Enough plaudits for Steve. The question that I want to address is how does a product manager become “Steve Jobs” for his/her product line? First, let’s make an assumption that acting as Steve Jobs – evangelist, leader, innovator, and stickler for detail- is good. Can you learn to be exactly like Steve? Not at all. Yet, that doesn’t mean you can model his leadership. And, how can a product manager do that? What are some of the key elements that the product manager should focus on?

Here’s a checklist of items for the product manager to consider. How many of these attributes do you display?
1. Think customer. Walk in their shoes. Find out who are the lead users. Talk with your technologists and dialog with them on the art of the possible – of what the technology could do for customers.
2. Make products and services easy to use. Put the complexity behind the hardware, the software and the interface. Make it intuitive for people to use. Consider integration of mobile apps with online applications and the ability to enter information via a traditional laptop.
3. Embrace technology. Take a techie to lunch. Attend tech sessions. Share your plans with them and have them share their new technology discussions with you. Ask questions how the technology can apply to different markets, uses.
4. Respond to market changes. Some of this will come from the technology side as new technology will yield drastic changes in functions and features and even entirely new applications. However, the key is making technology relevant to the customers. Use a new product advisory board to glean input.
5. Become friends with the vendors, suppliers and others in the supply chain. Be demanding of them as you are to yourself and to your team. Yet ideas coming from these partners can help you and your products stay ahead of the competition. Perhaps there is a technology they know that you can embed in your product and get an exclusive for a period of time.
6. Build a strong integrated technical, marketing, and sales team. This will ensure success. Be demanding of each group and set a standard modeled after your own attitude and work ethic.
7. Be an evangelist both inside and outside the company. Build excitement and suspense. Become a showman so to speak, making the product exciting and building suspense before the actual release. Use Beta tests; get the product into the hands of the technical analyst community. Find lead users and innovators to try the product and provide testimonials. Many product managers are reserved and introverted focusing on the development of PRDs and MRDs. As the “owner” of the P&L for the product line, the product manager has to be evangelist or find someone on his team to assume that role.

I have known many product managers that have several of these qualities and the best ones display all of them and more. What are your thoughts on the skills and capabilities of product managers that will make a difference in the success or failure of a product?

It seems relatively easy to prioritize. Make a list. Rank them. Determine how much money you have to spend. Draw a line. End of subject. Now, in a small owner controlled business, it is probably just that simple- or pretty close to it. The owner can make the decision and have people execute his plan. However when a company grows and you have several “chiefs,” prioritization is not that easy. There is both the hard decision of which projects to do and the equally difficult issues of ensuring every one of your teammates (from executive team all the way down to work groups) understands and executes the plan.

Let’s look at one way to prioritize projects with this emphasis on revenue producing ones. We hear this all the time. The CEO says: “we need to grow our top line. Get people together. Get ideas. And let’s discuss what we can implement.” Is there a relatively simple way to make the decision on which projects to do and if you wind up with resource constraints which projects will fall by the way side?

Decisions can be made based on fiat, whim, or gut feel. But this company is more egalitarian, like most well run companies. Let’s say the CEO convened his executive group. By asking certain questions, it was determined that there are four attributes that are important to the executive team: Market Strategy, Financial considerations, Strategic Fit, and Competitive positioning. Let’s further assume that for each of these attributes, one or more factors can be determined which support those attributes. For example under the attribute of Market Strategy, both market need and market size were important factors. Similarly, the executive team determined several elements which supported the attributes.
All in all, a total of 10 elements were specified. If a project were rated on each of these 10 elements the executive team would be able to determine the goodness of each project. (Side note: It is easier said than done that the executive team will have to agree to all these elements and attributes. There are reasons why it is difficult to quantify not the least of which is that such a system takes away the emotion and the “gut feel” for the decision.). Once these attributes are determined, a simple system can be developed to weight each of the 10 elements from 1 (low weight) to 3 (high weight). Second, each of the elements can be scored on a 1, 5, 9 scale which correlates with specific measures that can be quantified. Finally, a weighted score – combining the weights and score of each element- can be determined. All projects can therefore be measured against each other. See the attached for the basic tool:
Basic Project Prioritization Tool

Once each of the projects is scored, an ordinal ranking can be determined. The executive team can have several options to make their final selection including a) taking the projects in sequence until all funds are used up, b) dividing the projects into quartiles and quintiles and only considering those within the top two groups, c) using 80% of the funds designated to the top projects with the remaining 20% at the discretion of the CEO or other executive, or d) variations of the preceding three options.

Prioritization is inherently difficult but I have described a tool that can be used to help the decision process. It’s not perfect and it will not work for all organizations and executive teams. But the tool can also be used as a means to get alignment on what is important in picking projects/products and instill a discipline for the company which can increase the probability of success. The reason for this is that in reviewing the projects/products each of the attributes and elements should be reviewed at each stage gate or review point.

What other tools have you used to prioritize projects and products? Did you have one tool for everything? Or do you have different tools for cost reduction and revenue producing projects? Do you have a tool for prioritizing IT projects and a tool for marketing projects? How do you allocate funds among marketing, IT, finance, product, R&D activities? These questions need to be addressed by all executive teams. And the good thing about business is that the answers will differ among different companies and in different industries. And those different answers and execution of the plan will make some companies high fliers and others also-rans.

If you need some help in developing these types of analyses, please contact me.

David Friedman

We know that technology can be used to initiate or defend against network attacks. This may enable planting of malware and the potential to exfiltrate or move data out of the network or system. In many cases, firewalls and intrusion detection and prevention systems are used to reduce these types of attacks. These technical approaches are far from sufficient. Security directors need a holistic view of the network and multi-layered approach to security especially when fighting against the newer types of attacks.

There are more insidious ways to attack a network. Yet, we – the general public- don’t think of compromising security through psychological, behavioral, and social engineering means. Yet that is exactly what is happening today. And that is where marketing comes in.

Marketing is the battle for the mind as Al Trout and Jack Reis claimed in their seminal work called “Marketing Warfare.” Who would have thought that the concepts in a book written more than twenty years ago- prior to the tsunami called the internet- would have repercussions in maintaining the security of networks? Marketing is tasked to get customers to become aware of products or services, and to find ways to get customers to take an action through a promotion, a click through, or an interactive dialog. Think about the tools that marketing uses: search engine optimization (SEO) techniques or a well worded direct email program with embedded URLs.
When a customer clicks on a URL it opens the possibility for someone in a corporation to open a “window” to confidential or private data. Pieces of malicious code can be downloaded and over a period of time be used to send information out. The InformationWeek survey indicated that the second greatest security risk is from authorized users/employees mostly due to phishing expeditions. We see legitimate email programs all day with embedded URLs. Why wouldn’t we assume that a phishing expedition is legitimate as well? These attacks are on the rise because people are susceptible to clicking on messages that seem to be real. You don’t need the technology to get information from corporate networks. Rather, with these social engineering attacks all you have to do is to convince the user to voluntarily provide information!

SEO attacks whereby a user search for specific items- say those high on Google analytics ratings- sends the user to a site that looks real. In reality, the user is redirected to a “spoofed” or “fake” site where the user can be targeted, with the intent to gain credit card or account information of an individual or corporation. No wonder the survey made this interesting comment that there is a potential new bond between the marketing people who understand the psychology and how to get customers to take action through marketing programs and social engineering, and the IT directors who tend to work on technical solutions.
How can companies and organizations reduce their risk of cyber threats from these new social attacks? Let’s make the assumption that the IT Directors implement the right technology such as the combination of signature based malware protection, policy management, and traffic intelligence by companies such as Narus. In addition to technology, policies such as filtering, blacklisting, and most of all training of employees are needed to prevent attacks. First, the security officers have to work on policy and filtering of sites that are normally risky. Perhaps screening certain emails which contains known types of embedded risks has to be done. Most importantly, the marketing directors must work with the IT directors to help educate employees on how to protect themselves against these social engineering attacks which will have the attendant benefit of protecting both the employees in their private lives as well as their companies.

Unfortunately, it’s a complicated problem. Yet the combination of people, process, and technology coupled with a good bond between marketing and IT specialists may be a good first step to protect the integrity of IP networks.

While the words ring true, I have to stop and wonder if this initiative is enough, or merely a compromise. My reaction as a businessman is that it is great to have security and continuous monitoring built in to protect against cyber attacks. For many cases, this type of security is probably acceptable as a good baseline. Yet, as an executive in the security business, I see the problem as more complex. Can security be “standardized” or do you need to understand the complexity of security in the context of the application and the type of assets and applications you need to protect? I believe that it is the latter.

The industry clearly must champion the cause whereby security is heightened in the decision process of buying hardware and software and in the management of the IP networks which are the lifeblood of business.

In a recent survey we conducted with Government Security News Magazine, 80% of those surveyed felt that one company could not provide all the cyber security needs. Additionally, more than 60% indicated that they don’t have adequate skills necessary to manage security. So in addition to the bill – which is a great start – the industry must make buyers aware of the options at their disposal. Moreover, if we are to really make progress in our collective effort to combat cyber threats, participants in the industry will need to provide a more comprehensive plan and more robust tools that complement security that is built into software and hardware. By way of analogy, think about integrated stereo systems e.g. boom boxes, vs. a specially designed audio system tuned to the uniqueness of the environment. In cyber security, especially in protecting carrier, government, and high value infrastructures, I believe we need the custom version or at least “customerized” version of security.

Did you know that more than 25 million new strains of malware were uncovered in 2009? And that the US Senate Security Operations Center reported nearly 14 million cyber attacks per DAY!!! These are staggering figures. According to the Department of Homeland Security, cyber attacks roles three fold from October 2005 through October 2007 and the belief is that the attacks are increasing at an exponential rate. These alarming statistics have awakened the government and the President has made cyber security a top priority with the initiation of the Comprehensive National Cyber Security Initiative and the appointment of Howard Schmidt as the government’s cyber czar.

I was reading some comments that George Kurtz, EVP of McAfee, made at a recent FAA conference on Cyber Security and it made me think. He said that we need to find a way to solve an attack (on a network) in 15 minutes vs. the 24-72 hours we now take. For the home user, using McAfee with its signature-based approach is fine, and I probably can wait for a short time to have a new virus or Trojan signature uploaded to my computer. (Full disclosure: I use McAfee on three of my PCs). However in a critical network – be it FAA, a carrier network, a government agency, a SCADA network, or a health care network- where the asset value is high or the compromise of data would result in economic loss or even physical disaster, we don’t have the luxury of time. At line speeds now approaching the multi-gigabit level, 15 minutes means that an inordinately large amount of traffic/data has worked its way onto a target network. It’s not that signature based approaches are bad at all; they serve a purpose. Yet, they don’t go far enough for a critical network.

The key to protecting these critical networks is based on a dynamic understanding of what is happening. By definition, once a signature is developed, it is old- still useful for some but not all users. To maintain the integrity and availability, companies, carriers, and government entities must have situational awareness and know what is happening at all times. This requires a mosaic of different protection devices such as the normal firewalls, IDS/IPS systems, and forensic analyses. Yet, these systems and appliances must be complemented by a new class of products called network intelligence analytics which provide a dynamic three dimension view of data correlated with other data and correlated in both space and time. Only through this three dimensional view and the visualization of what is transpiring in the network will protection against cyber attacks be minimized. This nascent part of cyber protection is led by companies such as Narus whose traffic intelligence platform called NarusInsight provides the dynamic analytics that the network and security officers need to see what is happening across layers 2 through 7 in their networks. By processing the data in real time and applying real time analytics vs. mere forensics, the network and security officers can act swiftly to mitigate attacks.

Still, attacks will occur and the industry needs a call to action to aggressively respond to these attacks. The industry nees to band together in a collaborative fashion to thwart these attacks- or at least slow them down. At a recent RSA conference on security, several experts, including Greg Oslan, CEO of Narus, suggested a joint collaboration between government and private entities. That is thankfully coming about. Yet even within companies and across companies, network managers and security officers must share information, work across silos ( security and network operations are not necessarily engaged together nor share common platforms), and work across all areas of business. By doing so, we can view the problems and therefore the solutions through a multi-faceted approach. Coupled with a mosaic of complementary and new technical solutions, the industry will have the best opportunity to maintain the integrity of critical network assets vital to our economy and national defense.

At the beginning of March, I attended the RSA Conference at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. The show, which focused on the computer security industry, amassed 300 exhibitors that varied in size from the small garage type start-ups to the mega companies like CA and IBM. Narus, the company for which I am Chief Marketing Officer (and strategic consultant), exhibited at the show. It was a truly great show and traffic was substantial.

I had just completed reading the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Strategic Report. One of DHS’s objectives is to protect the country from cyber attacks— -and that is precisely in the power zone of what Narus does! Narus’ vision is to protect corporations, governments and countries from business risks and cyber threats. It’s a simple vision that guides our choice of markets to serve and the framework in which we develop our products and services for our customers.

It was interesting when a representative of a company, a carrier or a government department stopped by the booth. Some knew what we did while others were not so sure. Visitors from “competitors” stopped by as well. Our signage was pretty clear and we explained what we did. We even placed three of our execs on panels during the show to spread the word on what we do. Yet, I was intrigued by the fact that many people- competitors and otherwise- said that they did precisely the same thing and had the same capabilities. I know that is hardly the truth and it irks me to a point.

Consider the following analogy from the world of football. Jim Sorgi is a pro quarterback who has been the backup to TWO Mannings, Peyton and Eli. If Archie did not have these two sons, perhaps Jim Sorgi would have been the starting quarterback of the Colts and now the Giants. But unfortunately, he will always be relegated to the dubious distinction of backing up the Mannings and never being the main QB. I liken Narus to the Mannings and the other pretenders to being the Jim Sorgi’s of the world. (No offense, Jim. I would yearn to be a quarterback in the pros!!!) They are not at the same caliber or skill set yet play in the same game.

This raises the following question: How can one protect and maintain your position in the market and distinguish yourself against the pretenders? Here are my three prescriptions:

1. Set a clear vision and strategy for your brand and where you fit into the eco-system. This is the point where you figure out where you want to play in your eco-system, what technology you will use, what markets you pursue, and what is your distinguishing characteristic. For Narus, its strengths lie in the metadata, the analytics and the rule sets it uses to help its customers manage business risks and protect against cyber threats. These are truly unique and complex. We are not DPI boxes nor event managers nor merely forensic analyzers.

2. Develop a clear position and make sure it is repeated and repeatable. Think about the company represented by the following terms: “pin drop,” “can you hear me know,” and “there’s an app for that.” These companies are: Sprint, Verizon, and Apple. Not a bad list to associate with!! You have to ask yourself if your company stands out, and more importantly, what customers remember about your company.

3. Walk the talk. If you have a clear vision, strategy, and message, you need to ensure that the entire organization from the employees to the front line resonate with the brand and its positioning. When I was the Chief Marketing Officer for US Cellular, we had a tag line “the way people talk around here.” It was supposed to represent our customer-intimate strategy and all our people, especially the front line in our retail stores and call centers, were taught what that means so they could walk the talk. If a customer came in the store and if we were not helpful or trustworthy, we would belie the tag, our brand, and our positioning. Rather, we wanted to be known as the company who is trustworthy, like a friendly neighbor. And it worked as the financials showed.

The good news is that Narus has a consistent message and those that know us understand the message. For others, we need to do a better job at enlightening potential customers where we fit into the eco-system and what our unique capabilities are. Yet, for others, we will convert them to understand our brand and positioning, one customer at a time.

Comments are gladly appreciated.

David Friedman

The entrepreneurs were very engaging and had extreme passion.  Recognizing that we were looking for great opportunities in which to invest, the entrepreneurs tried to sell us on their ideas and how great they were.  They become enamored with their ideas and the technologies.   And it is great to have that much passion.  But passion without the true understanding of the market and making money is misplaced.  Therefore, we, angels, spent time explaining how to make their pitch stronger.

To each entrepreneur, I explained that there are fundamentally four main questions that I need to understand and therefore they have to address each area. 

1. Is there a market?  To whom are you trying to sell and can you pinpoint and find the actual buyers of the product or service?
2. Can you make it?   How is the product made and do you have to use a new process and/or new technology?  Patent protection is great to have, yet that is not sufficient to make a product a business success.
3. Can you make money?  Angels want a return on their investment over a relatively short period of time.  Very few projects result in a 10x or higher return on investment and many angel investments may languish or worse.  The entrepreneur must understand how money is made- the routes to revenue early in the product lifecycle, and at least a preliminary view of how other products or line extensions can be developed.   I was amazed that the entrepreneurs were so focused on their technology and product that many failed to see the advantage of partnering with others in a broader eco-system.  As an angel, I felt it was our obligation to help them see that aspect of business.
4. Can you support it?  What happens after the product is in the market?  If it is a consumer product specifically, how is the entrepreneur going to support it? Is there a call center or will the entrepreneur handle the calls him/herself?  And what happens after the initial product is in the market?  How will it be extended to uncover new opportunities in the market?

I am on the Advisory Board of a couple of startups as I also look for a corporate C-level opportunity.  One startup company in which I am involved has developed a patented technology to make mail boxes “smart.”  As I reviewed the business plan and considered my involvement in the company, I was looking for the answers to the four questions cited above.  Based on what I read and what I could add, I decided to join the advisory board and am very excited about their prospects.

I can see the market and the person to whom I would sell the product.  I understand the patent and see how it can be made today, tomorrow, and extensible to products in the future.  I understand the financials although with such a large market we have to be careful not to let the “law of large numbers” distort the reality of the market.  So we started to review the financials top down and correlated with the market sizing from the bottom up.   And finally, I could see how we can support the product today and in the future.   When I put it all together, I see a high probability of success as an investment and as a successful company long term, notwithstanding any exit. 

I am glad to hear your thoughts.

I trust all had a good Thanksgiving and wish all my readers a healthy and happy holiday season.

David

my watch

We all know times are difficult for many people and businesses. Yet, I want to point out a random act of kindness from the service center at Tutima that made me an even bigger ambassador for the Tutima brand.

My watch needed to be repaired. It needed a pusher (the little button that starts and stops the second hand for the stop watch). I received a quote and an estimate for an overhaul (cleaning) which it probably needs since I wear the watch basically everyday and it’s been about 4 years since the last “tune-up.” However, like many of us, I am watching my pennies and being, in part, an EIT (Executive in Transition) I was not amenable to spending a lot on the watch at this time. So I wrote back to Christina Pickens, the service manager at Tutima, and explained my circumstances.

I expected to get push back on the repairs and an attempt to make me feel guilty about having an expensive watch and not taking care of it. However, instead I received a nice note which basically said she understood these times are tough and whenever I wanted it overhauled they would be glad to do the job. Not only that, I received a discount on the repair I agreed to and without asking for one! I found the note particularly interesting because I did not expect it and because of her empathy.

How many times during this recession have you seen such random acts of understanding and kindness? Rather, I normally see the service providers trying to take advantage of the unfortunate. In the grand scheme of things, fixing my watch is not a huge issue. But, to me, this experience was quite touching and because of it I am an even more committed advocate of Tutima and a bigger brand ambassador.

When I can, in the future, I guarantee that I will purchase another Tutima watch, probably the Eurofighter Typhoon or the Flieger Chrono F2. And in the meantime, I will wear my current watch with pride and tell my story to all who will listen. It’s a great example of customer service and I commend Christina Pickens and Tutima.

I was thinking a lot about my friends and colleagues in transition (or soon to be in transition) this weekend and therefore dedicate this blog to them, especially those who are 55 and older.   I have a new hero.   His name is Michael Mancuso and he is the CFO for Computer Science Corporation.  I don’t know Michael at all yet through his efforts and hard work, he was able to help CSC beat the analyst views ….. by 34 cents!!!!  That is nearly a 60% betterment of what the analysts expected.

Several things strike me.  First, he is an excellent leader that was able to get these results by discipline and hard work.  He is humble, giving credit to his team that was in place prior to his joining CSC late last year, right after the economy tanked.   Third, he is 66 years young.  And this combination of things makes Michael my hero.  You can read his Q&A with IBD in Investor’s Business Daily at http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=502848.

What kind of lessons can we learn from Michael and CSC and which can be applied to business in general and to executives in transition specifically.    First, no matter how many people say that age discrimination should not exist in today’s market and 60 is the new 40, don’t believe it. Age discrimination exists, right or wrong.   So to ensure you don’t ensnared by this, network with people and take the age factor off the table.  Just remember, Michael Mancuso got his job because he knew the CEO and the CEO knew what Michael could do for CSC.   To make sure you network well, go to functions that are in your domain area as well as others that are tangentially related.   I live in SoCal and spend a lot of time in San Diego.   Some of my friends from TechCoastAngels in San Diego feel I spend more time down there than in Orange County because they have so many great events in San Diego for a techie.   In the next month there will be meetings with the San Diego Venture Group and soon after that will be meetings at the West Institute which focuses on wireless and healthcare.  That supplements some of the meetings in LA and in Orange County such as Tech Biz Connection, Octane and AEA.   The point is, you have to get out and talk with people and make yourself known.  And through this process you can establish trust and build a relationship.

The second thing that is probably not as well known but can be useful in meeting new people but also giving back is under the general category of “mentoring.”  There are formal mentoring programs through the universities that would love to have experienced executives work with the younger and next generation of business leaders.   I, for one, am involved with the UC Irvine Paul Merage Graduate School of Business mentoring program and am enjoying mentoring an IT manager.  Not only is it a great way to help others,  but I feel great by participating because I know that I can contribute and my advice and counsel are well received.   During times of transition, it is nice to have the ability to look at yourself and feel that you are important and believe you have lots to offer.  When you feel good about contributing to helping others, you feel better about yourself and I can guarantee that there will be an extra spring in your step – so to speak.

And if you cannot or don’t want to mentor 1:1, you can always join a charity or volunteer group to help out as part of a committee or on the board.   Volunteer groups are always looking for results oriented people that can make a difference.  Consider groups such as Habitat for Humanity, the Boys and Girls Club or Big Brothers and Big Sisters, or the local zoo, or the animal shelter, or hundreds of other groups that need help.   The sense of pride and accomplishment and knowing you make a difference gives you positive energy and people want to be around those that exude such energy.   And you may find your next opportunity comes from one of these affiliations.

What is the great take away from this?  You have an opportunity to control your own personal destiny.   You can give back and that positive energy will be infectious and people will feel that energy.   There are things that you control and things outside your control.   Giving back through mentoring and volunteering enables you to take control of this part of your life.   Add to volunteering, and active networking plan to build relationships with people for now and the future.  And don’t forget the role models that are out there, like Michael Mancuso and others who through relationships built over time have been given an opportunity to make a difference regardless of age and who succeeded.

The entrepreneurs who present normally have a wealth of information and mostly a solid technical understanding of their products and services. Yet, I have found that the entrepreneur sometimes doesn’t understand how to make a case for the investment. Ergo, this blog is intended to help the entrepreneur or business person by providing a template for analyzing and presenting a good business opportunity. It is far from complete though. This format and template can also be applied by business people in companies who are evaluating a new product, a new service, and even potential partners.

Before the marketing plan i.e. the “go to market” plan, can be implemented, the content of this basic template is necessary to understand what to market. This template and consists of four fundamental questions and a raft of supporting questions. Feel free to add as you see fit:

1. Is there a market? This sounds so simple but it is probably the most difficult item to classify. How many times have you heard: “If I only get 1% of all the Chinese people in X province, I will have a billion dollar business in two years? Were it so simple! The answers have to come from the following supporting questions.

a. Who is the target market? What is the specific need or pain point you are trying to solve? Can you specifically identify your customers so you can market or sell directly to them, e.g. are they small businesspeople in a geography or businesses that need to improve their accounts receivable? The former is easier to identify. The more specific and easier to identify, the better. Interestingly, the more precise the definition, the broader the market!!

b. Is the market stagnant or growing? Will you be looking to increase the size of the market or take share from the competitor and which competitor are you aiming at? (My personal opinion is to go after the expansion of the market and go after the leader in some way, and if not directly, by outflanking that leader.)

c. Consider the juncture of three elements as you consider positioning  the product and service in the market:  customer, competitor and competencies (within the company). Do you want to position your product more towards the customer i.e. a custom product or a series of products? Or do you want to position it against the competition because it is better, faster, larger, smarter or any of the other ways to differentiate? Do you want to position the product relative to special competencies that are inherent in the company today or ones you intend to add to the company over time? In defining the market, the use of this simple paradigm helps determine if in fact there is enough of a market to claim.

 2. Can you make the product or service? This question relates to the ease of which the product can be made, the raw materials to make it, the talent necessary to manufacture, and the intellectual property that can sustain a differential advantage. Specific questions to address include:

a.  What is the Intellectual property and will you be able to patent that IP? Just as importantly, is the IP sustainable? What are the unique advantages of the product or the management teams that can help make the product unique? Maybe it is their creativity and if so, how will you sustain the creativity or keep the team intact? Or is it the interface, ease of use, customer service, support, processes? Do you have the human capital and talent to build the product, specifically the technical skills on board now and in the future? Do you have a ready source for technical experts?

b. How easy is the product to build? Do you need new processes? New equipment? New delivery systems? New materials? Or can you use existing processes and materials? If you use existing processes and materials and IP, will a larger competitor come in and get to market before you will?

c. How fast can you bring the service or product to market? Is first mover advantage critical? Or is getting it right with a quality product more critical. Does anyone remember the first portable computer and who made it? It certainly had first mover advantage but neither it nor the company survived. (The answer: the Osborne computer.)

3. Can you make money? Clearly this is the operative question whether you are an entrepreneur or intrapreneur (an entrepreneur within a corporate setting). Some specific supporting questions include:

a. What is the revenue growth? Sales growth (number of units)? Is this growth realistic? (How many times have you seen business cases that went from zero revenue in year one to $200 million in year 3? How many of those companies have achieved that type of explosive success?)

b. What is the EBITA and how does it compare to other competitors at the same stage of their lives? What is the cash flow and when does the business case turn cash flow positive? To me, cash is king!!

c. What is the cost of goods? How does that cost change relative to the sales unit and revenue growth? What are the ways you are looking to improve the cost e.g. by vertically integrating, sourcing, partnerships, or other means?

d. What is the growth path, or as I like to say, ROUTES TO REVENUIE, over time that will continue to grow the business and make it flourish and minimize the risk of being a one trick pony? Have you mapped out the product and service architecture that enable you to provide more products to the market segments you targeted or find more market segments in which to sell? And while we are talking about selling, have you considered all the selling expenses and the distribution costs?

4. Can you support it? This is particularly true in a service business but equally true in a software business or a complex product. Some additional questions include:

a. Will there be online service and support? Will stores in which the product is sold support the product or will there be an 800 lines or self service on the web? How easy is it to service the product, service or software via a knowledge ware system on the web? How many of you have actually tried to solve a problem with Microsoft software by using their tech support and knowledge base?

b. Do you have an adequate training program for those on the front line, in customer service, or account support? Is the product so complex you need to have technical sales experts and if so do you have the wherewithal to hire, train, and pay them?

Let’s not assume that these are all the questions to address. Yet, this is a reasonable start in getting a good handle on whether the business will make sense. And more interestingly, by answering these questions, the marketing team will have a better understanding of “how to go to market.” And by so doing, they will have the opportunity to be successful.