13 0730 session 1 webinar-techology_product validation

Editor's Notes

• #7: The result of many years’ worth of work, the 10-Step Curriculum is the key process, initially introduced at the Academy, which helps a company de-risk their technology.Progressive de-risking of company from concept to a venture that will achieve investment and/or sustainable revenueTraining materials, activities & workshops are integrated with these 10 steps Product-Market Fit helps each company ensure that they have identified the correct market for their product(s)/service(s) and are ready to make appropriate adjustments. 2) Technology Validation ensures that their product(s)/service(s) will credibly meet the requirements of investors and customers. 3) Business Model covers all key aspects of who and how and where money will be made, and how the product will be delivered. 4) Markets and Getting to Them covers the key, crucial steps needed to get a new product into the market (an enhanced version of ‘Go To Market Strategy’). 5) Finances & Funding focuses on producing credible financial projections. 6) Legal provides an introduction to intellectual property protection and the corporate structure required to minimize risk and provide the legal underpinnings for success (important steps often overlooked by entrepreneurs). 7) Execution and Team to Execute introduces the importance of building a strong, relevant team with the specific skills needed to hit the major milestones needed as the startup grows. 8) Sustainability introduces the importance of business practices that will improve the company’s profitability while reducing its environmental impact. 9) Presentation works on the content and skills for excellent investor/customer presentations. 10) Assessment & Review guides each entrepreneur through the importance of careful review, and provides the platform for review and refinement of the programs themselves.Physical and virtual business clinics are one-on-one sessions for each participating startup with experts from sectors such as law, marketing, design, manufacturing and finance.
• #9: Welcome to the Cleantech Open Technology / Product Validation Webinar.
• #10: Graphic of the business model environment found on p. 201 of Business Model Generation.
• #11: Introductory slide and webinar description
• #12: Our agenda for today’s topics in this webinar focus on the following:- Value Creation from Technology and Product Solutions for Cleantech Enterprises- Innovation in terms of technology and product solutions for enterprises Technology Validation through Third Party Labs (Universities, Independent Organizations and Regulatory Agencies and Yes, Customers! Technology and Product Fit Products, Prototypes, Economics and Viability DFM and Scaling Capacity and ScalingAt the conclusion of the webinar, you should have a more solid understanding of how Product and Technology fit into Osterwalder and Pigneur’s (2010) Business Model Canvas.
• #13: We move on to Webinar no 4 from where we left off last week on Markets and Getting to Them. You shared with us what you liked about the Webinars and how we can make them more helpful. Today’s Webinar is on Front and Back Stage i.e. Customer View and Operational View with focus on Value Creation, Business Model Canvas and if this is a business opportunity worth scaling and monetizing it. The goal is to link the Webinar content as much as possible to the Worksheets that you are required to complete and Judging Criteria given that is your shorter term interest.
• #14: Product/Technology development and Validation - “Conceiving, protecting and scaling ideas in context technology, products and services in an effort to create value for all stakeholders”. 1) Successful product / technology validation starts with asking open ended questions on their problems.2) One can get the answers to product / technology validation by not asking questions but listening closely to what customers say, not say but most importantly what they do!!3) Always start with end in mind.
• #15: Validated and Scalable Technology and Products with focus on Solutions and Cradle to Cradle.Understand the capability of Technology and its role in serving the changing needs / wants and desires of potential customers in context of the environment and regulations.Focus on IP, Technology, Product Validation, Design for Manufacturability and cash flows if and when you choose to scale. Competing Technologies Intellectual Property Product Pipeline – Minimal Product, Evolutionary and Revolutionary. Supply and Value Chain – Be clear on the choke points What it takes to produce in volume in terms of quality, performance and price with triple bottom line ( People, Profits and Planet) impact Business is not about what you say but how and what one delivers!- Innovation - Spin off, Evolutionary and Revolutionary Technology / Products to serve the unserved need / want desire.- Life after Useful Life – Thinking of not Cradle to Grave but Cradle to Cradle- Technology, Products or Solutions – Cost / Performance Value Propositions and Cash Flows.Innovation – Practices, Processes and Products to form Spinoff, Evolutionary and Revolutionary. Example….Optoelectronic and Diodes market, Existing Chips / New Packages or Vice Versa and New Platforms and Devices. Example….SMPS Market and HP Printer Market and 7AC Technologies.2)Life after Useful Life – Technology and Product takes into account Life after Useful life of product.3) Technology, Products or Solutions – Sell Solutions versus Devices – Example - Optoelectronics devices (LED’s) that sell for pennies to create a Smart Lighting Solutions that sell for dollars. Sell discrete LED’s and Detectors devices or sub assemblies to Automotive Industry / Industrial / Commercial Mood Lighting Market Example….Color Kinetics focusing on Smart Lighting and development Intellectual Property that lead them to sell out to Phillips Lighting.
• #16: In Technology and Product Validation one needs to stay focused on all three stages of Business Model Canvas though most of the action is on Front and Back Stage with actions impacting you on Business Performance Stage on sustained basis.The Canvas consists of nine building blocks, which are described from Right to Left (Front Stage and Back Stage) and then at the bottom Front Stage……..On the Right are four building blocks that form what can be called a customer view. These blocks include Customer Segments (CS), Value Propositions (VP), Customer Relationships (CR), and Channels (CH).On the Left are three building blocks that form what can be called the operations view. These blocks are Key Activities (KA), Key Resources (KR), and Key Partnerships (KP). At the bottom of the Canvas are two blocks that make up the economics view: Cost Structure (C$) and Revenue Streams (R$).The Canvas should be seen as a visual representation of the flow from suppliers to customers supported by economic elements. The organization of the elements is set up to be developed from right to left and then interpreted left to right. Like a painting it may not make sense until all elements are in place and the whole of the picture is seen through the interaction of the parts. In the following discussion we will look at each in more detail.Companies with Successful Business Models – Apple, Intel, Google and Power Assure (Smart Power Management - Dashboard)
• #17: Key Takeaways: Be clear on competing Technology/ ies and Products are focused on Cleantech Markets i.e. existing and established. 2) Identifying linkage of Products to Technology / Roadmaps and possible value propositions thru partnerships.3) Be clear on what is existing versus new in terms of Technology, Processes and features in context of Market, Segments and Customers.
• #18: Technology and Product Validation requires testing by third parties be it Customers, Testing Labs and or Regulatory Agencies. The testing can be of physical, electrical, functional and safety requirements per certain specific standards.Let Independent third parties verify what you know or not know both in terms of technology and products.Examples:7AC Technologies works with DOE and NREL (Exclusive License from NREL (DoE)Atomosphere Recovery Inc (ARC) – Laser Gas Analyzer with focus on Energy reduction to Process Improvement in Steel Mills (Sold 20-30 Systems within that Industry.(Testing at both NREL and Customers)3) SAINT-GOBAIN External Venturing works with start up companies to prove their technology that may be of interest to them.
• #20: Most start up businesses, and in particular those in technology or clean technology businesses, have considerations for their intellectual property. During these validation steps and in the design phases, the defensibility of this intellectual property because vital to the company’s progress and success.
• #22: Consider the product or service you are developing. Relative to the overall value of your product or service, how important is your Intellectual Property?Protecting your ideas, designs, and processes is important as a start up since these ideas and designs are often the bulk of the business’s assets.Protecting intellectual property rights through legal patents and copyrights as well as confidentiality agreements are of great importance during these design and testing phases – and beyond.
• #23: As a result of this need to meet customer demands, it is important that business implement effective technology management plans. The technology management plan provides direction and guidelines for business decision makers to best allocate their technology assets.
• #26: So, how does this all help a start up with a product that may not have gone into production yet? The process can include modeling of processes of products that do not yet exist yet<Opportunity for Interaction: How will modeling the process or product on other similar products or processes help you in Parameter Design?>
• #28: Spin Off Products - Change of Part No’s within existing capability of process or Buy / Sell arrangement with some value added features based on one’s capability – Niche Markets. Example…..Photo Detector used as Sun Sensor for Air Conditioning control in high end automobiles.Evolutionary: Example……..Motorola ESD / Transient Voltage Suppression Device value proposition of new product family of Quad Arrays that replaced four discrete devices at lower cost, reduced board space and insertion cost, while limiting the no of vendors lead to a sole source position at HP Printer Division. The value creation as a result of one product in a business that I was the owner was $4.5M in Sales on one product the first year, $7M in Sales the second year and $17M in Sales the third year at gross margin in excess of 70%. Revolutionary Technology and Products : 7AC Technologies as an example.
• #30: Product Validation is used to test if a product or service is accomplishes its intended purpose and does what it is supposed to do. Through product validation, a business can determine if a product actually brings the customer the value they intended. This step is often missed in startups. Often the product is already developed before the company even meets with their first client though that is not to happen since it has been discussed during Customer Discovery Webinar.
• #31: There are two areas that go together: product verification and product validation. Product Verification really asks the question “Are we building the product right?” Did you build what you said you would build. Is this the customer needs / wants and does it fit.
• #32: Product Validation, the process we are focused on, asks “Are we building the right product?” For a start up company this is likely to be the more immediate question given that there may have been limited products produced at this point.1) Work Closely with the customer.
• #33: Technology Validation is designed to ensure quality and eliminate variation during the design of the product.
• #34: One of the most well-known methods for quality control comes from the work of Genichi Taguchi. This is now known as The Taguchi Methods. This is a method of ensuring performance as early as the design phase. This includes system design at the conceptual level involving both creativity and innovation. (www.itl.nist.gov)Design for Manufacturability - DFM
• #35: The goal of parameter design is to make a product or process less variable. Parameter design involves setting nominal parameters for dimensions and other product characteristics or functions.
• #36: During this phase, it is important for the business to understand the role of variations on the performance of the process or the product.Strategies need to be in place to reduce the variations and control them at the points in the parameters that are most critical. It is also at this point that the true affect of the variations on product or process performance and how this relates to customer expectations.Examples…..Semiconductor Industry is classic for low failure rates due to Implementation of SPC in process and customer engagement.
• #37: Once the validation requirements and specification have been established, these are then used to development method to verify quality throughout the production flow.
• #41: Technology Validation in the design and pre-production phase may go through the following steps:Data gathering from systems and components under real world conditionsAnalysis of the dataComparison of results to technical targets
• #42: Once the validation in the design phase is established and the parameters have been set, the goal is a rapid transition into full production.Performance is validated using working prototypes.The feedback from the prototypes is used to improve their reliability and operation.This stage can include combining systems engineering, simulation models, and analysisDepending upon the type of product or manufacturing process, it may also require using a unique testing facility.