MIT's entrepreneurship example, February, 2009

Massachusetts Institute of Technology February 25 - 26, 2009

A sign of hope during the current financial crisis comes from the recent study from "Entrepreneurial impact: the role of MIT" which analyzes the economic effect of MIT alumni-founded companies and its entrepreneurial ecosystem. The report was supported by Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation wand notes that if the active companies founded by MIT graduates formed an independent nation, their revenues would make that nation at least the 17th-largest economy in the world. and with a less conservative estimate of their annual world sales would equal $2 trillion, producing the equivalent of the 11th-largest economy in the world. Herve Lebret of EPFL has posted comments on this survey.

MIT and EPFL Innovation eco-systems

I wanted to see first hand the impact of soft skills on innovation, such as MIT Venture Mentoring Service, started in 2000 by Sherwin Greenblatt, vice president of the MIT Alumni Association, and former first employee of Amar Bose. I attended a workshop organised by its director Jerome Smith and operations manager Roberta McCarthy,(contact).

• "We house a portfolio of activities where academics (faculty, students) interact with the business community (entrepreneurs, investors, managers, lawyers) on a frequent basis.
• We work to assure that the business community sees the university as welcoming, easy to interact with, a source of new ideas (and deals) and an opportunity to contribute
• Experienced investors (angels, venture capital) brings more than capital : board guidance, executive talent, connections to partners... and is wonderful source of role models and mentors"

Lita Nelsen, head of MIT Technology Licensing Office

The key is the collaboration between professionals.
"a venture is more likely to thrive when an idea, a good business plan and an entrepreneur are matched with proven skills and experience; highly qualified mentors find it compelling and rewarding"

Jerome Smith, co-director MIT VMS

MIT VMS currently counts 140 mentors (56% with an MIT background) mentoring 98 active ventures (582 served to date). I recorded part of a panel discussion where MIT VMS mentors and start-up mentees share their cooperation experience.

Some VMS Mentors :

• Kathleen (Kathy) Huber, founder/CxO Pico Innovations, Ohia Networks Silver Beech Networks, IronBridge Networks; consultant at First founders
• Stan Bryant, former Admiral, US Naval Academy
• Connie Stack, currently co-founder ConRoy Corp.
• Jerry Socol, former CEO of 5 companies:Filene’s, J. Baker, Buy-Rite Designs, Brandstamp, Fun Designs; currently consulting at Socol group
• Josh Kowitt, founder of founded ResFridge at 18, Collegeboxes, named Top 30 Entrepreneur by Inc., blogs here
• Stephen Smith, founder Optas, manager at Dendrite International, Dun and Bradstreet, and Thinking Machines.

... and their VMS mentees - entrepreneurs:

• Tom Ricciardelli, founder SelecTech, (manufacturing injection molded products using recycled plastic.)
• Ben Vigoda, founder Lyric Semiconductor signal processing computation in CMOS, blogs here
• Joshua Feast, founder Cogito Health, speech technology applied to behavioral and mental health research.
• Alan ...(MIT'05 chemistry), entrepreneur

... more comments from MIT VMS participants:

Entrepreneurs

• Tom Ricciardelli : if you feel confused, reach out; mentors give me guidance I can trust; when I started, they helped me get my head together and distill what was best; you own the decision but confidence from a mentors makes a difference; you get back results from such a great team; the team is great at figuring out what works; they were always positive, al lot of genuine enthusiasm; it brings unexpected results, worth its weight in gold.
• Ben Vigoda : mentors are like free sandwiches; they are not all in business for making money; they are my impartial sounding board; mentors give non-judgmental enthusiasm.
• Joshua Feast : I felt supported; it helped me to avoid making mistakes; I think of the Lyric Semiconductors all the time, even in the bathroom; I can make 6:00 am calls; there is nothing you can loose
• Alan (?) : do it at the ideation phase; they gave me business insight; the network has made a huge difference - almost 100% comes from VMS; they have no vested interest; be honest with them, admit, listen to them; they support you , not the company; it gave me to move forward.

Mentors

• Alec Dingee, mentor : when we started, fast response to needs ensures the best reputation, we soon had 50 applicants; we don't try to judge whether a start up idea is ridiculous or a breakthrough - we educate entrepremenrs when their idea is plausible and they are committed.
• Sherwin Greenblatt : we get a moral commitment from participants to give back when they succeed but we have not yet collected funds
• Kathy Huber : I felt it was a honor to be admitted to interviews.
• Stan Bryant : treat people with respect; treat differently people to get the best out of them; treat them like they want to be treated (rather than the way you want to be treated)
• Connie Stack : Steve Smith is phenomenal; I am learning too; people chemistry takes time
• Jerry Socol : I try to get at the level of other mentors, the bar is set high; the more you put in the more you get out; be blunt, people are born to be flexible.

Other start ups

We met other MIT start-ups founders an could give them a 1-minute feedback :

• Jason Galvain, founder Artaic, custom mosaic art using robotic precision manufacturing.
• E la carte, content for touchscreens and mobile tablets in restaurants to order and pay from the table
• Istobe Management
• Doug Bright, founder, Istobe, customer analysis software for multi-channel retailers
• Kim Blair, founder iclub and Motus: sports and gaming motion capture and visualization
• Jerome L. Ackerman co-founder Skelscan, MRI technology for diagnosing osteoporosis and other bone diseases.
• Josh Kanner, co-founder Vela Systems, mobile construction project management software
• VSpace, 3D audio processing for teleconferences, using stereo to locate participants around as in a face to face meeting.
• Zac Warren, co-founder Warren Light Craft , light carbon kayaks.

Mobile world congress wrap-up

Mobile world congress, Barcelona, February 17-19 2009
A few notes on from the biggest mobile communications show of the year.

• Innovative start-ups are still coming out
• New user experiences in personal communications
  
• Tapas-enabled networking strong as ever

Innovative start-ups at Mobile peer awards
The other side of MWC, at Palau Musica, I sat on a jury panel with other industry colleagues :
Peggy Anne Salz, of MSearch Groove, Carlos Domingo, Telefonica R&D, Ariel Efrati, Venture Investments, James Whatley, from Spinvox. Mobile Peer Awards complements GSMA's Global Mobile Awardsbecause it focuses on early-stage startups and more informal reviews. You save 500 euros but you'll miss Jamie Cullum at the price giving ceremony. Both awards are nice however. We had an interesting debate after hearing pitches from "emerging start-ups" on communications, content, advertising business models and new devices. Here are some comments on our selection :
PopCatcher from Sweden got our jury award: their pitch is that mobiles should get fresh music every day freely and legally. How many of you have downloaded music last week without checking the rights? Well PopCatcher will listen radio for you, record it and split it into songs in your collection automatically. Our jury debated quite a bit whether that would please the record companies and their layers but anyway we liked having a TiVo of radio. Here is their value proposal:

fring from Tel Aviv won the MoMo community award : 500,000 new users per month worldwide deserves an applause. fringsters talk, chat, and interact with online communities (Facebook, Skype®, MSN®, GoogleTalk, Twitter, and Yahoo!) And fring have done operators deals such as 3UK, Mobilcom. That could have been our jury's choice as an "investor", but we decided that our vote would not add so much value to an already existing success.

Unkasoft Advergaming from Madrid won the audience award: they develop in-games advertising on top of popular video games - they really look at advertising from an end-user usability perspective and have business agreements with Microsoft and others; Perhaps the most important was the fun pitch that Jaime Lanchares, founder and CEO did on stage. This could give ideas to other entrepreneurs.
Aradiom from Istanbul, they provide a portfolio of mobile solutions developed using their own application environment - proven with 400K users; but our jury failed to detect the unique differentiation.
Getjar Networks Lithuania: we all love Getjar's appstore with 10,000 free mobile applications and over 20 million downloads per month; but with so many app stores around our jury foresaw some clouds ahead.
Keynetik from Washington DC: they provide motion SDK and applications for accelerometer enabled mobile; the jury had doubt about the success of the business model, but I like the “rock'n scroll" demo they have on done for the N95.

Mobintech A/S from Copenhagen: the company delivers display glasses to watch live Mobile TV; our jury missed a unique mobile proposition and a differentiation with competitors.
Soonr from Silicon Valley: they offer simple, secure cloud computing file management (35 types) across device (including iPhone, PCs and net printers) and networks, targeting SMB in particular; the jury agreed it's a great value but perhaps in risk of commoditisation.
In the start-up category, with a different jury team, Babajob.com took both community and jury awards on the Monday night’s Mobile Peer Awards in Barcelona.
Babjobs.com from Bangalore : is job website and mobile portal dedicated to connecting informal sector workers - cooks, maids, drivers, guards, etc.- and employers to India ; it's great to see applications that encourage development and economy !
GSMA Mobile innovation global awards
Mobile innovation global award competition took place over the year. The winners are :
Cootek, China won the champion title: software keyboard to accelerate typing a super-charged T9
Intivation, Netherlands : solar panel charger on the back of handsets for developing countries
Mobile Nordic, Norway : mobile CLI including directory search, SMS previews
WorldMate, USA a travel itinerary management application with mobile alerts

New user experiences in personal communications
It's not really new but 7 years after MMS launch, the industry tries to deliver platforms from what users want (sharing with friends using phone address book and social network contacts). I liked the [5] user trials feedback presented during the GSMA RCS workshop, the cross-device demo by Victor Donselaar of Movial and Aude Pichelin from Orange who serves as RCS chair and announced some more cross-operators trials. Why would it succeed this time ? RCS has 60 companies involved, mobile IM adoption in BRIC countries exceeds 10%, mobile social networking exceeds 20% in the youth segment. But of course their are challenges : Nokia partnership with Skype, new solutions as Voxmobili' s social address book on Google's Android, Sony Ericsson's silence on RCS handset release dates.


Tapas-enabled networking strong as ever
Yes, I also love Barcelona tapas and side events : Swedish beers was crowded, Bel Chica GoMo News blender party with Benna Roberts full of insider information, Nokia party intimate and I got the chance to meet nice professionals like Sonia Jain of Bluegiga (just after she told "OPK" all about their brand as viewed by young women and certainly we avoided discussing Bluetooth access solutions). And coming-out of the sauna at Hotel 1898 to attend TechCrunchTalk panel on mobile eco-systems featuring Mike Butcher and Peter Vesterbacka was fun. See you next year at the same place...

User experience drives business

User experience design, London December 12th 2009
A generation of engineers as mechanics of the communications industry (building network, 3G, WiFi and smart phones). The new generation are pilots taking the driver seat of the business which is user experience. This phase of innovation requires more psychology than technology. And new players are setting the trend : Apple, Google, Yahoo! They built their DNA around understanding of usage contexts and behaviors and delivering more than visual UI or efficient bandwidth. They offer end to end experiences across multiple touch points. How do they do it ? A few examples gathered during industry workshops in London :

1. Understand users
2. Generating persuasive ideas
3. Compelling user interaction
4. Delivering the experience

Understanding users

• Mirjana Spasojevic runs ethnographic consumer studies for Nokia Research and previously at HP. She keeps asking the : What are people are doing on web? Here are a few answers :

• Jeanine : accesses Yellowpages.com from Sprint to find phone numbers and addresses. Why ? it is cheaper than 411 ($1.49)
• Fred: Checks and trades stocks at work on his Blackberry. Why ? his company PC is monitored and he doesn’t want his boss to know about it.
• Christina : orders pizza while on her way home. Why ?: So that she doesn’t have to talk and waste time
• Kim : “I would feel naked without it [my phone].” – Why? he would feel “vulnerable and disappointed about lost opportunities”.
• Jonathan : “Should I buy this shirt?” Why ? to get friends advices and make solo activities social.
• Josephine : “I text my friends on the tube coming from work.” Why ? a remedy for loneliness.
• Nicky “… this was a picture taken of me and my friends, I emailed it to my Sidekick.” Why? as visual reminders of who she is, to reinforce a sense of identity and relationships. This behavior is continuous and ritualistic. There is a compelling emotional link that motivates people. Sending images, choosing an avatar or a login name – these are all acts of presentation and self representation.

• Michael von Roeder, head of UE, at Vodafone lists the following methodologies : managed panels, random trials, life tracking, network analysis, user testing, testing with users, ethnographic contextual enquiry, participatory design.
  

• User research tools for real-time collecting, filtering, presenting and sharing the data from usage of the phone are available from The Astonishing Tribe .

Generating persuasive ideas

• Kath Straub chief scientist at Human Factors focuses on mobile persuasion. The goal is to understand why users WILL do versus CAN do. They want to do something in their life not on their phone or PC. We need to identify blocks and barriers : they don’t need another toy, are afraid about security, learning effort, wasted time. But they can benefit from handset playing the role of connector, concierge, coach.

• Ian Curson, Vodafone: says "it is important to have the whole company thinking about user experience". One challenge is to help users explore new kinds of experiences: “two people going out”, “browsing maps to find the restaurant”. Mobility can be enhanced: “have you seen someone walking while looking at their iPhone?” Sharing evolved when Youth started to expose themselves.

• Another example is O2 Cocoon device, designed to match the music sharing brand of O2 Telefonica in UK. Markus Hohl, head of design at O2 has presented the story of the birth and launch of the O2 Cocoon. Here is the first design by Syntes studio. The final product was released 16 month later. But O2 still admits that it is difficult to measure the value of user experience (ROI / ARPU or churn reduction).
  

Creating compelling user interaction

• Terence Warmbier, from, Immersion says that “design loves technology”. Future handsets will incorporate many UI features such as soft keys, motion control, camera interaction, scroll wheels, GPS, NFC communications, biometrics, proximity and light sensor. On haptics, that provides a touch feedback, he says that “output physics rocks!”

• The astonishing tribe also deliver s software to create the Wow! effect. Natural interaction (NI) builds on human understanding of space and objects, reduces cognitive load of the user is reduced using approaches such as

• Physics engines, textures, gravity ...
• V results of actions mimicking natural world,
• “Haptics” interface technology via the sense of touch by applying forces, vibrations and/or motions.

One example is the social pond project which offers a visualization of social communications, address book. Another example is Projecto UI which offers a new way of experiencing music.

Lastly the Cube allows users to twist, tap, rotate, shake to enjoy your music on iTunes.

• Francis MacDougall, CTO GestureTek focuses on gesture interaction, enabled by optical tracking or accelerometers and sensors. It has been popularized by the Wii. Applications include bowling swing motion or face exploration such as DoCoMo front facing cameras.

Current devices with motion detection include :

• Sony Ericsson K850i : image orientation
• Sony Ericsson W910i : image orientation, shake control for music, game, camera
• Sony Ericsson W580i : Image orientation, shake control, pedometer
• Nokia N95 : orientation control
• Nokia 5500 : Pedometer
• Samsung SCH-S310 : UI control, music, “write a number in the air”
• Samsung V603SH : UI control
• Apple iPhone : image orientation, shake control

(Source : Gesturetek)

• Jefferson Han of Perceptive Pixel multi-touch sensors demos have been seen several million times on the web.

• Risto Lahdesmaki from Idean, also involves users and fine-tunes interactions using low tech : he gives users a piece of wood and observes usage, an approach that had been used for the palm pilot.

Delivering the experience
One example of end to end innovation is 3’s Skype mobile, delivering in 2006 a complete value proposition to for social users : calls to Skype anywhere, low price points, reaching out people not in your address book. Carl Taylor, director of applications at Hutchinson Europe explained the choice of a dedicated handset provided users a single click to call or to access to mobile internet services. In 2009, the INQ1 device integrates native applications such as Facebook, Windows Live Messenger, eBay, Last.fm, Skype, Google and Yahoo.