On Spamming

I had to turn off comments for the last posting due to a spambot that found my site and inserted a bogus comment. It's turned back on now, so feel free to comment away! Let me hear from you, and what you think of my blog...... BTW, if you're blogging and you haven't turned on the word verification feature or some other kind of monitoring feature, you should do that now. Spammers suck, big time. Such a lazy way to get their messages out, with no cranial capacity at all. Morons.... If they only had a brain, they'd devise clever methodologies for reaching their target audiences instead of wasting people's time with unwanted invasive emails and pop-ups. I think they should all be rounded up and forced to watch George Orwell's "1984"and Fritz whats-his-name's "Metropolis" until they refute technology entirely and go live in a desolate desert somewhere where they can no longer inflict their sub-100 IQ spamming ways on decent hardworking folk..... but I ramble, so I'll stop here.

Interlude and Transition #3

It has been a good ride, and I've learned so many things in the year I've been running TransformTec. But I recently decided I couldn't continue to self-fund my company and I needed to "get a real job"..... So I set my resume up on the internet job boards, explored interesting opportunities hither and thither, and decided to accept a position in product planning and management with a UK-headquartered company focused on digital television technology. Check out Pace Micro Technology PLC - I recently started working in the Americas division, based in Boca Raton, Florida...... Perhaps the biggest single thing I learned during my year as an entrepreneur is about customers - without customers, a company cannot survive. My first major professional transition was from Boston to Silicon Valley. My second major professional transition was from the corporate world to the entrepreneurial world. Now, this third major professional transition is from the entrepreneurial world back into the corporate world - a little older, a little grayer, a little balder, a little humbler, a little more forgiving of others, and yes, maybe a little wiser. In the past year I learned about founding a company, accounting and financing for small businesses, motivating colleagues on a shoe-string budget, business development, marketing, public relations, and last but certainly not least, the importance of customer acquisition and deal-making. I will combine these newly acquired skills and experiences with my existing technical skills and experiences, and forge ahead. Moving from engineering into marketing..... moving from Silicon Valley to South Florida. The California Adventure is coming to a close, and the Florida Adventure is about to begin..... and my wife, our three kids and I enter it with relish, with gusto, and with eyes wide open. Its great starting afresh, my new colleagues are bright and team players, the company has lots of momentum right now, and I plan to be a major contributor to its continued success. Onward and upward, no looking back! The interlude is closing, the transition will soon be complete, as we slipstream into the next level in this game of life.....

Abel Salazar of PESS discusses the parameters of his business model and talks about his client base in Mexico with Jeff Phillips, CEO of TransformTec, Inc. PESS provides power engineering services and solutions to utilities and large scale enterprises. Their predictive maintenance programs and machinery diagnostics allow their current and prospective clients to minimize downtime and optimize equipment failure prediction capabilities.

Andreina Siller, CEO of Practum, discusses her company's expansion from training into product development with Jeff Phillips, CEO of TransformTec, Inc. In addition to providing project management training, Practum is developing an add-on product for Microsoft Project which allows project managers to abstract a high-level perspective from Gantt and PERT chart tasks.

Guadalupe Sanchez, CEO of BrainUp Systems explains her company's capabilities and existing client base with Jeff Phillips, CEO of TransformTec, Inc. BrainUp Systems supplies subject matter experts in all phases of software development, including tools, processes, and remote tracking.

Marcus Dantus, CEO of Simitel, and Jeff Phillips, CEO of TransformTec, Inc. Simitel is a software development firm marketing a wide range of IP based call center solutions, including IP PBX, Si-ACD, Si-DIAL, Si-IVR, Speech Recognition, and the ICeCAP platform.

Jeff Phillips, CEO of TransformTec, Inc. congratulating Dr. William Musgrave, CEO of The Enterprise Network (TEN) for his inspirational opening remarks at the TechBA inauguration. Dr. Musgrave and his staff at TEN have worked diligently for many months towards today's successful opening ceremony.

Jeff Phillips, CEO of TransformTec, Inc. admiring one of the technical exhibits at the TechBA inaugural event. TransformTec, Inc. is a product development company and technology broker that helps its clients convert intellectual property into cash by transforming technology concepts into products.

VIP speakers listen intently to Secretary Fernando Canales. The government of Mexico's Secretary of the Economy gave an inspirational speech about technology commercialization on both sides of the border.

Jaime Oaxaca, Chairman of FUMEC, earned applause from the invited guests when he mentioned his alma maters University of Texas at El Paso and Stanford University. FUMEC in general and Mr. Oaxaca in particular played pivotal roles in determing where to implement TechBA's mission and vision, ultimately deciding on the city of San Jose and the facilities at The Enterprise Network.

Secretary Fernando Canales and Mayor Ron Gonzales confer en voce sotto on a point being addressed by another speaker at the TechBA inaugural event.

The Honorable Ron Gonzales, Mayor of San Jose, laughs as he reminds the invited guests that when he was first elected mayor in 1998, he was the first Mexican-American to hold this office. Since that took 150 years and TechBA was implemented in under six months, TechBA is setting a new high bar for the success of Mexico – United States business relations and ventures.

The Honorable Fernando Canales, the government of Mexico's Secretary of the Economy, gave an inspirational speech about technology commercialization on both sides of the border. He challenged the best and the brightest of Mexico's technologists and entrepreneur's at TechBA member companies to succeed in delivering their high quality products and services into the United States marketplace.

TechBA Inauguration

TechBA, the Mexico-Silicon Valley Technology Business Accelerator, held an opening ceremony for ribbon cutting today in its new facility at The Enterprise Network’s Sobrato Center for Innovation in San Jose. The distinguished sponsor was the government of Mexico’s Secretary of the Economy, Fernando Canales. Other dignitaries at the VIP podium included:

• the Honorable Ron Gonzalez, Mayor of San Jose
• Bruno Figueroa, the government of Mexico’s Consul General in San Jose
• Jaime Oaxaca, Chairman of FUMEC (Fundación México-Estados Unidos para la Ciencia, translation: Mexico – United Status Foundation for Science)
• Dr. William Musgrave, CEO of The Enterprise Network (TEN)
• Dr. Jorge Zavala, CEO of TechBA
• Alberto Herrera, CEO of Medida, a TechBA member company

The speakers gave empassioned speeches thanking the government of Mexico for its vision and support of TechBA. TechBA is a first-of-its-kind effort for Mexico in the Silicon Valley. Dr. William Musgrave gave the opening remarks, where he thanked the Sobrato family for their generous donation of The Enterprise Network (TEN) building, which houses TechBA and other TEN entrepreneurial companies. Dr. Musgrave also mentioned that TEN was asked to submit a US$2 million grant application with the U.S. federal government’s small business administration office, and jokingly exhorted their representative in attendance to “please send us the check”. Jaime Oaxaca, FUMEC Chairman, gave an exceptionally compelling speech, saying how he had great credentials because he was born in Texas and knew every bar in Juarez, which got a round of applause and laughter from the guests. All kidding aside, said Mr. Oaxaca, he earned his engineering degree at University of Texas at El Paso and his business degree at Stanford University. Mr. Oaxaca acknowledged Mexico’s Secretary of the Economy, the Honorable Fernando Canales, for his vision and proactive support of FUMEC and TechBA. The Honorable Ron Gonzalez thanked the Mexican government’s selection committee - which included FUMEC, Dr. Jorge Zavala, and several universities - for choosing San Jose and The Enterprise Network. Mayor Gonzalez mentioned it took less than six months from the time the decision was made until the time of TechBA’s inauguration. He further mentioned that when he was first elected mayor of San Jose in 1998, he was the first Mexican-American to hold this office in San Jose. Since that took 150 years, he said, TechBA is setting a new high bar for the success of Mexican – United States business relations and ventures. Secretary Fernando Canales inspired guests with his speech about technology commercialization on both sides of the border. Secretary Canales cited the reasons why the government of Mexico put so much faith and confidence in TechBA's mission, and set high expectations for the successes TechBA's member companies will accomplish in Silicon Valley and the United States.

Following the ribbon cutting ceremony, guests enjoyed a technical exposition of TechBA’s member companies, and a buffet lunch. During the exposition, we had the opportunity to speak briefly with representatives of four TechBA companies. These were:

• Marcus Dantus, CEO of Simitel, which develops and markets IP based software for call centers
• Andreina Siller, CEO of Practum, which develops, trains, and sells project management software for small and large scale enterprises
• Guadalupe Sanchez, CEO of BrainUp Systems, which provides software development and application support services
• Abel Salazar of PESS, which provides power engineering services and solutions

About TechBA: TechBA is the first high-technology business accelerator started by the government of Mexico's Secretary of the Economy and administered by FUMEC, Fundación México-Estados Unidos para la Ciencia (translation: Mexico-United States Foundation for Science) in collaboration with The Enterprise Network (TEN), and assisted by several institutions of higher learning in Mexico such as: Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM), Universidad Panamericana (UP) and Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN). TechBA member companies are among the best and the brightest of Mexico's technologists and entrepreneurs.

About TransformTec: TransformTec, Inc. is a California-based corporation that converts intellectual property into cash by focusing its efforts on developing software, hardware, and systems for the consumer, multimedia, and telecommunications sectors. The company turns ideas into reality by transforming technology concepts into products. Through a visionary business platform incorporating technology auctions and unique product development processes, TransformTec redefines how new product markets are created and entered. For more information, please visit www.TransformTec.com.

Top Ten

Here are the Top Ten issues facing entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley today.

1) Money, or the lack thereof!
2) Gathering momentum for your idea and/or company.
3) Staying power (or, how long is the "runway"?).
4) Influencing and motivating others to do as promised (or, responsibility without authority).
5) Separating the wheat from the chaff when taking on new clients and projects (who's hot and who's not).
6) Creating and maintaining deal flow (or, establishing your pipeline).
7) Turning prospective clients and customers into paying clients and customers (or, if they're not creating revenue today, are they really your clients and customers?).
8) Nothing attracts success like success (or, earning credibility one client at a time)
9) Repeat business (or, keep them coming back for more)
10) Financial and other metrics to determine your success, and learning to pass it on (or, its never to early to share for other's benefit)

Surely these issues are applicable in other environs. But in Silicon Valley today, five years after the dot.com bust, by paying attention to these issues and mastering them, the budding entrepreneur will have a higher probability for success. I've already covered the first two issues in my last posting. In subsequent blog postings I will go over the rest of them, and we'll see if yet more come to surface.....