Thoughts on a Common Information Campaign

among Leading Innovation Stake-holders in

Birmingham, Alabama

Presentation Slides (23 slides)

Analysis of Current Environment in Birmingham

1. University of Alabama-Birmingham (UAB) has $454 million of

Research and Development (R&D)

2. One hundred, four (104) companies within Innovation Depot

3. IGNITE Working Space embedded within Innovation Depot;

Innovation Lab at UAB for collaboration and consulting

4. Velocity Accelerator affiliated with Innovation Depot with nine

companies currently sponsored

5. Almost five thousand angel investors around the U.S. interested

in investing in Alabama

BIRMINGHAM ‘techo-system’

Business

Support

from iLab

Innovation

Depot as

Incubator

Velocity

Accelerator

IGNITE

Working

Space and

Innovation Lab

N

Domestic and international

investors

Basic Aims of Key Stake-holders in Birmingham1. Innovation Depot provides collaboration to start-ups through

UAB’s Collat Business School; housed in Innovation Depot and directly linked to UAB crowdfunding platform

2. Innovation Depot spear-heading creation of Birmingham ecosystem, known as Innovation District with an investment multiplier of 10x on a base approaching $150 million

3. IGNITE Accelerator sponsored by Innovation Depot, starting operations in 2016

4. Other NGOs and government entities, led by Women Who Code, Alabama Education Foundation and Venture for America supporting as Private-Public Partnerships

U.S. Counter-insurgency Strategy Framework:End State = desired and sustainable result

Strategy = the route to success

Tactics = a detailed implementation mapShape (current state) Clear (enemies) Hold (consolidate

gains on the ground) Build (reach the End State)

Activities = assigned and specific tasks

Strategy Framework applied to Birmingham:

End State = Birmingham as permanent node in a tech ‘AXIS’

with global reach of Nashville-Huntsville-Birmingham.

Strategy = 1. new sources of funds and talent

2. extend awareness of AXIS globally

Tactics = digital / physical networks within and beyond AXIS digital platform self-funding advocacy initiatives

Activities = to be determined

POSSIBLE BIRMINGHAM ECOSYSTEM Innate Advantages of Birmingham:

N

1. Within three hours of Nashville (medical technology) and

ninety minutes of Huntsville (aerospace)

2. UAB’s educated talent in medical technology and engineering

3. #1 city for millennial entrepreneurs

4. Sister cities in Japan and China

5. Triple helix among UAB, Innovation Depot (and investors on

its Board) and municipal incentives already in place

6. Crowdfunding and tech transfer platforms already in place

Counter-insurgency (COIN) Framework for Birmingham:

End State = Birmingham as Anchor to Tech AXIS with

Nashville and Huntsville

Advantages of Birmingham

1. Key trade intersection in Southeast

2. Graduating talent feeding into Innovation Lab / Depot

3. Strong investment ties with Atlanta

4. Strong engineering and tech ties with Huntsville

5. Improving intellectual infrastructure with NGOs

Counter-insurgency Framework for Birmingham:

Strategy = 1. international diversification of funding

2. attracting new and refined talentConstraints to overcome

1. Many cities already well-advanced and

ahead of Birmingham

2. Limited cross-fertilization among stake-

holders

3. Viewed as declining city; memories of ‘63

4. Need to tighten ties with ten tech hubs

within five hundred miles

COIN Framework: Tactics – global digital network

Preliminary elements for Birmingham

1. shape create unified digital platform in immediate term

2. clear eliminate institutional frictions in short term

3. hold integrate tax and investment incentives in medium term

4. consolidate investment agreements with E.U. et al. in long-term

COIN Framework: Birmingham To-Do List

Activities = to be determined and to include, but not be limited to, the following (as examples)1. Negotiate cross-funding and talent management agreements

with Huntsville and Nashville

2. Common web-site optimized for searches by analysts employed

by U.S. and non-U.S. investment funds

3. Establish investment and talent links with Austin (TX), the

Research Triangle (NC), San Diego (CA) and Atlanta (GA)

4. Delegations to visit Israël, Singapore, U.A.E., Stockholm et al.

Why a Global Agency (Zeekee or Context A3)?1.Global relationships with Disney, DHL et al. to refine capacity

2.Senior partnership positions with GOOGLE, MicroSoft, Hub-Spot et al. – top four digital brands sought out XXX

3.Global professional network to disseminate lessons-learned

4.Two thousand digital consultants in more than eighty countries

5.Centers of excellence across the United States with best practices

6.Linked with centers in other countries handling other languages

7.Six phase XXX digital life cycle – intelligence, analytics, campaign strategy, implementation, performance measurement and apply lessons-learned

Shape

Intelligence

single footprint

Optimizesite

Clear

mapping strategy

Contentdissemination

engagement

brand

Social MediaBuild

Measure / ManageEnd-state

Maslow comes to Birmingham

Hold

Principal ProductsWeb-site

(optimization);Digital Branding (campaigns); and, Communications (intelligence)

Franchisee

XXX Partners: Google; HootSuite; Microsoft; HubSpot, Adobe, SEMRush, ReachLocal et al.

Global Relationships:

BMW, DHL, Disney

International Relationships:

Toyota, National Science & Technology Council (MX) et al.

Regional Center of Excellence in Atlanta

Customer

XXX

N.G.O.

NGO Comms Platform

General Partners:

[1] City Government

[2] Women Who Code

[3] Venture for America

[4] UAB

Managing Partner

Birmingham Business

Alliance?

Administrator

Innovation Depot?

NGO

• Web-Site (optimization)• Digital Branding (campaigns)• Communications (intelligence)

Capital-raising vehicle

$$$ ¥£ €€€

Technology Transfer

Identify and attract entrepreneurs

Diversify funding sources

Valuations, licensing, investment banking

for spin-outs, etc.

N.G.O.

Platform

Advantages of Web-Site Optimization:1. 90% percent of users never go beyond page-1 of results 2. More than 80% of transactions involve on-line activity along the way3. Inter-net as a virtual pool of early adopters

Attract investors and entrepreneurs

Thoughts on Optimization

( a / k / a SEO):1. Only a minimum on-line presence

2. Requires about a third of time and

resources of platform

3. Only practicable when executed in

terms tailored to the audience

4. Engaging content on common site

accruing to individual participants

to extend their particular reach

Funding Round:

(A-Round, angel, etc.)

Advantages of Digital Fund-raising:1. Rapid visibility in a target investor audience 2. Formulate a message tailored to that audience3. This channel could be managed by Innovation Depot / iLab

Thoughts on a Digital Campaign

as the heart of virtual marketing:1. Represents half of the overall

digital effort

2. Aligning Birmingham’s story on

her terms within the web-lexicon

3. Integrating strong content into

digital channels to articulate

strong calls to action

4. At least a year required to gauge

success or failure of penetration

Investor or Corporate Acquiror

Advantages of Targeted Communications:1. Extending reach of the name-in-market2. Translating value propositions and assets into local keywords3. Intelligence gleaned on similar transactions, potential buyers

and other sellers to value entreprise

Final Exit or

Take-out Round

Thoughts of Digital Communications

(i.e., knowledge, intelligence and

lessons-learned):1. Extract experience, strength and hope

from failed entreprises or initiatives

2. Recycle said information and talent

into re-pivots or wholly new start-ups

3. Apply lessons-learned from analytics

and performance measurement for

continuous improvement of platform

and NGO execution

CONCLUSIONS1. The NGO or Public-Private Partnership designed to use digital

marketing platform to mobilize / monetize inert intellectual capital

2. State-of-the-discipline web-site to establish a name-in-market of Birmingham, her key institutions and the ‘AXIS’

3. Attract high-impact start-ups to Birmingham, Huntsville or Nashville

4. Facilitate research of analysts outside the region seeking otherwise ‘overlooked’ opportunities in other (emerging) markets

5. Hybrid angel-funding / crowdfunding seed fund with partners or participants including iLab, Southern Research, Innovation Depot, Launch-Tennessee, UAB-Huntsville, Vanderbilt, etc.

ReferenceSlides

Challenges facing the Birmingham Regional Ecosystem (B-H-N)

1. Uneven technological progress among and between

Birmingham, Huntsville and Nashville

2. Limited venture capital community in Birmingham

3. Sluggish U.S. economy for last eight years

4. Limited communications among the three cities

5. Necessity of revising fixed perceptions

6. Emergent aversion to globalism in national politics

Forget about the ‘next Silicon Valley’; focus on emergence

of three-to-six specialized tech hubs; frequently cited

possibilities do not mention Alabama or Tennessee.

Summaries Overall Marketing Content Accessibility Technology

MIND Hub

Angel Ventures

Endeavor

BIT Centre

HUB STN

Entidad url Clasificación (20 millones)

Cambio trimestral

INADEM www.inadem.gob.mx 26,718 34%

Endeavor www.endeavor.org.mx 268,798 30%

Angel Ventures angelventuresmexico.com 490,581 70%

Mind-Hub mind-hub.com 614,184 800%

Hub STN www.hubstn.com 1,327,856 200%

BIT Centre bitcenter.mx 13,048,675 58%

Pero México no podrá hacerlo por sí mismo

País (en pesos) México Los U.S.A. Canadá Población 118 millones 315 millones 34 millones

P.I.B. MXN 23.100

billones MXN 209 billones

MXN 17.100 billones

P.I.B. por capita MXN 200.000 MXN 660.000 MXN 540.000

% I+D+i/P.I.B. 0.5% 2.8% 1.6%

I+D+i por capita 675 16.000 MXN 8.700

OTRAS REGIONES Población % I+D+i I+D+i por capita Escandinavia 26 millones 2.7% MXN 13.250

BeNeLux 29 millones 1.6% MXN 8.250

OTROS PAÍSES Población % I+D+i I+D+I por capita Israël 9-13 millones 4.2% MXN 14.500

Suecia 9 millones 3.8% MXN 15.000

Corea del Sur 49 millones 3.8% MXN 13.900

Japón 127 millones 3.7% MXN 15.750

Finlandia 5 millones 3.6% MXN 14.500

Dinamarca 6 millones 3.0% MXN 11.500

Suiza 9 millones 2.9% MXN 12.000

Alemania 82 millones 2.3% MXN 10.750

El U.K. 63 millones 1.7% MXN 7.500

While Mexico (118 million people) spends approximately $10 billion on RD&I…

1.Taiwan (23 million people) spends roughly $22 billion

2.Sweden (nine million) also spends some $22 billion

3.Switzerland (nine million) spends more than $15 billion

4. Israël (9-13 million) spends about $13 billion

5.The Netherlands(17 million) spend MXN $12 billion

Five countries with 60% of the Mexican population allocate

eight times the resources invested by Mexico.

Reasons why autarchy may sound seductive but could be harmful…

1.Black swans do fly and they drop, they drop BIG

2.Birmingham has already lived through dislocation brought on by leap-frogging technologies and slow reactions

3.Many of the current and past contributors to Silicon Valley were not born in the United States but in emerging countries like China, India and Mexico

4.Birmingham and the region must not only attract investors but also inventors for open innovation and swarm-funding

5.Talent inflows will mitigate brain-drains

Little support from Tijuana municipal government for developing an eco-system:

• Less than 1% of the city budget allocated to RD&I while

far more subsidies go to sweat shops (maquiladoras)

• Absence of creative policy proposals like a tax credit of

5% (i.e., the difference between national and border sales

taxes) for investments to retro-fit sweat-shops with new

technologies developed by local engineers

Talking Points for Presentation

NOTES: Slide #2Analysis of Current Environment in BirminghamPillars of Innovation in Birmingham:1.Innovation Depot as a large incubator, sponsor and venue of other

initiatives aimed at tech start-ups2.IGNITE work-space of open innovation as an idea generator housed in

the Innovation Depot3.Innovation Lab providing start-up support and consulting out of

UAB’s B-school through Innovation Depot (and tied in with UAB crowdfunding platform)

4.Velocity Accelerator also housed in the Innovation Depot

NOTES: Slide #5U.S. Counter-insurgency Strategy Framework:

Strategy based on the simplified framework of U.S. Army in Iraq and Afghanistan as applied (by me) in counter-insurgency press:Tasks and activities drive tactics, which remain both fluid and aligned with the larger strategy to achieve a victorious end-state.The shape-clear-hold-build tactical framework was specific to Iraq; the tactical array includes:Shape, for collecting intelligence and influencing local attitudes and contextClear, for eliminating the enemy and clearing away immediate obstaclesHold, for stabilizing local conditions and securing the populationBuild, for constructing clinics, hospitals, infrastructure, business centers

NOTES: Slide #6Strategy Framework applied to Birmingham:How this framework can apply to Birmingham or the AXIS (tech alliance of Birmingham, Huntsville and Nashville):End State: one of the five or six future global tech hubs / municipal networks for mechatronics, med-tech and fin-tech.Strategy: reach out to, and access, new pools of talent and resources and, through the communications platform, attract a higher quality of visitor who to be more deeply engaged with individual sites embedded in the platform.Tactics: an optimized web site (bundling the ancillary sites of start-ups) to shape the context of Birmingham and the AXIS in the realm of cyberspace; retaining local wealth amassed in Nashville and Birmingham to clear away funding short-falls; hold onto funding sources through initiatives by allying with complementary ecosystems around the world; as well as, build the AXIS as a self-sustaining tech region.Activities: to be determined over time but to include tasks like sending delegations to Singapore, the Middle East and Scandinavia; creating a talent bank to recycled capable entrepreneurs, etc.NOTE: This strategy will be risky since Birmingham and the AXIS will be marketing a concept and regional value proposition rather than specific products or services.

NOTES: Slide #7Innate Advantages of Birmingham:

N

Current advantages of Birmingham and the Birmingham-Huntsville-Nashville Axis (AXIS):1.Active start-up community through UAB, Innovation (i)Depot et al.2.Comparative economic advantages in aerospace (Huntsville) and

healthcare (Nashville)3.Birmingham as a transportation hub in the Southeast4.High quality of life in Birmingham with two of the top-fifty suburbs in

the U.S. (Vestavia Hills and Mountain Brook) and selected as the city most friendly to millennial entrepreneurs in 2015 by Thumbtack Business Friendliness Survey

NOTES: Slide #8; COIN Framework for Birmingham:End State = Birmingham as Anchor to Tech AXIS with Nashville and HuntsvilleWhile the sentiment is running high against NAFTA and the TPP, the closed economy that made Birmingham rich in basic manufacturing will not likely return. The city will also have to prepare for possible Black Swan events as she did not when the steel and banking industries collapsed. One double-whammy could be the advent of national health care with an accent put on relatively low-margin general practice medicine (impact on higher-end med-tech), together with the withdrawal of Airbus, Honda, et al. following renewed protectionism and targeted policies for U.S. ‘infant industries’.

The formation of the AXIS can mitigate Black Swan events by providing a bigger economic base to absorb them; additionally, such an AXIS will aid in the negotiating position of each city vis à vis Atlanta, Austin, NYC, Chicago, California, et al. Furthermore, the AXIS can diversify its base through alliances with smaller, tech-rich countries like Sweden, Dubai, Taiwan et al. by using its privileged position inside the U.S. to make foreign-direct investment easier. The competitive position of the AXIS, however, begs the possible necessity of a partnership with Atlanta which runs the risk of swallowing up Birmingham’s economy.

NOTES: Slide #9; COIN Framework - StrategyThe Project or Mission Charter lays out the vision underlying the initiative as well as the specific end state; the road-map of strategy; identification of tactics; and, at least, some notion of activities to gauge resource requirements and suggest a ‘work break-down structure’. Each phase of the military framework entails a trade-off between an unknowable vision and the known nuts-&-bolts, or qualitative vision versus granular operations. No phase should be 100% one way or the other.

The vision or mission statement intends to engage all participants at all levels – end state, strategy, tactics and activities – to place the mission ahead of personalities. While this vision statement is fairly broad, together with the defined end state, it ought properly to limit the scope of the initiative. When this vision is too broadly defined, the phenomenon of mission-creep or scope-creep occurs, often undercutting the team effort by failing to obtain specified deliverables or generating additional costs with unexpected delays.• The vision statement answers the ‘why’ question of seeking a certain end-state; 90% vision and 10%

operations• Reaching the end state is the ‘where’ question; 75% vision and 25% operations• The strategy asks the ‘how’ question; 60% vision and 40% operations• Identifying tactics remains the ‘what’ question; 35% vision and 65% operations• Scheduled activities define the answer to the ‘when’ question through the work break-down structure;

15% vision and 85% operations.

NOTES: Slide #10; COIN Framework: TacticsIronically, formulating a consensus-supported vision statement may prove to be the most time-consuming stage due to the negotiations preceding an integration of aims and preferences that inevitably will diverge. If the vision statement and the larger charter for the initiative are successfully articulated, the way forward through the strategy and its route to implementation through the tactics should be identifiable.

Shape: the digital platform, in its basic state, gets the word out and around about Birmingham as a key resource-node in the tri-city tech AXIS. When a user, unfamiliar with the Magic City or the Magic AXIS enters the site and seeks out investment opportunities, (s)he will be engaged by the time (s)he clicks through to the specific site of a start-up. While start-ups need the traction of digital accessibility, they often lack the time to execute. The platform does that for them.

NOTES: Slide #10; COIN Framework: Tactics (continued)

Clear. In the case of Birmingham, there are not likely to be many impediments to clear away since the city is already esteemed as a top destination for millennial entrepreneurs. Creating cross-(state) border alliances will require clearing away regulatory disconnects (e.g., different tax rates, discordant incentive programs, etc.). The communications platform will transmit these changes to the wider inter-net for consumption by (typically junior) analysts working for investment funds and tasked with scouting out possibilities.

Hold. Clearing away the disconnects and, perhaps, instituting incentives in Huntsville and / or Nashville will go a long way toward consolidating the gains won by the AXIS and conferred by the remaining reforms in Birmingham herself. The communications platform will engage targeted audiences / consumers in diverse settings by relaying success stories, news and direct engagement through the social media, primarily Linked-In, Facebook, Twitter, GOOGLE+, Reddit, Quora, and lesser-known but more relevant professional sites frequented by investors in medical and aerospace start-ups.

Build. Birmingham has done much of this phase already. There likely is building to do within the AXIS, if one takes shape. ‘Building’ means more than a final build-out of the communications platform to establish a name-in-market. It will entail building on that base toward a digital brand through events around the world to make people in various tech regions aware of Birmingham (and of the AXIS) as a great partner in ‘driven technologies’ (i.e., those driven by data, medical and aerospace).

NOTES: Slide #11; COIN Framework: ActivitiesActivities = to be determined

The tactics will define the activities. For example, the Innovation Depot and Launch Tennessee could assume the roles of managing partners to lead the due-diligence of new funding rounds or investments as well as coordinate various classes of investors (angel, venture capital, private equity, crowdfunded, etc.). Once crowdfunding has its first big blow-up – a “can’t miss” that collapses – many ‘day-traders’ will exit that arena. For those who remain, however, the AXIS will need to provide assurance of having inside partners who are looking out for the interests of those loyal outside participants.

NOTES: Slide #12; Why a Global AgencyIt should come as no-surprise that I (or any other in this oversight role) would not be the ‘techie-in-chief’ but someone nimble and diplomatic enough to balance out strong personalities and clashing visions. What the effort does need is a partner in the digital domain capable of scaling the effort across audiences and time zones, necessitating reliance upon on-the-ground counterparts for creating the content most conducive to local success. This is what I sought to do in Tijuana.

1. XXX (franchisor): best practices accumulated over two decades that can scale up to a global audience or down to a local audience; two of the top four brands in the world – MicroSoft and GOOGLE – came to WSI.

2. XXX-Atlanta / XXX-México / XXX-UAE, etc.: proven expertise in partnering with scientific leaders and leading large or middle market companies.

3. XXX McDigital: my franchise (R.l.P.) among almost 2,000 other consultants across the world in devising workable solutions for any type of customer.

Three basic areas: search engine optimization (SEO; of declining importance); targeted communications / advertising campaigns, often in other languages); and information gathering (to improve market penetration and to gather the data necessary to conduct pre-revenue valuations for start-ups ready for funding).

NOTES: Slides 13 - 15; Maslow Digital PlatformThe product concept of ‘Adaptive SEO’ is search engine optimization tailored to be smart-phone friendly as well as integrating the interactive power of social media. These features draw in potential investors or gain market intel for valuations. The product schema aligns with the Maslow pyramidal hierarchy of needs, providing the essence of current digital (i.e., guerilla) marketing.

Hello, Dr Maslow! How the levels of competence and reach fit together.SEO is the absolute minimum for survival.Social Media are the mastery of interactions and recognition for it among peers.Data accumulation and analysis represent the attainment of universal recognition from successful establishment of a name in the market and attendant pricing-power.

As discussed elsewhere, the communications platform would either be sponsored by one entity (e.g., the Innovation Depot) as a Trustee for the other contributing stakeholders, to avoid complication, or as public-private partnership or NGO. Every stakeholder should make a financial contribution to signal singleness and seriousness of purpose. One incidental longer-term benefit of such a partnership would be to cement the ‘triple-helix’ (of business, academia and government) common to most successful tech hubs (Silicon Valley, Route 128, Scandinavia, etc.).

NOTES: Slide #16My DREAM role throughout this creative fracas?• My dedication to ensure, at the very least, that Birmingham’s compelling message gets out and

around the world in authentic terms (your narrative, not mine).• A low personal profile for me to trouble-shoot; the stage will be cluttered already and different

people will get the spotlight at different times.• My continuing to be me (perceptive and prickly) by asking the direct questions to get the ‘tech

express’ back on the rails again.• Daily work to elevate discreetly the profile of key players of the Birmingham ecosystem and the

wider AXIS at the time of most instrumental impact; a / k / a being the spotlight jockey.• My making sure that every success has a face (other than mine) and that every failure has a

reason and solution, not merely an excuse.

It will be important to remind people that the integration of participants’ content either on the general platform, or in their particular sites linked to it, will reside with the participants. Technical help will be available; nevertheless, you all own the platform and its contents.

NOTES: Slide #17Each marketing activity, under this schema, would focus on a particular (type of) audience.1.Adaptive SEO would disseminate information to facilitate the attention of

entrepreneurs, inventors and investors to Birmingham and to the wider AXIS, depending on type of technology.

2.Interactive communications campaigns would seek to turn this interest into commitment via investment, re-location, etc.

3.Continuous improvement through market intelligence and inward analytics would consolidate Birmingham’s presence in the market into an international brand as part of the AXIS to mobilize the primary and initiate a secondary market.

NOTES: Slide #24; Conclusions – Basic QuestionsBUDGETThis topic would be resolved by discussion. The budget initially proposed for Tijuana as conservatively estimated (on the high side) at $500,000 to set the platform up and $250,000 per year thereafter; a 25% bum-up would like apply in Birmingham. This budget would relate only to the platform itself.

Other costs for legal documentation for setting up and NGO or private-public partnership would be separate and, given their complexity in harmonizing Tennessee and Alabama law, could total as much as $500,000 at the start with something like $100,000 for maintenance thereafter. The pillar institutions – led by Innovation Depot, Launch-Tennesse, iLab / UAB the Marshall Space Flight Center – would need to pitch in, at least, the first 20% of a $1 million investment with fund-raising for the balance.

NOTES: Slide #24; Conclusions / Basic Questions (continued)THE FOCUS ON OTHER CITIES AND COUNTRIESWhat such a network seeks to do is to disseminate comparative advantages of various hubs. For example, an entrepreneur in Birmingham wants to start a business in BIG DATA technology targeting the Pacific Rim but not in aerospace. At the same time, an entrepreneur in Vancouver wants to initiate a med-tech start-up. Each may have a great idea but find him-or-herself trapped in the wrong venue.

Were Vancouver and the AXIS to be in a partnership, the Canadian entrepreneur might find more funding in Birmingham while basing the business in Nashville. If the start-up fails, that entrepreneur has valuable experience in a setting where (s)he can switch over to a newer entrpreprise. Likewise, the Alabama entrepreneur might accomplish more in Vancouver.

NOTES: Slide #24; Conclusions / Basic Questions (continued)CONTENT CONTRIBUTIONBy the individual institutions and start-ups marketing through the site and communications platform. Digital marketing geeks might alter some of the language to increase its reach through cyber-space. For example, a contributor might propose, “We will come up with our own money at first and go from there…” The nerdsmith might suggest an alternative, such as, “The founders will boot-strap for the alpha testing of the product concept and then seek angel financing or crowdfunding for the initial launch to early adopters.”

While the latter language takes significantly more words to convey the same idea, it uses the same terms as people conducting inter-net searches for early-stage investments will likely feed into search engines (i.e., GOOGLE, BING or BAIDU).