Product Development Blog » Misc

Bootstrapping, Team Building and Product Development

Sam — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 14:02:43 +0000

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.

E-Text Books, eDGe and Gbook

Sam — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 16:16:05 +0000

Inventors often say, “I thought of that” while product developers say “I worked on that, but put it down”.

eDGe

During 2007-2008 we worked on a dual screen media device aimed at being the e-reader for kids in school, we called it gBook (left). To the right is the new eDGe, which was covered in the NYT on 12,6 is enTourage Systems future release of their e-text book. The feature sets were and are identical, good developers think a like. The project was stopped due to lack of funding, and we moved on.

Have a reason for putting a project down and feel good about moving onto the next opportunity. Just because someone else launched it doesn’t mean it is going to be a success or that stopping was a mistake.

To learn more about our effort in the e-text book space and for a few tips on development, check out our Case Study Presentation.

Redesigning Products For the Stores

Sam — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 19:21:09 +0000

A bottle of soda and a toothbrush. It is hard to imagine that these products can be made to stand out and even be desired above necessity… I went shopping recently and I was amazed by the pull of two products. The first a coke bottle, but not any coke bottle… it was a ball of joy. Even hidden in the store everyone in my shopping party had to have one, and when the soda was gone it got refilled.

The second product I was impressed with was a new electric tooth brush that was as skinny as a pencil. It stood out dramatically as being significantly thinner than any high quality electric tooth brush I have ever seen.

What product limitations are you ignoring and following the status quo? Are you considering what the product will look like on the shelf next to all the others… now, in 6 months, in 1 year?

Product Development Growth in Comeback

Sam — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 18:28:38 +0000

Innovation made easy with modern advances in cost efficiencies, lower tool costs and shared spaces.

The new tinkerers use Hackerspaces, a shared tool supply, space and a community. Tool prices including 3D printers, CNC machines and many others have plummeted from hundreds of thousands of dollars to a few thousand.

An article (WSJ) and radio show (NPR).

Invention Lessons From Superbowl Ads

Sam — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 19:54:52 +0000

Many focus on the financial aspect of Superbowl Ads. I agree that $3 million is astonishing for a 30 second commercial, but I think about that differently. If a company is going to spend an amazing amount of money for 30 seconds, it must be a pretty good example of what the top minds in marketing think work these days. So lets see what we can learn from these commercials.

1. Humor. A funny ad catches eyes, sparks word of mouth and makes people curious, although it has a limited life (not funny after 10 times) and the message can often get lost.

2. Animals are great. Think of the Geicko Gecko, the Budweiser Clydesdale/ frogs, the Sobe Lizzard. What animal would work for you?

If nothing comes to mind, review the advertisements from NBC, hopefully inspiration will strike and at a minimum have some laughs.

Invention Court TV

Sam — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 18:55:24 +0000

This week on Judge Alex an invention dispute was heard between uncle and nephew. Episode intro:

LOUIS’ GREAT INVENTION
WILSON vs. LEONARD
Louis says his nephew Theodore stole his “invention” which he claims had the potential to make him a millionaire! Louis claim Theodore took his idea and started marketing it behind his back. Louis claims when he ran out of money to market his invention he went to Theodore for help but instead he “duped” him into giving him the full rights to his invention and stole all the profits. Theodore claims he did not steal Louis’ invention and claims Louis is just a bad businessman. What does Judge Alex have to say about that? Tune in today and find out. (SHOW #4157)
Episode 4JA082

Of course I couldn’t help but tune in this afternoon during lunch to find out the details. As it turns out, it was a straight forward contract case. The nephew bought the invention from him for a lump sum and put his experience of product promotion behind the product, but the product failed. Apparently others were coming up with similar ideas and although it got into stores, it didn’t last for long. Although the invention failed in the marketplace, the lump sum payment was still enforced (at least to the maximum for small claims court).

This case really showed the difference between selling an invention for a lump sum and a licensing agreement. The lump sum is there success or failure, a license requires success. Unfortunately the enforcement of the filing was very limited, the uncle getting only $5,000 for the $30,000 agreement.

Many disputes like this arise from contracts, so read them! It is amazing how many people will read the first few lines, scan the middle and read the ending. If you have questions ask for clarification, get the language changed to be specific and understandable and if things get dicey bring in a lawyer.

Better Be Running, Thanks Quickparts

Sam — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 22:27:25 +0000

Quickparts, a prototype shop sent over their CEOs new book, Better Be Running: Tools that Drive Design Success. Although I am not very far into it, so far so good. I really appreciate the send out as it was on my book list after reading some reviews from Inventors Digest. I look forward to passing on a more complete review once I am done. Feel free to send over any books, we’ll read them.

Early Release, Software and Products

Sam — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 19:13:54 +0000

I found this article last night by Dharmesh Shah on his blog, onstartups.com about early releasing. While the article is focused on software, a quick work replacement (software = products) reveals that the two development paths are actually quite a like. There is always a race to market, even if you don’t know it and going back to the drawing board for a better product does not mean you will win. The article certainly motivated me, I hope you have the same feeling.
Wimps Wait. Revolutionaries Release Early

My New Invention Present

Sam — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 20:05:19 +0000

I haven’t talked too much about Inventors Digest lately, but a recent article really hit the spot. Inventors Digest is a pretty good magazine focused on invention stories, patent law and other invention developments. In the new issue there is a new article on holiday gifts for inventors which was interesting. After reading I remembered that I had just gotten myself a great inventor gift that was not mentioned, a digital caliper. Basically it is a very precise ruler that is great for small items with a digital readout in inches and millimeters. Here it is measuring the diameter of my pen cap.

Why do I need such a fancy ruler? Well we do a lot of modeling around existing items. For example if you want to incorporate a bottle cap into your design you need to know the exact dimensions. Sometimes you can get lucky and find a spec sheet on the bottle cap and work off that, but not always. I managed to get by because everyone else had one of these. All designers, engineers and manufacturers have this tool to help them precisely measure the bottle cap, (remember bottle cap is just an example).

Unfortunately purchasing this item was not as easy as it should have been and if you are interested I thought I would just share. I found it on the Home Depot website and it said that the calipers were in stock at my local store, but they weren’t. So I bought it online for about $45 and you should do the same instead of walking around Home Depot in circles.

My Voting Machine???

Sam — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 18:14:20 +0000

Yesterday was a very exciting day, but one item I was missing was trying out the touchscreen voting machine. I’ve seen them all over TV, but when I went into vote I got some ancient technology and not even a booth. I voted in Back Bay Boston at the Boston Public Library a major voting station.and still I was left hungry for the technology.

Instead I got a bubble form similar to the SATs and a folder sealed at the bottom for my “privacy”. Although it is quite clear that this approach is cheaper, the privacy shield folder was poorly thought out and didn’t even work. The directions made no sense, pull ballot up as you answer, exposing the previous selections and very awkward to flip around. There are a few out there looking to grow this market including Election Privacy Systems. This company provides the “best ballot privacy folders”

If we are going to stay in the low-tech approach to voting in Mass, we have to atleast fix these voting folders.