What Have We Done Lately?

Due Diligence for Investors

  • Conducted several due diligence studies of software startups for potential investors and for large firms looking to acquire their technology. We examine technical, market and financial issues.
  • Helped software patent owners evaluate the validity and value of their assets.
  • Helped a major media company strategize about spinning off some of its software assets.

Startup Strategy

  • In the last few years, we’ve worked with startups with wide-ranging software products: profiling/personalization, internet polling, HR automation, financial modeling, P2P infrastructure, text categorization and retrieval, knowledge management, legal/compliance, embedded Java,  AppServer, bar codes, CRM, e-book publishing, and rule systems.
  • We’ve been responsible for a wide range of work too: extracting a business plan out of the head of a technical visionary, preparing PowerPoint presentations, planning and facilitating key meetings, analyzing the competition to help position the product, etc.

Marketing

  • Helped a newly-merged J2EE AppServer and AppDev tools company understand their rapidly evolving situation and strategize about platform and product positioning. We undertook a 30-day analysis of the AppServer market at its point of inflection in Fall 2000. So far, we were dead-on about the nature of the subsequent consolidation and about platform strategy generally.
  • Analyzed competitors’ marketing strategies in Asia, South America and Europe for a leading database software publisher, helping them plan a total reorganization of their international sales and marketing operations.
  • Helped an international systems integrator design and sell a new offering in the area of customer relationship management, including the value proposition, competitive analysis, positioning, marketing collateral, industry analyst briefings, vendor partner selection, and sales force training.
  • Helped a mid-sized call-center software publisher develop a three-tiered marketing strategy, form alliances with appropriate product and services vendors, and train and support channel partners’ sales and marketing operations.

Research and Writing (Most papers and presentations area available here.)

  • Conducted a one-year study for the government of South Korea proposing policy ideas to promote software entrepreneurism based on a study of the US, Japan, India, Israel, and Ireland.
  • Helped a large computer hardware firm located thousands of miles away develop a strategy for monitoring and analyzing events in Silicon Valley and incorporating trends and new ideas into their numerous product and services strategies.
  • Participated in IT workforce studies sponsored by the National Science Foundation and the National Research Council. We’ve written several articles on the causes and ramifications of the shortage of talented software people.
  • Consulted with a west-coast government laboratory about IT staffing issues: recruiting and retention strategies, reorganization of software development groups, and overall awareness of the increasingly important role of software in the R&D environment.
  • Conducted a study for the Council on Foreign Relations of the globalization of the software industry and on the national strategies of other countries in the process of developing a domestic software industry.

Knowledge Management

  • Helped several startups with text categorization, analytics, search, and collaboration technologies understand the space and the nature of enterprise KM needs.
  • Helped a major manufacturer design a system that allowed end-users to specify the risks associated with the loss or compromise of the on-line assets they were responsible for, to feed into a corporate asset security system.
  • Facilitated a 2-day executive meeting for a small call-center outsourcing firm to help them understand the potential role of knowledge management in their business and the pros and cons of the various technologies.
  • Participated in a knowledge management strategy session for an international manufacturing firm.
  • Developed a technology strategy and methodology for acquiring and encoding the structure of plan and policy knowledge for a startup company in the HR benefits and policies area.
  • Developed a communications skills course (listening, interviewing, knowledge diagramming) for a major Hartford insurance company to address long-standing problems in systems requirements analysis. Eventually, the company’s training department delivered this 2-day course to over 400 systems analysts and business managers (5 of each at a time).

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