Many investors and entrepreneurs put an emphasis on first-mover advantage — the competitive advantage a company gains by being the first to introduce a new product or service to the marketplace. You see it all the time in pitch decks. “The first premium brand in …
Disruption Comes from the Outside
Some young entrepreneurs, inspired by the early successes of Mark Zuckerburg and Evan Spiegel, believe it will only take 1-2 years of hard work to achieve hyper success. But in most cases (I’d wager 99%), it simply doesn’t work out this way. It takes years …
Where Have All the Great Ideas Gone?
I can’t tell you how many nights I’ve laid awake agonizing over my business and thinking of new ways to outperform my competitors. Despite its all-consuming (and often stress-inducing) nature, the pursuit of innovation is the lifeblood of every entrepreneur. Unfortunately, innovation is getting harder …
Preparing Your Baby for the Wild
From concept to product launch, entrepreneurs are in for a wild and uncertain adventure. The crazy thing about it is, every step along the way gets more complicated and unpredictable, and the stakes get higher. That’s why many inventors fear the day their product/baby is …
Committees Kill Startup Innovations
I often deal with early-stage and startup technology companies. It never ceases to surprise me when after initial success (typically on the back of a development milestone or financing), many founders/CEOs opt to expand their board and engage consultants. They begin to seek opinions on …
It May Be Time for a Business Pivot
Startups excel or die based on their ability to innovate and occasionally pivot. Today’s writing is about the business pivot or adaptation. To show entrepreneurs out there that some of the most brilliant innovators and companies in recent years had no idea, at least initially, …
My Thoughts on CES 2018 – Technology Trends and Opportunities
That’s a wrap! CES 2018 is over, and it’s great to be home… anytime I spend more than 48 hours in Vegas I’m thrilled to get back to reality. Every year, CES showcases today’s cutting-edge consumer technologies. However, it also highlights the herd mentality of …
Why SPIE Photonics is Better for Investors than CES
Meeting the management of startups is THE way to gauge the worthiness of a possible investment, particularly with technology-related companies… Last week, along with my company which is working on a lens technology that has real game-changing potential in the imaging space, I headed to …
Never Content. Never Idle.
A tech startup team creates a fantastic app, hustles their ass off to perfect it, and then raises several million dollars from VCs to get a favorable valuation and take things to the next level… We often read about tech startup stories similar to that, …
Mark Cuban’s New Startup Keeps Your Texts Private
Human beings are naturally impulsive. And given the way we communicate nowadays this has led to thousands of embarrassing moments because of a lack of context. At the drop of a dime, we sometimes say things we don’t truly mean; and sometimes our words leave …