costs recently resulted in a pushback against renewable fuels. However cellulosic ethanol from sources like swithgrass and sorghum are noncompetitive with food sources for animals and humans and remove cellulosic ethanoll from the discussion” David Fleishaker, OK Sec of Energy

Source: News clipping

New Heart Team• Doris Taylor & Harald Ott University

of Minnesota scientists will create a better heart.

• Beat organ rejection by flushing a donor heart with detergents to leave a matrix of protein fibers, the extracellular matrix (ECM)

• Flowing stem cells and progenitor cells with oxygen and nutrients through the heart allows growth of new, compatible tissues and a beating heart

• Will the U of M see fit to commercialize their achievement?

• How will they license it to entrepreneurs so it can be marketed with earnings being returned to the university?

Source: M magazine Spring 2008 Video https:mediamill.cla.umn.edu/mediamill/embed/7316

Konarka

• Developing nano-enabled polymer photovoltaic materials that are lightweight, flexible and more versatile than traditional solar materials.

• Proprietary materials and low cost manufacturing processes, allow an entirely unique solar material.

• New breed of coatable, flexible, plastic photovoltaics can be used in a wide range of applications where traditional photovoltaics cannot compete.

• Founded 2001• Over 70 staff in the US, Europe, and Asia • Global headquarters in Lowell, Massachusetts

www.konarka.com

Konarka continued• Based on the work of the late Dr. Sukant Tripathy, a

materials scientist and professor at UMASS Lowell, and Dr. Alan Heeger, a 2000 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry.

• Research team discovered a new technology for materials processing at relatively low temperatures that enabled the use of a wide variety of low-cost polymers as the top and bottom surfaces of the photovoltaic cell.

• It also enabled the photovoltaic cells to be manufactured at high speed using coating and printing technologies.

• The technical innovations have led to investments of $104 million in private capital and $18 million in government research grants to date.

Konarka’s Power Plastic

• Standard products

Konarka continued

• Konarka Opens World’s Largest Roll-to-Roll Thin Film Solar Manufacturing Facility with One Gigawatt Nameplate Capacity

• Former Polaroid Facility in New Bedford, Mass. Prepares Konarka for Large Scale Production of Power Plastic® Thin Film Photovoltaics Lowell, Mass. – Oct. 7, 2008

Startups, VC firms turn to new frontiers in medical technology

Source: Katharin Grayson, May 2008 http://twincities.bizjournals.com/twincities/stories/2008/06/02/focus1.html#1

See next slides for detail

Startups, VC firms turn to new frontiers in medical technology

BRAIN:Orasi MedicalRaised $2.4 Mil Q4 ’07Developing tech to diagnoseAlzheimer’s disease

SINUS:Intellus Medical Inc. Raised $4.5 Mil Q4 ’07Developing med. deviceto treat sinus inflammation

VEINS:GraftCath Inc.Raised $11.9 Mil Q1 ’08 Makes devices for dialysis patients CardiovascularSystems Inc.Raised $18 Mil in Q3 ’07, pre IPO, makes devices that clear plaque out of arteries

STROKE:CoAxia Inc.Raised $11.5 Mil Q1 ’08 Makes products to lessonstroke severity NeuroVasx, Inc.Raised $8.5 Mil in Q4 ’07, and more than $13 Mil since founding in1997Developing treatment for a less common form of stroke

LUNGS:RespirTech Inc.Raised $1.25 Mil Q1 ’06 Makes devices that treat chronic lung diseaseSuperDimensionRaised $21 Mil in Q4 ’07, technology that helps with early detection of lung cancer

Startups, VC firms turn to new frontiers in medical technology

STROKE:Acorn Cardiovascular Inc.Raised $21.6 Mil Q4 ’07Devices to treat congestive heart failureArtitech Inc.Raised $22 Mil in Q3 ’07, treating atrial fibrilation

SPINE:Anulex Technologies Inc. Raised $37 Mil Q4 ’07Developed device to treat back pain

GROIN:Iasis Medical Inc. Raised $1.5 Mil Q4 ’07Developed device to treat gynecological disorders

Hot 100 Company 1-5Rank Company Name/Description

Industry/Sales 1 Simply Self Storage Self-storage facilities

Industry: Miscellaneous Services 2007 Sales: $109.1 million 2 BlueStar Energy Services Electricity supplier

Industry: Miscellaneous Services 2007 Sales: $171.5 million 3 Bills.com Online personal financial information

Industry: Financial Services 2007 Sales: $43.5 million 4 HemCon Medical Technologies Inc. Medical products

Industry: Health 2007 Sales: $39.5 million

5 Global Water Resources Water and wastewater utility Industry: Natural Resources 2007 Sales: $26 million

https://www.entrepreneur.com/hot100/rank/page1.html

Hot 100 Company 6-10Rank Company Name/Description

Industry/Sales 6 MXenergy Natural gas and electricity supplier

Industry: Natural Resources 2007 Sales: $703.9 million 7 HealthTrans LLC Pharmacy benefit-management services

Industry: Business Services 2007 Sales: $182.2 million 8 Litle & Co. LLC Online payment processor

Industry: Financial Service 2007 Sales: $94.2 million 9 Deep Marine Technology Subsea services for the offshore oil

and gas industries Industry: Natural Resources 2007 Sales: $55 million

10 SGIS Government contracting, IT and professional services Industry: Government Contractors 2007 Sales: $62 million

https://www.entrepreneur.com/hot100/rank/page1.html

MN Fast 50 Company 1-51 Anytime Fitness Inc.

CEO Jeff Klinger Co-ed health club chainFounded 2002, 80 employees, 2007 $13.1 million (348%)

2 Tactile Systems Technology Inc. CEO: Jeff Mattys Home therapy products for lymphedemaFounded 1995, 63 employees, 2007 $6.1 million (341%)

3 Knowledge InfusionCEO: Jason Averbrook Strategic Mgmt ConsultingFounded 2004, 25 employees, 2007 $5.1 million (228%)

4 LogiSolve Consulting Partners: Kelly Wendt + 7 eRx, Ag, Mgmt and Technical ConsultingFounded 1999, 130 employees, 2007 16.5 million (218%)

5 White House Custom Colour Inc. CoCEOs Michael Hanline & Webb White Photo and press printing for prosFounded 1978, 225 employees, 2007 $33 million (204%)

http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/stories/2008/10/20/daily46.html 27Oct08

MN Fast 50 Company 6-106 Natural Resource Group

CEO Emily Grothe, Public affairs support, permitting & compliance svcs to energy industryFounded 1992, 201 employees, 2007 $73 million (203%)

7 GetWireless CEO Brian Tanney, cellular distributor AirLink & TelularFounded 2001, 6 employees, 2007 $5 million (194%)

8 eCapital Advisors Partners Jim Plantan, Lisa David, management consultingFounded 2001, 28 employees, 2007 $6.2 million (190%)

9 Olson CEO John Olson, branding, advertising and PR servicesFounded 1992, 165 employees, 2007 $44.1 million (176%)

10 CotterWeb Enterprises Inc. CEO Daren Cotter, consumer online loyalty Inbox Dollars.com, SendEarnings.comFounded 2000, 30 employees, 2007 $12.4 million (173%)

http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/stories/2008/10/20/daily46.html 27Oct08

Manny VillafanaSerial Entrepreneur

• Villafana claims he likes to start companies. • At last count, the 50-year-old (now 67) had started four

businesses, which now employ more than 2,500 people.• Villafana formed his first venture, Cardiac Pacemakers

Inc., in 1972. Now part of a division of Eli Lilly & Co., Cardiac Pacemakers posted sales of $200 million (1990). When its board rejected an idea for an improved artificial heart valve, he said, "OK, fine, I'll take it." In 1976 St. Jude Medical Inc., now a $200-million (1991) company, was born.

The Entrepreneur of the Year 1991, Inc. Magazine http://www.inc.com/magazine/19910101/4407.html

Manny Villafana• He's founded several other companies to develop and

manufacture health care products, including GV Medical, ATS Medical and CABG Medical.

• In 2006 he founded Kips Bay Partners, a medical technology venture capital firm that has closed.

• Currently he leads Kips Bay Medical, developing cardiovascular products.

http://www.news-releases.uiowa.edu/2007/september/092007villafanaspeaks.html

Manny Villafana• Manny Villafana is the best marketer I have met. He was born

poor in Spanish Harlem to immigrant parents.

• He has a limited formal education and relies on his native ability. Even though he never completed college, he has been honored as a Living Legend in Medicine Award recipient, the National Medical Entrepreneur of the Year in 1990, and a grand prize recipient of the Mediterranean Institute of Cardiology.

• His market ability is so good that his sales forecasts were within 90% each month when I did the master production schedule at St. Jude Medical, Inc.

Alan Bignall

• CEO, ReconRobotics Inc.– 1985 MBA St. Thomas, 2007 Entrepreneur in Residence– Former CEO, Visual Interactions Inc, software– Former owner, Consulting Advisory Group LLC– Featured in a Star Tribune story about four former

Fingerhut executives, including Bignall, who launched Growth Ventures Group, a Minneapolis-based investment firm that partners with private investors to buy retailers and turn them around.

Sources: St. Thomas Alumni page and ReconRobotics documents

Alan Bignall

• Alan immediately impresses you with his knowledge of markets.

• He stands well over six feet tall, weighs over 300 pounds and speaks with an English accent.

• He has multiple industry experience and knows how to build corporate teams.

• His ultimate goal is to own a baseball team.

ReconRobotics Inc.

• Minneapolis-based ReconRobotics Inc. is a new company that has been formed to commercialize patented field-proven technology developed in the University of Minnesota Distributed Robotics Laboratory.

• The company designs, manufactures, deploys and supports miniature robotic systems and distributed robotic teams. These robots are specifically designed to provide real time information in hazardous or restricted space areas, for military, police and commercial markets.

http://www.reconrobotics.com

ReconRobotics• ReconRobotics Introduces

Throwable, Mobile Reconnaissance Robot With Night Vision Capabilities The Recon Scout is designed for a broad range of military, police and security applications. It does not require any specialized training to operate, and it may be carried on a belt or tactical vest. Throw it into any dangerous, hostile or confined environment and you’ll instantly get critical visual intelligence that can save lives and reduce property damage.

http://www.reconrobotics.com

Gale Ward• Gale Ward was born on the east coast. Her

maiden name was Italian and she had supper at 6:00 pm with her family

• Gale quit a marketing job when she found her employer was using company funds for his personal use.

• The product was a temperature control box. I said, “Good for organ transport.”

• She said, “No Duane, the market is for transporting pharmaceuticals. Do you know the cost of a drug shipment that becomes warm?”

• Focus

Bruce ThomsonSerial Entrepreneur

• Bruce Thomson, CEO • Started - Proex, Title Wave, Movilla,

PemTom, Archiver's, Leonardo’s Pizza and he's still coming up with ideas at age 75.

• Now Solo Pizza Cafe, in quick lunch pizza market.– 65 employees, $2Mil revenue– Locations: Inver Grove Heights and PlymouthSources

Star Tribune article - Dick Youngblood 2003Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal Liz Riggs 17 Oct 2008

Solo Pizza Cafe• National market research

– How much people typically spend for lunch– How quickly they want their food

• Their edge– Developed a fast-baking oven– Former Pillsbury food scientist developed dough

SourceMinneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal Liz Riggs 17 Oct 2008

Botanic Oil Innovations, Inc.

• Spooner, WI• 10 employees• ImmunoViva nutritional supplements

– Recognized that the world of dietary supplements was characterized by over-promise and dubious claims. We wanted no part of that.

– Have not pursued FDA approval of product benefits despite UM studies showing value

– Need help

http://www.immunoviva.com/

Tom Petters

• An example of what not to do!• Do not engage in any activity which is morally

ethically or legally wrong.• There is no personal gain worth compromising

my personal freedom, not to mention the personal pain suffered by innocent participants who did not make the bad decisions

Entrepreneurial Tasks• Identify the Market, with personal

contacts/face to face data collection.• Build the Team. Select those skilled team

members who will implement your product strategy.

• Sell / Communicate the “solution to a problem” to your customer and your team who will pull together with you to create a successful venture. Garner the sale and repeat orders.

Why am I involved?• My personal goal is to help fund the formal

college education of five granddaughters. I need capital gains to help reimburse their expenses at well recognized private schools who will enhance their native abilities.

• Photo of

Supreme Compliment from an Associate

The phone rings and the speaker says,

“ I think you should know about this one “

THAT IS FULL PAYMENT