I was very honored to join Dave Harding from Eleven, Jamie Reed from Mass Art and Red Fish and Managing Partner Tucker Marion this week as panelists discussing Entrepreneurship and Design and their impact on innovation.  This panel discussion was part of the Northeastern EntreTech Forum series.  We talked from both the entrepreneurs and designers perspective and fielded questions from the audience. Here are some thoughts and highlights from the discussion:

Innovations of new products that change the world are what are going to help the U.S. maintain an edge in the hard sciences such as engineering, mathematics and technology.  With daily life becoming more complex, new “normal” needs to be created to allow people to still earn a living, but have more flexibility in how they do that. The cost of living in various metropolises are not decreasing, instead, they’re increasing. It’s amazing how traditional methods compare with newly virtualized companies and how small changes impact the environment.  This will specifically concentrate on two product development firms and their current business and engineering practices.

This case study is the comparison between two product development companies with similar goals but very different processes. This will focus on the new product development process based on virtual teams developing a product. Less energy, wasted paper, gas, time, and global resources combined with virtual collaboration tools like voice over IP / web conferencing, project wikis etc. PBWiki and Skype allow for consultants to be worldwide and not be restricted by geography – as a result, available personnel includes the most qualified professors, researchers, scientists and manufacturers.

The global product development process includes individuals from around the world, the teams are globally distributed and engineering is performed at multiple geographic locations, both low and high cost regions and their product development process is distributed through a network of qualified individuals not restricted by their geographic location.  Through globalization of the NPD process, it allows for global collaboration of different ideas, different views to provide the best possible outcome for the new product.  Every culture and country has it is own way of designing and developing new products.  Their outlook can also provide a different perspective on why and how things could be developed.  For example, the United States (compared with Europe) is not as environmentally conscious when it comes to creating innovation.  Europeans are historically more aware how their actions impact the environment.

The traditional design consultancy firm was created to design products for businesses.  Their core disciplines include industrial design, human factors, sustainable design and engineering (mechanical and electrical).  This traditional firm employs approximately 200 people spanning 5 offices in Boston, LA, Seoul, Milan and Shanghai creating a global presence for the necessity of their products.

By simply reducing the two major components of travel, it would significantly reduce the carbon footprint.  According to their own report, the majority of their Greenhouse Gas Emissions are “Optional Emissions” rather than necessary overhead.

The virtual design firm is a much smaller design consultancy firm that operates primarily virtually, although sometimes utilizing a small office to hold meetings and logistical operations.  They operate in a more down and dirty fashion utilizing an agile, low-phase process that maximizes the cost and time utilizing only the necessary individuals to bring the product to fruition.  Because they operate from personal locations, the product development costs are 50-60% less than the more traditional firms. Since it is a virtual company, they understand and utilize telecommunications to their maximum capabilities to create an efficient and more importantly, effective product development cycle.  The global virtual team allows for real time productivity – i.e. when it is nighttime in the U.S., the individuals on the other side of the world are working.

The virtual network is as extensive as any design firm however, the individuals are not restricted by location nor does a specific team restrict them because we consult globally.  Depending on the project, the criteria of necessary skill sets are always changing.  One week, three mechanical engineers will be collaborating, the next week, it will be one mechanical, an electrical and a designer working on a project.  In real time, information can be shared, not being constrained by “(s)he’s not at his desk”.

Through the progress of virtual collaboration, it is changing the way new products are brought to market.  Globalization and virtualization has leveraged product collaboration by expanding the value chain, partners, employees and suppliers.  Expanded collaboration on product design allows for faster turnaround, reduced development cost, increased product innovation and faster time to market.

Traditional product development has generally not included much interaction with the client nor their input.  However, with new online tools becoming available, virtualization of the product development cycle has gained more economic value that involves joint collaboration between client and company.  Moran and Ghoshal say “it is not resources per se, but the ability to access, deploy, exchange and combine them that lies at the heart of value creation”.   Virtualization and virtual companies have added new avenues for companies to expand their value creation and customer relationships.

Virtualization can improve the energy efficiency of a company if implemented correctly.  This research can provide a starting point for future studies to expand upon.  While the proportions of carbon dioxide emissions are more “favorable” in a virtual company, this study cannot exactly pinpoint the total difference in emissions. The travel emissions are seen as less favorable because the travel is not always directly related to the value added that employees bring to the development process.  Based on these assumptions the conclusion can be reached that the proportion of carbon emissions are better spent at Flashpoint because they are more directly correlated with value adding activities.

By Jessica Chin, Flashpoint Development Project Manger / Mechanical Engineer

An inside look at logo creation and development using ourselves as a case study.

To begin working on the new FlashPoint Development logo I immediately ran off to the nearest bookstore with pen and paper in hand to begin researching logos. I quickly found a series of books named “The Big Book of Logos” written by David E. Carter, the books where filled with thousands of different logos ranging from charities, spots events, to bands. I sifted through each book, page after page trying to find logos that would inspire me, once I did find a logo I liked I would quickly replicate it in my notebook and write the company that it was from. After edition 3 and 4 I had about forty logos that seemed interesting. The biggest challenge in finding a logo style was that most of them are extremely unique to the company, that it should be, and it was difficult to envision FlashPoint having a logo inspired by the ones I was looking at.

It was clear from the first round of research that not only was the logo going to change, but the complete feel of the company and what it communicates was going to be affected by the new logo. The goal was to communicate FlashPoint as a quick and efficient company. The style that was already in place was the use of typical shapes to create this metaphorical symbol of two halves being joined by the center circle, so this was the idea I needed to communicate. I first began with simple shapes and quickly built up to layers and different tones. I went back and forth between my notes from the bookstore, sometimes simply making a different version of an existing logo and hoping that would inspire a new direction. After the first round of ideation I created many different styles of logos. I started with simple circles that created a hopefully peaceful relationship between each other but showed unity, I was also very inspired by the idea of cubes coming together and different pieces fitting in with different shapes. From the first batch of ideas the FlashPoint team liked the idea and look of the circles revolving around each other. We made dozens of different versions, with numerous colors and tried it in 3D and all different orientations but could not find exactly what we hoped.

After a few days of sketching “blue sky” logos the team wanted to go in a more creative direction. The FlashPoint name should be incorporated and to really convey the idea of things coming together. From this I began making dozens of different versions of old or even existing logos and picked my favorites. I tried to pick the most bizarre and artsy ones possible as I felt that this was a creative group of people and that should be conveyed through the logo. From this round of ideation we had a broad variety of styles. We had more design like logos, simple and to the point, and more artsy logos, logos that needed to be looked at to really understand. Even after our more adventurous attempts we felt that we could go further.

An original drawing was uploaded for the team to see and it shot us into a new direction. The idea of conveying the meaning of FlashPoint was suggested. The definition of FlashPoint being: The point at which eruption into significant action, creation, or violence occurs. This idea of the point of creation was born. This new direction brought about the themes of combustion, fire, flames, sparks, and explosions. I struggled to find a way to incorporate the symbols of flame and fire into the new logo without it looking violent or scary. I drew up many different logos and slowly worked through it with the team and we decided the idea of a flame was the direction we wanted to go in. I wanted to try and create a few different styles. After a few rounds of ideation we chose to go with a more representative approach. The final logo concept is a flame flickering, this is to represent the idea of the flame being just lit and just coming into existence. The inside of the flame is rendered a different color as that is the hottest and originating point of the flame, which is FlashPoint.

We explored different color concepts to enhance the emotional design elements.  After of 15 variations we reviewed and decided on dark blue and yellow.  Once the concept and the color was decided on we looked into adding different effects like shading and 3 dimensional perspectives.  We decided to keep the logo as 2D but kept the idea of 3D for the next phase: lettering and wording placement.  The process of lettering and wording placement is an abbreviated design process because we had already decided on several boundaries throughout the first phases of development.  Several lettering options included different fonts, colors, location of Flashpoint Development and alignment of the wording around the logo. 

At the conclusion of the process we had our new logo which is then integrated into all of our marketing materials including letterhead, presentation templates and business cards.  We loved the new logo so much that it became the focus of our refined company identity in our new and upcoming website.

By Greg Moore, Flashpoint Industrial Designer and Sam Ruback, Flashpoint Development Product Development Manager

Low volume tooling is typically lower cost in terms of investment, but lower production capacity and higher unit cost. Gets you to market faster with production units. High volume tooling is more expensive – longer lead time, but more capacity and lower cost.

For new ventures, it usually makes sense to do low volume tooling first, then high volume. Unless you have a ton of booked orders – then it might make sense to go high volume from the start.

Check out Protomold for more information

Start ups are always trying to be innovative, but the resource and expertise trade off can be difficult.  Check out Flashpoint Development’s Managing Partner Tucker Marion’s recent speaking slides during his trip to England.  The talk shows how you can utilize agile, rapid prototyping and other new tools to outsource innovation and accomplish your start-up goals with less resources.

Outsourcing Innovation 6-30-2010 [Compatibility Mode]

Managing Partner Tucker Marion will be presenting his new research on start-up innovation outsourcing at the Research and Development Management Conference in Manchester, England between June 30 and July 2.  For more information on the conference please visit: http://www.rndmanagement.info/. The research paper, “Outsourcing Innovation: A Guide for Start-ups”, focuses on lessons and best practices for maximizing the effectiveness of using outside resources to bring your product to market.

The research abstract is below

This paper explores the beneficial impact of outsourcing on new venture innovation development efficiency and effectiveness.  The relationship of outside firms on innovation commercialization is highlighted, with an additional focus on the enabling role service providers such as rapid prototype fabricators and quick-turn manufacturers perform.  We synthesize our research into five distinct lessons, which form a guide for new ventures in selecting and implementing these external resources.  The first lesson is optimizing your firm to allow easy integration of outside resources.  In our study, the most successful firms leveraged a network of outside providers by keeping internal head-count low, and migrating to a software-like agile development processes.  The second lesson is strategically selecting partners that provide more strategic long-term assistance as opposed to only discrete development resources.  These firms help connect channel partners, customers, and new investors.  The third lesson is managing the innovation process through agile milestones, not onerous procedures.  Maintaining a balance between flexibility and discipline is a pathway to success for the new venture.  Next, the ability of the firm to quickly and inexpensively source and have solutions fabricated for internal and external customer testing is essential to an efficient process.   These fast solutions place concepts quickly in the hands of the development team and potential customers – speeding the process to market through rapid vetting of successive iterations.  Finally, the use of quick-turn manufacturers and assemblers can also help the new firm gather important sales data without having to invest large amounts of capital on costly inventory – helping the new venture preserve precious financial capital while capturing data needed for full commercialization.  These guiding lessons not only contribute to applied management knowledge, but outline phenomenon that require further detailed empirical investigation in the space of new venture innovation development.

For additional information on how Flashpoint Development can be your outside innovation experts please contact: info@flashpointdevelopment.com

During conceptual design of your product, cost engineering is essential. Once main obstacle that new ventures face is the cost of your product versus desired selling price. Volume can have a huge impact on this. For the gBook e-book reader, you’ll note the cost reduction in total cost from low volume (1000 units) to higher volume (100,000 units) – particularly in the LCD/controller and main processor. This reduces even further when considering volumes of 500,000 to 1M.

However, the entrepreneur should be cautious when selecting features and selling price. Basing selling price on extremely high volume can be tempting – but you may be in a situation of negative margin from introduction until (if ever) you reach the volume estimate. That means negative cash-flow from the onset – which may kill the company before you ever break-even. So, perform your bottom-up and top-down cost estimates – if there is a huge disconnect you may need to cut back on features/capability and/or adjust target market/demographic (higher selling price) to make the economics work. These iterations and cost engineering are essential at the beginning stages of product design.

Check out this interview with Tucker Marion, the Managing Partner of Flashpoint Development as he discusses his academic and industry perspectives of bootstrapping, team building and product development.

Tucker Marion Interview from Tom Ermolovich on Vimeo.

Inventors, entrepreneurs, and new ventures are always looking for an exit strategy for their idea. Do I sell my company? Am I an IPO candidate in the future? While those questions for the fortunate few may be asked after several years of sustained, continuous growth – there are two import ‘exit’ questions, which face the new entrepreneur much earlier.  The question is: do I make the product myself or license it? Many inventors and entrepreneurs dream of the easy out : “I have an idea, I’ll patent it, and license it. Simple.” Visions of beach vacations while collecting lucrative licensing fees dance in the entrepreneur’s head. However, the reality is much different. The likelihood of licensing a product or technology in the early stages of development is very small. Many spend copious amounts of money securing patents – ready to license, only to find no one is interested.

But, there is hope out there for the inventor, entrepreneur, and new venture. A company in New Hampshire has been helping people license their inventions to large, established firms. That company is the Big Idea Group, or BIG. BIG started in 2000 to bridge the innovation process between the inventor and the big firm looking to commercialize new innovations. For inventors, BIG offers Roadshows, Idea Hunts, and even accepts general submissions. Their intent is to help find that one in a thousand invention that is perfect for Black and Decker for example. For large, established firms, BIG offers Innovation Challenges where their network of over 13,000 inventors submit ideas on open idea challenges. A recent challenge was held for Staples. BIG helped Staples design a public invention contest for office supplies to help differentiate Staples products from commodity goods, drive traffic into stores, and generate positive PR. In the first year, the contest generated 8500 entries, received national U.S. media coverage, and led to the launch of four innovative products.

FlashPoint has had a relationship with BIG since 2004. In April 2004 an inventor approached FlashPoint to help try and commercialize his product, a new type of personal flotation device. It was designed to replace the life jacket through a very comfortable and easy to wear automatically inflating belt. It was tested and certified by the Coast Guard – it really worked as promised. Actually a sad story – the inventor had spent his life savings on the project – gone through a divorce, and was living in near poverty, exhausted and desperate. I was sold on the product, and committed to the inventor to work for a percentage on sales if we could get it to market. We developed marketing materials, detailed commercialization plans, and hit the road to try to sell it. We presented the product to BIG and they were excited too. In fact, they agreed to sponsor an airing of 5,000 units on QVC. We were on our way. Unfortunately, when we tried to line up the manufacturing, the inventor’s contract manufacturer did not have the capacity to fabricate the units. We found another supplier but the inventor could not raise the funds for the QVC inventory. We tried to secure angel investment, but we could not get a deal closed. All investors were not happy 7 years had elapsed on the patent, and had concerns with the inventor. So we had to fill BIG in on the bad news. As with many failed inventors and inventions – there are often sad stories behind them – and many what ifs. A lesson to be learned – do not spend all of your life’s savings and run out of funds and energy before you get to market. Have a clear commercialization strategy and do not hope for the best once you have a patent and a prototype. As with manufacturing, once you have a functioning product does not mean it will be successful.

So, check out BIG – if you have the right idea in the right space – your potential for successful licensing may be improved. BIG is currently on the lookout for high-potential micro-businesses.

iShovel: Early Stage Automated Robotic Snow Shovel

Ever wonder what life would be like if you didn’t have to shovel your driveway?  What If you didn’t have to pay someone to shovel your driveway?  In the not so distant future, the iShovel may be coming to a store near you.  This battery powered shoveling device will begin shoveling at the first detection of snow accumulation.  It’s built with two independent motors and an automatic snow sensor.  Seriously, how awesome would this robotic shovel be?

This iShovel is the “World’s Smartest Snow Shovel”!  Based on, what appears to be a similar platform at the iRobot’s Roomba, the iShovel records the artificial boundaries programmed into the robot.  In the harsh New England weather, it would have be great at the first sign of snow to have the iShovel.  As robotics become less expensive, it will hopefully become a household item.

Even though the iShovel is in first generation prototype, it has recently been featured on Bob Vila’s home show as well as Good Morning America.  The early stage prototype has gotten rave reviews and is hopeful to compete with the gas powered snow blowers within the next year.  According to the iShovel’s website, the product is significantly more efficient with regard to clearing the driveway.  Because it shovels in short spurts, it manages to shovel every few inches.  As a result, it uses less energy in relatively short cycles using battery power.

One of the real tests for this new product is how does it handle fast falling wet snow?  But theoretically, if it works as it says it does, snow should never pile about 3 inches.  This will be a future product to continue to watch to ease the maintence of living in an area with snowfall.

Although this product is in early stage development, it does suggest a great new concept that will continue to promote robotics in (or outside) the home.

By Jessica Chin, Product Engineering Manager at Flashpoint Development