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A Trip of a Lifetime

bendupont — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 19:42:11 +0000

3 guys, 44 days, 11 countries, 18 flights, 38 thousand miles, an exploding volcano, 2 cameras and almost a terabyte of footage… all to turn 3 ambitious linear concepts based on movement, learning and food ….into 3 beautiful and hopefully compelling short films…..
= a trip of a lifetime.

move, eat, learn

Rick Mereki : Director, producer, additional camera and editing
Tim White : DOP, producer, primary editing, sound
Andrew Lees : Actor, mover, groover

ZetrOZ – Winner of yet2.com Step2Change Technology Competition

bendupont — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 15:20:47 +0000

the great thing about working with yet2.com is that we get to see so many interesting new technologies. Thousands of them. A few really impress us. One is ZetrOZ and their revolutionary ultrasound therapy technology. They took first place in yet2.com’s recent Step2Change Technology Competition last month.

Join us 19 July 2011, 11:00am EDT for a Webinar on ZetrOZ.

Register here for the webinar: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/812392706

ZetrOZ™ is revolutionizing the ultrasound industry by introducing proprietary generator technology that is more efficient, more portable, and more economically viable than any ultrasound generator presently available. ZetrOZ’s first product is the world’s smallest ultrasound pain therapy device. This device (currently in clinical trials) addresses the demand for non-pharmaceutical alternatives to current pain treatments in the approximately $50 billion global pain management market.

ZetrOZ Management Team

The technology pioneered by ZetrOZ represents the single largest advance in ultrasound generation technology in the past three decades. It has implications in nearly every current ultrasound application and opens up entirely new possibilities for ultrasound use. For example, because of its portability, the ZetrOZ system can apply ultrasound therapy anywhere, not just in a physician’s office, and can apply that therapy more frequently and for longer periods of time because it is not dependent on office-bound equipment.

Read the ZetrOZ ultrasound TechPak here: http://www.yet2.com/app/list/techpak?id=63992&sid=20&abc=0

Register here for the webinar: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/812392706

Failure

bendupont — Thu, 26 May 2011 18:02:08 +0000

I love failure. I have to. Been doing it all my life. Which is why this video from Kathryn Schulz hit home.

I think she is correct, when she implies that the secret to success is a higher tolerance for failure and low tolerance for not trying again…and for not achieving ultimate success.

Where will web 3.0 take us?

bendupont — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 16:18:57 +0000

This is an excellent article from VenturBeat and written by Anthony Ha. It ties into a blog I wrote on the New Now. A key mega-trend is wireless speed.

LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman presented his vision today for “Web 3.0” at the South by Southwest Interactive conference in Austin.

Hoffman, who is now a partner at Greylock Partners, sounded dismissive of most of the buzzwords that have been tied to Web 3.0 — bandwidth, “appification”, video, location, real-time, and mobile. (He said mobile is probably the most significant trend of the bunch, but it’s “kind of boring”.) Instead, he said that the next big trend in the evolution of the Web, and the next big opportunity for entrepreneurs, is data.

Specifically, he said that if Web 1.0 involved “go search, get data” and some limited interactivity; and if Web 2.0 involves “real identities” and “real relationships”, then Web 3.0 will be “real identities generating massive amounts of data.”

Of course, there are risks associated with you sharing data tied to your personal identity. (Two of the conference’s keynote speakers, 4chan founder Christopher Poole and Web video star Felicia Day, both made arguments for the benefits of anonymity.) But Hoffman said startups should just follow two important rules about data. First, “never ambush your users.” Second, “not all data is created equal.” A lot of the data that people provide online isn’t harmful, he said — what companies and users need to be really careful about is “data that is essentially equivalent to a password,” which includes things like credit card numbers.

Hoffman offered several examples of companies that are already doing interesting and useful things with social data: LinkedIn offers a new feature called Skills, where users can find people, companies, and jobs related to each skill. There’s Waze, a mobile application that uses data about your location and speed during your commute to deliver traffic advice. And there’s Redfin, an online real estate broker (which Greylock invested in) that gives homebuyers more information about their prospective homes and the housing market.

In what Hoffman acknowledged was a rather self-referential move, he proposed collecting social data about the interesting apps that can be built with social data — audience members are supposed to post their ideas on Twitter with the hashtag #web3, and his team will try to create an infographic showing off the ideas.

yet2.com Webinar – April 21st – Improve deal-making process

bendupont — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 20:54:35 +0000

Join us to hear how experienced deal-makers are succeeding, at our upcoming webinar:

Conference Preview: Successful Deal-making with Small Companies April 21, 2011, 11:00am EST.

We’ll be discussing relationship building, cross-cultural appreciation, ongoing consulting, and step-wise deal structures, among other topics. We’ve gathered representatives from both the small and big company perspectives to share their thoughts — tune in to learn how you can hasten and improve your own deal process.

Webinar speakers:

	Steve Baggott, Director, External Business Development, Procter & Gamble
	Robert Michelson, President, Butler Home Products
	Dr. Greg Williams, Director of Research and Development, Monteco Ltd.

April’s webinar is an exclusive preview of a live panel discussion to be held at yet2.com’s upcoming Open Innovation conference in May, in Boston.

Register today for the Successful Deal-making with Small Companies Preview Webinar here:

https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/311188682

What Sports Produce the Best Entrepreneurs?

bendupont — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 14:19:00 +0000

This is a great post from Rob Go’s Blog. I love his blog and though it was worth sharing.

I love playing sports (although as I’ve gotten older, I’ve become more of a watcher than a doer). In particular, I love the mental side of sports. I’m convinced that sports are a great training ground for many different disciplines. I remember when I was interviewing for Spark, excellence at some sport was an important factor in the hiring process. Of course, it’s a good measure of competitiveness, but I think it’s even deeper than that.

This got me thinking about the emotional and mental characteristics that are important for entrepreneurs, and the sports that best hone these characteristics. This isn’t an exhaustive list, but there were three sports that really hone a particular strength that I see in great entrepreneurs.

American Football: One of the critical lessons that football players learn early on is that it is critical to “deliver the hit”. The idea is that if you are about to collide against someone, the worst thing you can do is flinch. Even if you are a smaller player, if you are the one “delivering the hit” you will inflict more damage (and thus, absorb less damage) in the impact.

We often hear of entrepreneurs that are “forces of nature” or will “run through walls” to get things done. These folks are tireless, bold, and un-intimidated by the big challenges or competitors in front of them. This is an incredibly important characteristic. I think it’s strongly reinforced by football, even though most entrepreneurs I know probably aren’t quite the physical specimen best suited for that game.

Golf: What I think is different between many sports and being an entrepreneur is the speed of decision making. In a fast paced sport, decisions happen so quickly that much of it happens by instinct. Needing to make a free throw to win a game is very different from making a shot in motion largely because of the time you are suddenly allowed to think about the shot and consider the risks.

Golf is one of those rare sports where every shot is intentional, and none are reactive. Furthermore, there is a long time between shots to think about what you are doing, get mad at yourself, doubt yourself, and resolve to stick to your strategy. Finally, golf is one of those games where one bad hole can completely derail an otherwise great round. As an entrepreneur, your decisions are much more calculated and intentional than reactionary. You have lots of time from day to day to question yourself and experience emotional highs and lows. And a few critical mistakes can compound on themselves to completely derail your business. Having the cool-headedness and mental discipline of great golfers is a real asset.

Wrestling: The problem with golf as a mental training ground is that it is a terrible sport to learn how to be a “closer”. The reason is that tournament golf is such that there is a large field and only one winner. Even the best golfers in the world have winning percentages of less than 20%, and most top 50 golfers probably find themselves in position to win only a handful of times each year. But for an entrepreneur, being able to “close” is paramount. It’s a huge skill – it’s relevant in selling to customers, hiring great talent, fundraising, and closing important deals and partnerships.

What you want is a sport where the individual faces the need to “close” very frequently, and encounter the opportunity to “win” often enough to make the situation second nature. As I thought this through, the best sport I could come up with is probably wrestling (or some other combat sport like mixed martial arts). Each match is a 1:1 battle with a winner and a loser. The guy against you is trying like crazy to beat you, and have both been training like crazy to be prepared for the challenge. Pure aggression along is not enough to win, but you have to be level headed and strategic as well.

Another nice element of wrestling is the intense preparation that culminates in a moment of peak performance. Wrestlers train like crazy, cut weight quickly, in order to be as prepared as possible for a single match. Although startups aren’t quite the same, I think there is a strong benefit to being mentally prepared for big sprints and major moments of crisis or opportunity. An entrepreneur’s life isn’t one with a steady cadence – there are many huge peaks and valleys, and not everyone is prepared for that.

Of course, many other sports develop great mental disciplines that are beneficial in many life contexts. I don’t mean to gloss over important things like teamwork, leadership, etc. But wanted to point out some particular traits that are themselves particularly well developed by these three sports.

Disclaimer: I play golf, but not Football. I love watching the UFC and my college roommate was a wrestler, but I’ve never wrestled myself.

Thanks to Sean Lindsay, Jason Jacobs, Jennifer Lum, Dan Primack, and others on Twitter who contributed their ideas to this post!

2011 Patent Buying Areas of Interest report

bendupont — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 01:05:22 +0000

We’ve been buying and selling patents at yet2.com for over 11 years now. Over those years we have seen the areas of patent interest change quite substantially. Today we released our 2011 Patent Buying Areas of Interest report. This years’ report breaks patents sales into four areas; Consumer Electronics, Wireless, Healthcare and Lighting. Contact us for the full report, but below is a summary.

Most patent transactions are in industries where there are a high number of patents per product. Consumer electronics leads the pack. We are seeing an increase in interest in patents around the edges of consumer electronics, like hardware casing and metal bending. The patent market is coming back to a ‘new normal’, after the 2008 market disruption. While transaction activity has picked back up, it’s still at 50% of pre 2008.

Patent Buying Interest Areas (2011)

1. Consumer Electronics

a) Image Capture / Image processing

b) Audio/Video

c) Memory

d) Compression / Decompression (“codec”)

e) Displays

f) Battery / Portable Power

g) Sensors

h) Digital Rights Management

i) Internet Telephony

j) Printing/Scanning

k) Opto-electronics

l) GPS Technology

2. Wireless

a) Wifi

b) WiMax

c) LTE

d) MIMO

e) Smart Grid

3. Healthcare

a) Imaging for diagnostic purposes

b) Cardiac Care

c) Sleep Therapy / Respiratory Care

d) Decision Support Systems for Physicians

e) User Interfaces on Medical Devices and Software

f) Patient Monitoring

g) Surgical Path-finding Imaging Devices

h) Group-specific Medical Treatment

i) Molecular Imaging / Diagnostics

j) Optics-based Instruments / Microscopes

k) Ultrasonic Testing

l) X-ray Inspection

4. Lighting

a) Solid state lighting, including LED, AC LED, OLED, retrofit light sources

b) Applications of lighting/atmosphere creation/energy management

c) Conversion phosphors

d) Lighting controls

5 Open Innovation Mistakes Companies Make

bendupont — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 16:04:04 +0000

Culture – Changing the culture to be receptive to outside ideas and technology requires more than one speech or memo. Changing the culture requires changing work habits and changing incentives. 1) Every employee should be, looking for external ideas monthly. 2) Technology leaders should be; looking for and evaluating external ideas weekly. 3) Open innovation leaders should be; looking for, evaluating and championing external ideas daily.
Shopping Lists – Business units should have quarterly process for gathering the most critical and pressing needs, the shopping list should be aggregated across business units and the combined list should be widely available inside the firm. The process should be done bottom up annually, and it should include patents. Few companies manage this well.
People – The best scientists are not frequently the extroverts. Find the ones who are and name them the OI Champions. Find the person with friends in every business unit and name them head of OI. OI is about people. Most companies fail here too. The head of OI at a LargeCo, should greet you with a warm smile and a handshake – if they don’t – the wrong person is in the role.
Staffing the Fire Hose – This is the place where companies underestimate and fail the most. World leaders in Open Innovation have a well oiled process for evaluating hundreds of leads, and drinking from the fire hose of the emerging technology market. Most companies fall in love with the first few technologies that are close, and stop evaluating others. Most companies fail to use retired scientists, engineers and university researchers to manage the new technology evaluation. My view is the ratio should be 100 to 1 – 100 evaluations for each technology partnership established. If you cant manage this, you don’t have enough staff to help you drink from the fire hose.
Building relationships – There is grace in the polite ‘no’, and most companies fail at this. Bright scientists who submit ideas, that did not quite make the hurdle, are frequently treated poorly. Open Innovation leaders need to be thinking of of establishing corporate farm team. Like in Baseball, major league teams will have farm teams to test and develop new technology. A good group of corporate farm teams will be a wining innovation strategy. Corporate farm teams consist of; smaller companies, companies in different regions, venture capital firms, universities and government labs.

What did I miss?

Capital Flows

bendupont — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 11:46:44 +0000

The motion of capital is fundamental to our economy.

Over the past couple years the market has been becoming more risk adverse. This is nothing new, especially in the wake of the 2008 crash. What is very interesting to me is the flow of capital.

Since 2006 there has been a decrease in the amount of capital going into equity mutual funds. The amount of money going in went negative in 2009 and has stayed there.

Since 2006 there has been an increase in the amount of capital going into bonds mutual funds.

Are we about to see a Bond bubble burst?

Will that capital move to equities and rally the market?

My predication is capital will start moving back to equities, and when it happens – hang on – we’re in for quite a ride. In 2-3 years when the developed worlds economies are growing at normal rates, and the developing world is growing at its current rates, we will see a spectacular rally in the equity markets.

Entrepreneurs Can Change the World Video

bendupont — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 15:16:03 +0000

Kids can teach a lot about ourselves and the world. Kids start out as entrepreneurs. Somewhere along way, when we grow up we can forget to dream big. We forget how to ask questions. We forget how to be an entrepreneur.

This is a great video clip, to remind us how important entrepreneurship is, to remind us to think big, to ask questions – to be remember what is was like to be a kid.