You only get one chance at the perfect investor so you need to be ready. This is the fourth in a series of workshop sessions that get you ready.

1. Success Formulas®
Session Four
Technical Strategy

2. Session Four Agenda
• Present Revised Executive Summaries
• Product/Service Strategy
• Offensive & Defensive Strategies
• Intellectual Property
• Make/Buy Decision
• Group Discussion: Your Technology
Strategy

3. Executive Summary
In 2-or-3 Pages, Briefly Describe the
highlights of…
• Elevator Speech
• Industry
• Vision
• Mission
• Corporate Legal Description
• Product/Service - What it does, how much it sells for, proprietary
position
• Market - Who’s going to buy, what is the sales channel.
• Operations
• Management Team
• Investment Required
• Financial Proforma
• Note: Develop each topic for five years

4. Technology Defined
“The Entire Body of Methods and
Materials to Achieve Such
Objectives.”
- American Heritage Dictionary

5. Product/Service Strategy
Key Questions
• Internal: What Technology Do You Need?
• External:
– What Strategy Should You Choose?
– What Stage of Product Development?
– Should You Protect It? Can You? How?
– Can You Make It in Volume?

6. Imagine...
• Your Company Has Been Very Successful.
• You Make Effective Use of Technology.
• You Have Been Asked to Make a Brief
Presentation to a Group of Stakeholders on
The Technologies You Have Chosen.

7. Your Product/Service (Define)
• Who is Your Customer?
• What is the Customer’s Compelling
Need?
This is an Important First Step!

8. Who is YOUR Customer?
• Follow the Money Trail.
• Is Your Product Combined With
Another?
• Who Do You Call on to Sell Your
Product?

9. What is YOUR Customer’s
Compelling Need?
• Narrow It Down.
• Often a Simple Answer.
• Listen to Your Customers...

10. Listen to YOUR Customers...
• Focus on What Product Can Do For Them
(Not What it Does)
• Involve Users and Partners
• Listen to Your Customers--Even If You
Know The Answer
Why Are These Important?

11. Approaches to Your Strategy
• Offensive - Proactive
You Choose What You Want To Do With
Technology
• Defensive - Reactive
You Wait to See What the Need is As You Go
Along.

12. Offensive Strategies
• Research & Design
• Technology Transfer Into Your Company
• Obtain Exclusive Sole-Source Agreements

13. Research & Design
Who is Funding It?
• Self
• Grant
• Customer
• Partner

14. Technology Transfer
• People Exchanges
• Data Exchanges
• Patent Exchanges (Licensing)

15. Sole-Source Agreements
Sell to Just One Company to Give Them
an Edge Against the Competition.

16. Summary of Offensive Strategy
• Identify Market Early
• Use Sales Engineering to Solve
Customer Problems
• Revise Position Often, Based on:
– Market Feedback
– Competition

17. Defensive Strategies
• Patents
• Trade Secrets
• Tool Kits (Prevent Others From Using)
• Industry Knowledge (Protect by Knowing)
• Manufacturing Infrastructure

18. Break

19. Intellectual Property
• Inventions
• Literary Works
• Trade Secrets
• Trade Marks
• Industrial Designs

20. How To Protect It
• Inventions - Utility Patent
• Literary Works - Copyright
• Trade Secrets - Keep Confidential
• Trade Marks - Register
• Industrial Designs - Design Patent

21. Get a Good
Patent Attorney!
Sooner rather than later…

22. Beware of...
Patent Timing Issues.
Again, sooner rather than later…

23. The Make/Buy Decision
Specify What You Will...
• Make
• Buy
Lower the Risk
Discuss Each “Single-Point-of-Failure”

24. Focus on What You Do Best
and...
Out Source Everything Else.

25. What Will Your Technology
Strategy Be?

26. Homework Assignment
• Update Executive Summary
• Product/Service Section
• Get going on 10 minute presentation
• Work on Finance Charts for Session Five
– (2) Revenue Charts
– (1) Cost of Goods - COGS
– (1) Head Count
– (1) Salaries
– (1) Expenses

27. Preview Session Five:
Financial Strategy
• Three Fundamental Approaches to
Financial Strategy
• Financial Plan
• Financial Assumptions
• Prepare for Session Six-Presentation Tips

28. Success Formulas®
Session Four
Technical Strategy