for inventors and start-ups
We know what it is like trying to turn a new idea into a commercial product.
It isn't easy. There are so many things to think about that your "to do" lists go on forever. What is worse is that you are probably not attending to things outside your comfort zone.
We can help. We've been through the process lots of times and can step in and lift some of the weight from your shoulders.
Every client is different so we adapt what we do to your situation and skills, but a few of the things we can do to help include: finding early adopters and starting a dialogue with them, product launch, product marketing, forging strategic alliances, helping with funding and mentoring.
In return we expect to receive either a pre-arranged flat fee or a share in your business.
By Chris | February 23, 2010
A review of Malcolm Gladwell’s book
I can find almost any topic interesting if presented well. In fact, I love being given a glimpse into the normally hidden world of a new specialty. Not only do you learn about stuff you would never normally encounter, but you invariably get a view of the alien culture of those who inhabit this strange new realm. As I learn about a new topic my mind is constantly searching for analogies between it and topics I understand or experiences I have, and then, “POW!” I get a revealing insight into something completely different. I wish this inquisitive habit mean that I was a Polymath or a Renaissance Man, but sadly I’m more of a butterfly generalists, flitting from one subject to another.
As I write this, I have my media player in random mode and am delighted by it switching from Stéphane Grappelli to Indigo Girls.
I do have a deep respect for those who combine my interest with real knowledge and Malcolm Gladwell never fails to impress. In “Open Secrets” in his collection of essays, he touches on Enron, Al Qaeda, Nazi Propaganda, Prostate Cancer, and the Cold War, all in search of a clear differentiation between “Puzzles” and “Mysteries”.
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By Chris | February 20, 2010
A review of Bill Buxton’s book
In the late ’80s when I first began contributing to commercial products at Spaceward I came across a book which opened my eyes to the issue of how we interact with products and particularly software products. It was “Readings in Human-Computer Interaction” edited by Baecker and Buxton and changed the way I thought about my products in a fundamental way. Bill Buxton’s latest book has had a similar effect.
Reading “Sketching User Experiences: Getting the Design Right and the Right Design” feels like leafing through a designer’s sketchbook, a sketchbook of a lifetime of contributing to designing high tech products. Ideas come at you from all angles and then drill down into incredible detail before spinning off in another direction.
Bill Buxton has worked at both EuroPARC and Xerox PARC, Silicon Graphics, Alias Wavefront and most recently Microsoft Research. He has been lecturing and writing on the human computer interaction for 30 years.
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By Chris | January 25, 2010
The first ‘most stupid’ product award of 2010 goes to…
What were they thinking about? What can possibly have got into the Samsung engineers’ minds, let alone the marketing guys, to make them think that the Tic Toc was a good idea?
Announced at CES, the Tic Toc is an incredibly small MP3 player which has but one button. You control it by turning this way or that, or shaking it quickly or slowly. As the power says: “Easily shift through a choice of four play modes with a simple shake of the wrist”…”through the force of gravity”.
You can just imagine the thought process:
- We could make an MP3 player much smaller if it did not have to have buttons or a screen on it (a bit like saying a car could be much more efficient if only it did not have to carry passengers).
- I know, we play the Wii by shaking the controller, we could do the same with our MP3 player.
- Oh, wow, now we’d need to watsit, a thingy and a 9v power supply…
Meanwhile in the marketing department… “an MP3 player with no buttons, no one has ever done that before, we’ve got to show it at CES”.
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By Chris | January 10, 2010
Effectivus gets to be a grumpy damp squib ‘cos he didn’t get to go to Vegas
By Chris | December 13, 2009
How some technologies, however appealing, appear to take forever to be adopted by consumers.
Also posted in funding | Tagged lifecycle, MBA, theory |
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