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Entrepreneurship and You

Iain Veriginiain.verigin@gmail.com

September 2009

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Who Are You?• What is your specialization?

– Mech, EE, Comp Sci, other.• Post-Grad - What are you gonna Do?

– Grad School?– Work?

• Big Company• Small Company• Start-up?

– Travel?

- Let’s show some hands -

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Who Am I ?• Education:

– McGill Physics, UBC Eng Phys EE option, SFU M.Eng EE (Comm’s, Semi’s & Optics )

• Work– Engineering: PMC-Sierra– Marketing: PMC-Sierra & Packet Engines– Business Development: PMC-Sierra

• Hobbies– “Health Issues”, Philanthropy (Eng Phys

Professorship), Coaching Hockey & Track, Golf, Blogging, reading, “bad” music.

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Lecture Objectives1. Understand entrepreneurial

leadership • and its process in high-technology industries

2. Dispel common myths & misconceptions.

3. Learn skills • important for 21st century technology leaders.

4. Stimulate continuous learning • and personal reflection regarding

entrepreneurship and your future.

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Agenda1. Introduction - today.2. Entrepreneurship Skills

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What is Entrepreneurship?• A Way of Managing, Leading, and

Doing!– It Can Be Taught!

• Fine Print– "Entrepreneurship is a management style that involves pursuing

opportunity without regard to the resources currently controlled. Entrepreneurs identify opportunity, assemble required resources, implement a practical action plan, and harvest the rewards in a timely, flexible way.

– Any attempt at new business or new venture creation, such as self-employment, a new business organization, or the expansion of an existing business, by an individual, a team, or an established business.

• References: Stanford E145 material (Byers)

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Seven Important Skills for Tomorrows Entrepreneurial

Leaders1. Creativity and Opportunity Evaluation 2. Real-time Strategy and Decision Making 3. Comfort with Change and Chaos 4. Teamwork 5. Evangelism, Selling, Negotiation, and

Motivation through Influence and Persuasion 6. Oral and Written Communication 7. Basics of Start-Up Finance and Accounting• Reference --- Byers - E145 - http://stvp.stanford.edu

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UBC Fizzers Have Rocked• 3 of top 4 market cap in BC.

– Creo– MDA - (CEO) Dan Friedman – PMC-Sierra -

current COO Colin Harris, 1st CEO - Ralph Bennett, Professorship donors ( Curtis Lapadat, Alex Chiu, myself,

and CH)• There are lots more small

companies with Fizz leaders.http://www.bctechnology.com/statics/rankings2.cfm

UCanDo it!

9Technology Ventures: From Idea to OpportunityChapter 7: Figure 7.3

Resources Financial Physical Intellectual

Deal Reward, Risks Incentives Ownership Harvest

People The Team Capabilities Attitude Reputation

Opportunity Customers Strategy Business Model

The Business

Plan

The Biz Plan

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Study/Plan and Act• Market

Analysis

• Market Pursuit

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It’s The Scientific Process!• Hypothesis• Develop Test• Observe• Analyze Results

• Re-jig Hypothesis• Do it again

( many times … Quickly )

• Apply to Customers

• Product / Market Fit is what you are looking for.

• Is not obvious

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Identifying the Opportunity

Determining the Entrepreneur’s capabilities and interests

Evaluating the opportunity

Writing a summary of the concept

Testing the summary and the concept with potential customers

and investors

Deciding to act on the opportunityor look elsewhere

Six steps to Acting as an entrepreneur

Chapter 2: Figure 2.1

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iPod Timeline

Cycling, Cycling, and more Cycling

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To Create a CustomerDrucker says …

“There is only one valid definition of business

purpose: …”Page 20 “The Essential Drucker”

Aside

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* Straight Lines Don’t Happen in Real Life *

* Get used to cycling back.

* Some people get stuck calling this “failure”.

* Don’t let failures define you.* Success will come.

Aside

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What is Marketing?• Drucker says --

• There will always, one can assume, be the need for some selling. But the aim of marketing is to make selling superflous.

The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well that the product or service fits him and sells itself.

• Reference: pages 20 & 21 in “Essential Drucker”.

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A Product That Sells Itself

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? Instant Success ?

In 4th year after launch.( ie 6 years )

This is as fast as it gets.

NB. Apple's fiscal year ends in September. This means that Q1 includes the holiday season, which accounts for jumps in the data. Fiscal Q1 is Oct - Dec of previous year. So Q1 of 2008 is Oct - Dec of 2007, Q2 of 2008 is Jan - Mar of 2008 and so on.

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iPod Units

Fiscal Year Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Total2002 125,000 57,000 54,000 140,000 376,0002003 219,000 78,000 304,000 336,000 937,0002004 733,000 807,000 860,000 2,016,000 4,416,0002005 4,580,000 5,311,000 6,155,000 6,451,000 22,497,0002006 14,043,000 8,526,000 8,111,000 8,729,000 39,409,0002007 21,066,000 10,549,000 9,815,000 10,200,000 51,630,0002008 22,121,000 10,644,000 11,011,000 11,052,000 54,828,0002009 22,727,000 11,013,000 10,215,000 43,955,000

218,048,000

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Technology Adoption Life Cycle

Chasm

EarlyMarket

Bowling Alley

Tornado

Main Street

Copyright © Geoffrey A. Moore, 2005, from the book “DEALING WITH DARWIN”

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Underlying Drivers in Growth Markets

Techies:Just try it!

Pragmatists:Stick with the herd!

Conservatives:Stick with what’s proven!

Skeptics:Just say No!

Visionaries:Get ahead of the herd!

Copyright © Geoffrey A. Moore, 2005, from the book “DEALING WITH DARWIN”

“Technology Adoption Strategies”

People

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New Market “Chasm”

Chasm

EarlyMarket

Bowling Alley

Tornado

Main Street

Copyright © Geoffrey A. Moore, 2005, from the book “DEALING WITH DARWIN”

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Range of performance required in the mainstream market

Expected Trajectory

Now Time

High

Performance

Low

Trajectory of DisruptiveInnovations

“Innovator’s Dilemma”• iPod

• Cell Phone• Ethernet

• All were “lacking”at start

• All changed the “rules”

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Fix & Adjust

Act

Review & Learn

No one knows the answer! You’ve got to discover

it.

This is everything u need to know :-)

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! People Skills Rule !

• The area with the most room for differentiation is in “People Skills”

– Yes … ‘cause Engineers suck at this :)

NextWeek

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Reading Material• I’ve made a list on-line • http://hnorth.wordpress.com/fizz/