reliant | Kris Smith has read these articles about "reliant" | www.croncast.com Kris Smith http://www.croncast.com/keyg/reliant This is the keyword feed for "reliant" from my read items in Google Reader. If you would like to search or subscribe to category/keyword rss feeds for items that I have shared with Google Reader visit http://www.croncast.com/c4_reading.php en-us Copyright for these items belong to their original publishers. No Croncast, Kris, Betsy, Comedy, Parenting, Funny, Palegroove, Croncast, eBay, Goodwill This is the keyword feed for "reliant" from my read items in Google Reader. This is the keyword feed for "reliant" from my read items in Google Reader. http://www.croncast.com/images/croncast_itunes.jpg reliant | Kris Smith has read these articles about "reliant" | www.croncast.com http://www.croncast.com/keyg/reliant This is the keyword feed for "reliant" from my read items in Google Reader. If you would like to search or subscribe to category/keyword rss feeds for items that I have shared with Google Reader visit http://www.croncast.com/c4_reading.php Croncast - Kris and Betsy Smith info@palegroove.com http://www.croncast.com Palegroove Houston Embraces the Leaf http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/good/lbvp/~3/hHoaQPF5XJM/houston-embraces-the-leaf Shared item The city of Houston is partnering with Nissan and Reliant Energy to make the city electric-car friendly . From The Houston Chronicle:
To support electric vehicles like the Leaf, which will be available in Houston toward year's end, the city and Reliant are working to create an infrastructure that places charging stations in convenient locations. Reliant will also be developing a system of support, including home assessments, for people installing home charging stations. The stations will be compatible with other plug-in vehicles as well.
There's a bit of an infrastructure chicken-and-egg problem for all-electric cars. Will people buy them if there aren't convenient charging stations? Does it make sense to build tons of charging stations if no one drives electric cars? A private-public partnership like this, which harnesses the power of a huge retail electricity provider, seems like a smart way to address that problem. Via The Oil Drum.

Tags: stations charging electric houston reliant ]]>The city of Houston is partnering with Nissan and Reliant Energy to make the city electric-car friendly . From The Houston Chronicle:
To support electric vehicles like the Leaf, which will be available in Houston toward year's end, the city and Reliant are working to create an infrastructure that places charging stations in convenient locations. Reliant will also be developing a system of support, including home assessments, for people installing home charging stations. The stations will be compatible with other plug-in vehicles as well.
There's a bit of an infrastructure chicken-and-egg problem for all-electric cars. Will people buy them if there aren't convenient charging stations? Does it make sense to build tons of charging stations if no one drives electric cars? A private-public partnership like this, which harnesses the power of a huge retail electricity provider, seems like a smart way to address that problem. Via The Oil Drum.

Tags: stations charging electric houston reliant ]]> Mon, 08 Feb 2010 14:00:06 -0500 tag:croncast.com,5991 Advice for Startups: Working with Large Corporations as Partners and Investors http://lawandlifesiliconvalley.blogspot.com/2008/03/advice-for-startups-working-with-large.html Shared item
Large corporations are the major customers and the most common exit strategy for venture-backed startups. The webinar was a very valuable summary of how to deal with corporations as partners and potential investors. For example, Bob Ackerman described how IronPort was able to obtain a dominant position in the French market by partnering with Societe Generale.

As I noted in the discussion, startups need to be careful about being too reliant on large corporations for critical functions: large corporations may decide that a market is no longer attractive and leave them and the startup may be left in a very difficult position. For example, we worked with one startup who was making lead/acid batteries and relied upon a corporate partner to manufacture the batteries. Lead/acid batteries are difficult to manufacture and require careful attention to environmental issues. They are not popular neighbors, so the corporate partner was very important to the startup. Working with our client, we negotiated a six month notice period prior to termination of the manufacturing agreement. About a year later, the corporate partner unexpectedly declared that they were leaving the manufacturing business and told the startup that they were shutting down the factory in thirty days. We reminded them of the six month notice period and were able to find an alternative manufacturer.

Startups also need to understand the different expectations of large corporations: large corporations value predictability and planning. Startups, on the other hand, change their products and strategies. This mismatch of business cultures and expectations needs to be recognized and managed.

And corporate investors are very different from traditional venture capital investors. Corporate investors are frequently very concerned about the potential sale of their portfolio companies to "competitors", a term which can vary over time. Startups and traditional venture capital investors are focused on economic returns. Consequently, startups need to be careful that their corporate investors do not control the potential sale of the startup such as by owning a majority of a series of preferred stock which has a protective provision providing approval rights over the sale of the company.

If you are interested in learning more you can get more information on obtaining a CD of the webinar at: http://events.dowjones.com/webinars/20080314.html

Tags: investors corporate startups corporations venture ]]>
Large corporations are the major customers and the most common exit strategy for venture-backed startups. The webinar was a very valuable summary of how to deal with corporations as partners and potential investors. For example, Bob Ackerman described how IronPort was able to obtain a dominant position in the French market by partnering with Societe Generale.

As I noted in the discussion, startups need to be careful about being too reliant on large corporations for critical functions: large corporations may decide that a market is no longer attractive and leave them and the startup may be left in a very difficult position. For example, we worked with one startup who was making lead/acid batteries and relied upon a corporate partner to manufacture the batteries. Lead/acid batteries are difficult to manufacture and require careful attention to environmental issues. They are not popular neighbors, so the corporate partner was very important to the startup. Working with our client, we negotiated a six month notice period prior to termination of the manufacturing agreement. About a year later, the corporate partner unexpectedly declared that they were leaving the manufacturing business and told the startup that they were shutting down the factory in thirty days. We reminded them of the six month notice period and were able to find an alternative manufacturer.

Startups also need to understand the different expectations of large corporations: large corporations value predictability and planning. Startups, on the other hand, change their products and strategies. This mismatch of business cultures and expectations needs to be recognized and managed.

And corporate investors are very different from traditional venture capital investors. Corporate investors are frequently very concerned about the potential sale of their portfolio companies to "competitors", a term which can vary over time. Startups and traditional venture capital investors are focused on economic returns. Consequently, startups need to be careful that their corporate investors do not control the potential sale of the startup such as by owning a majority of a series of preferred stock which has a protective provision providing approval rights over the sale of the company.

If you are interested in learning more you can get more information on obtaining a CD of the webinar at: http://events.dowjones.com/webinars/20080314.html

Tags: investors corporate startups corporations venture ]]> Wed, 19 Mar 2008 20:35:00 -0400 tag:croncast.com,3738 Super Bowl Ads on Hulu. Why Not the Game? http://mashable.com/2008/02/01/hulu-super-bowl-ads/ Shared item

Hulu is gaining traction, and the big boys behind the online video network have actually done their part to ensure that its content is available across multiple video platforms. Online distribution at its finest, right? Hulu is making sure the consumers are still happy with its efforts by making the Super Bowl commercials available in HD immediately following the game (find them here). Isn't that nice? The commercials.

superbowl-logo.pngWhat about the game? Why can't that be available directly after the Super Bowl ends? Better yet, streamed during the game? According to NBC's release about the commercials that will be available on Hulu, these clips will also be embedded on the Hulu blog so you can check out a collection of the ads at once. As with all Hulu content, it's shareable and embeddable, so you can rev up for all those debates and jokes about the best Super Bowl commercials for 2008. Even better, all those high school and marketing students will be pleased to have such ready access to all the Super Bowl ads. You won't even have to watch the game. ;)

As much as people are beginning to like Hulu, I can't wait for the day when platforms such as this can be used as a complete alternative for the television. They could even lend themselves to interactive adsand that would be something to make any marketing student watch the game in its entirety. One ad campaign we're all particularly looking forward to is Pepsi's, which involves giving away millions of free, unprotected mp3s through Amazon. The potential for further shifting the direction of the music industry is somewhat reliant on the success of ad-supplemented initiatives such as this, which appeals to both mainstream and newer concepts in regards to digital music and sales.

ShareThis



Tags: hulu game bowl super commercials ]]>

Hulu is gaining traction, and the big boys behind the online video network have actually done their part to ensure that its content is available across multiple video platforms. Online distribution at its finest, right? Hulu is making sure the consumers are still happy with its efforts by making the Super Bowl commercials available in HD immediately following the game (find them here). Isn't that nice? The commercials.

superbowl-logo.pngWhat about the game? Why can't that be available directly after the Super Bowl ends? Better yet, streamed during the game? According to NBC's release about the commercials that will be available on Hulu, these clips will also be embedded on the Hulu blog so you can check out a collection of the ads at once. As with all Hulu content, it's shareable and embeddable, so you can rev up for all those debates and jokes about the best Super Bowl commercials for 2008. Even better, all those high school and marketing students will be pleased to have such ready access to all the Super Bowl ads. You won't even have to watch the game. ;)

As much as people are beginning to like Hulu, I can't wait for the day when platforms such as this can be used as a complete alternative for the television. They could even lend themselves to interactive adsand that would be something to make any marketing student watch the game in its entirety. One ad campaign we're all particularly looking forward to is Pepsi's, which involves giving away millions of free, unprotected mp3s through Amazon. The potential for further shifting the direction of the music industry is somewhat reliant on the success of ad-supplemented initiatives such as this, which appeals to both mainstream and newer concepts in regards to digital music and sales.

ShareThis



Tags: hulu game bowl super commercials ]]> Fri, 01 Feb 2008 18:12:20 -0500 tag:croncast.com,3359 Stealing Passion to Create a Unique Sales Proposition http://www.seobook.com/stealing-passion-anger-create-unique-sales-proposition Shared item So far this year I have probably come up with at least 4 multi-million dollar ideas. But I am uncertain if the market timing is right and I have the business acumen and finances to make them soar, but I will try. And, to be honest, some of the ideas were not even mine. They were simply extensions of other's ideas and/or flaws to current market leading models...just like what Google was founded upon (though my ideas are far less ambitious than their idea is).

If you are entering a saturated marketplace and do not have a strong USP read rants or research from long time industry purists that are angry with the current marketplace. You don't have to buy everything they say, just take one of their best ideas, give it a touch of framing, make it relevant to your business, and base your marketing and public relations campaign on it.

If they are viewed as a nutcase and written off by the market then competitors will not realize the brilliance of your brand and the strength of the purist angle until you start cutting into the market in a big way. By then it will be too late for them to react, and if they do copy you, then you can use that to further affirm your market leading position. Google said "don't be evil" and everyone thought they were cute and cuddly until they were too reliant on Google to say otherwise. See the goog. Be the goog. :)



Tags: ideas market google business leading ]]>So far this year I have probably come up with at least 4 multi-million dollar ideas. But I am uncertain if the market timing is right and I have the business acumen and finances to make them soar, but I will try. And, to be honest, some of the ideas were not even mine. They were simply extensions of other's ideas and/or flaws to current market leading models...just like what Google was founded upon (though my ideas are far less ambitious than their idea is).

If you are entering a saturated marketplace and do not have a strong USP read rants or research from long time industry purists that are angry with the current marketplace. You don't have to buy everything they say, just take one of their best ideas, give it a touch of framing, make it relevant to your business, and base your marketing and public relations campaign on it.

If they are viewed as a nutcase and written off by the market then competitors will not realize the brilliance of your brand and the strength of the purist angle until you start cutting into the market in a big way. By then it will be too late for them to react, and if they do copy you, then you can use that to further affirm your market leading position. Google said "don't be evil" and everyone thought they were cute and cuddly until they were too reliant on Google to say otherwise. See the goog. Be the goog. :)



Tags: ideas market google business leading ]]> Fri, 30 Nov 2007 19:31:21 -0500 tag:croncast.com,1647