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Stellar Start-Ups: Hi-tech 'reality' show to give away $250,000

From the Jerusalem Post:

Let's see: There are reality programs (online and on TV) that purport to pick the best singer, the best dancer, the best chef, the most agile traveler, the nicest house makeover, the most adept survivor, who can eat the most disgusting stuff, who gets the fanciest Sweet 16, and who can use the best tricks to nab the perfect husband/wife/job/etc.

But forget the phony world of "reality" TV. There's plenty of thrills, chills and action in the world of Internet startups - enough for a reality show in and of itself, it turns out. And that's exactly what the folks behind Exit '09 are doing. With the current contest a result of brainstorming between several Israeli companies, Exit '09 was the brainchild of Sergata, which does development and coding work for Israeli startups.

According to Sandy Hammer of Conference-Art, a production company that has been helping to put together the online contest, Sergata hears from many Israeli startups that have great ideas but no resources to turn their ideas into reality. Seeing a potential "next big thing" going to waste, Sergata, along with Hammer, industry veteran Ben Hirsch and Assaf Gurney of Nascent (a branding company) came up with the contest, which will put the winner on the Israeli startup map in more ways than one.

For you see, the winner of Exit '09 doesn't just get a nice plaque to hang on the wall: The startup chosen by fans and judges gets a prize package worth $250,000!

Besides $100,000 in cash, the company gets a package of services provided by some of the top companies in Israel: software development from Sergata; patent advice and support from law firm Luzzatto & Luzzatto (my emphasis added, mn); business planning, startup support and accountancy services from worldwide giant KPMG; marketing and branding help from Gurney's Nascent; services from Israeli PR pros Doran Tikshoret; legal advice from Israeli "white shoe" firm Shavit, Bar-On, Gal-On, Tzin, Nov and Yagur; hardware from Sun; middleware and worldwide introductions from IBM; and last but not least, high-profile publicity on the Nana10 and TheMarker Web sites, and more!

It's a package that most entrepreneurs wouldn't have the chance to put together - even if they had $250,000. But with the help of pros who know the business, says Hammer, startups "have a great chance of succeeding. They take care of the vision and the application, and we take care of the details that will turn them into a success."

"We've actually created a platform - one that will hopefully propel the chosen startup to great success," he says, adding that this is the first time such an idea has been tried in Israel - or anywhere.

Out of 50 applicants, the judges' panel - which includes Meir Brand, CEO of Google Israel; and Michael Oran, head of IBM's Global Technology Unit in Israel; among others - chose 26 companies to participate in the contest. The companies are listed at the Exit '09 Web site. To introduce themselves, most companies have put up videos that either display their product (the contest accepted only Web applications for its initial run), or some other creative presentation that shows what they want to do (companies do not necessarily have to have a running demo of their project).

Viewers of the site get to vote on their favorite companies, and each week a winner is announced based on the number of votes. The winner gets to schlepp their votes to the following week, while everyone else starts at zero, hoping for better luck.

This goes on for four weeks (the contest is in its second week now). At that point, the four highest-scoring companies, based on viewer votes, get into the semifinal round, along with four other companies chosen by the judges. This is to account, says Hammer, for companies that for various reasons - such as not wanting to publicize their great idea - do not put up a video. The eight companies are then expected to produce a provisional application (with help from Sergata), if they haven't yet.

The judges will then pick the two finalists (this is set for August 23, known among tech wonks as IBM Innovation Day). They'll then go head to head - with help from all the service providers sponsoring the contest - putting the finishing touches on their application, drawing up a business plan, coming up with a marketing strategy and anything else needed to make their ideas shine. The judges will consider, decide and announce the big winner on September 13.

While the videos of the ideas and products that are on the Exit '09 site are fun to watch, the big show takes place during "hell week," when the startups work with their mentors to be the best. Portions of that process will be broadcast over the Internet, just like in a reality show, with the developers letting us peer into their lives, their hearts - their very souls.

So who are the candidates - and what ideas have they come up with? Some of the ideas in the videos looked very interesting, while others were probably not going to be declared winners, based on what I could see.

The contest, says Hammer, has attracted a mix of veterans - folks who may have been involved with a successful product in the past - as well as first-timers. Which is exactly what the Exit '09 people want, he says, adding: "All the ideas are good and have been checked for their potential, and all the applicants are reputable as well. The main thing we're interested in is innovation."

That said, there have to be losers when you're running a contest, but even the losers get to take something away, Hammer says.

"The second-place company gets to keep the application, business and marketing plans, and anything else the service providers helped them put together for the finals," he says, while those who don't make it that far get the benefit of having been exposed to tens of thousands of viewers, including VC people, many of whom are following the contest closely.

"Everyone has an equal chance, and every idea could be a life-changing one - for the winners, and maybe for the way we work or play," Hammer says. "For the first time, we're democratizing the process of getting on the hi-tech map, giving entrepreneurs access to experts they probably would not have been able to reach otherwise. And that's going to be great for innovation."

For more information please go to www.exit2009.com

And the survey says

Licensing is becoming more and more important to Corporations

Accoring to an ipPerformance Group survey, corporate intellectual property strategies are becoming more sophisticated including the growing importance of licensing initiatives.

One hundred and eight companies participated in the 2009 'Intellectual Property Management Strategies, Metrics and Tools Survey.' The survey was conducted among intellectual property leaders representing 23 major industries.

Survey participants were questioned on a range of topics, including:

* Strategy success metrics
* Key roles involved in developing IP strategy
* The key elements of the IP strategy
* Effective value indicators
* Effective metrics and methods for communicating value to executive management
* Success factors and best practices for measuring and communicating value
* Key roles responsible for managing the patent portfolio
* Methods used to promote IP program value to executive management
* Methods for aligning strategy with corporate goals
* Most senior person that is intimate with the IP strategy
* Popular tools used for managing the portfolio and level of satisfaction

Participating in the survey were industry-leading companies such as Freescale Semiconductor, Caterpillar, Navistar, Praxair, Eastman Chemical, ASM International, Abbott Labs, Nestle Purina, BD Medical, Swagelok, Polaris, Steelcase, Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company, Pratt & Whitney, and Dow Chemical.

The ipPerformance study reveals a variety of trends including:

54% of companies indicate that their written business plan explicitly incorporates IP strategies and goals.

Stakeholders for developing intellectual property strategy varied greatly across the survey participants. Technology and Legal leadership play pivotal roles, both in preparation and approval responsibilities.

The most popular metric is patent applications filed, 77% of companies indicate that patent applications filed is how they measure their program effectiveness. Other popular measures are number of patents granted and invention disclosure reviewed.

In addition, the survey found that 57% of companies indicate that they have a patent licensing strategy. Increase revenue and technology control are the two most important licensing strategies. The study revealed a 15% increase of companies from the 2007 study indicating that generating licensing revenue is a success criterion of their patent strategy.

A full report of the survey findings is available from ipPerformance Group at http://www.ipperform.com.

For more on licensing and how to make money from your IP, please click here.

Heads up to http://www.onlineprnews.com/

A Real Life Trademark Story -- with a Happy Ending

Inventors - Curb Your Expectations!

During a meeting with serial entrepreneur and investor Mike Berman, we discussed the expectations that inventors and entrepreneurs have when starting a new company around their patents and IP.

I told Mike a few stories about how most inventors have such high expectations -- like throwing a provisional patent on the conference room table and telling me "this is a 5 billion dollar invention."

After hearing something like this, I know right then and there that this inventor will not commercialize his invention -- his expectations are not in line with reality.

Mike told me that this reminded him of a Saturday Night Live episode where John Lovitz was scalping superbowl tickets. In his mind the tickets were worth millions of dollars and he was holding them way up in the air and screaming - two superbowl tickets only two million dollars (if anyone can find this on youtube, please send it to me).

The point is that inventors and entreprenuers must have realistic and real world expectations -- right from the start.

If an investor like Mike Berman is going to invest -- you need to convince him of your passion for the invention and that you are willing to do whatever it takes to commercialize the IP. Serious investors like Mike, who have started companies and exited successfully, know the value of your invention. The fastest way for any meeting with a serious investor to end is for you to show you do not have real world expectations.

So curb your expectations - this is a good first start to both raising money and commercializing your IP.

Is Your IP Hot IP?

If you have patents and other IP you would like to license or sell, maybe you should consider HOT IP.

Hot I.P. is a regular e-bulletin presenting technologies from universities and research institutions around the world. According to the company, all  submissions are judged as top-echelon, vetted innovations by the submitting organizations, and then are reviewed for quality, novelty, and likely market acceptance by Hot I.P.'s editorial staff prior to acceptance for publication. Each item links to a brief description of the technology, its inventor, patent status, and the business opportunity it represents, along with key contact information.

What makes Hot I.P. special (HOT)? 

According to its website:

"unlike the currently existing IP databases and listing services, rather than residing on a website that users must visit and search within to find IP of interest, the Hot I.P. service actively sends these innovations out to our database of nearly 200,000. These include research commercialization professionals, investors, attorneys, corporate IP managers, consultants, economic development officials, and research administrators worldwide. In addition, we ensure the quality of the IP presented by accepting submissions only from leaders of university TTOs and other research institutions, who vouch for its novelty and market potential and select only from the top level of their IP portfolios."

I have not used this service and I know that other companies like Yet2.com have similar offerings. For a list of such companies, click here.

The marketplace for this type of exchange is pretty dynamic and we will try to keep up with new entrees into the IP Playing Field

If you know of any that we have not covered here, please let me know