Tom Smerdon First to Invent Rule
under the America Invents Act
1360_ 3/4/13 - Larry is in Boulder with Tom Smerdon, Interim Associate Vice President of University of Colorado Technology Transfer Office. "There are several interesting events that we're keeping an eye on. One is the upcoming implementation of 'The First to Invent Rule under the America Invents Act. This goes into effect on March the 16th. So this has required us to look at some of the provisional applications that are pending and accelerate the filing of the U.S. Utility Applications. We've been doing that as well as setting up some informational and outreach efforts to inform the faculty of this change. One of the exciting legislative initiatives that Tom and his team are keeping an eye on is the Advanced Industries Acceleration Act. This was recently introduced in the House as HB1001 and basically it would expand the current Bioscience Discovery and Evaluation Grant Program [the BDEG] which currently provides for state grant funding / proof-of-concept funding for bioscience technologies as well as grants for early stage bioscience companies. It would expand that to six other advanced industries in Colorado. These are advanced manufacturing, aerospace, electronics, cleantech energy and natural resources, infrastructure engineering and information technology. While we make some changes to the basic BDEG funding, the basic structure is preserved. So there would continue to be proof-of-concept grants that would go to research institutions - that definition has been expanded somewhat, but it would include the state research institutions, University of Colorado. It would also provide some company matching grant funding, although the match would now be one dollar from the state to two dollars from the company and it will also provide infrastructure funding as is currently provided under the BDEG program. There are some caps on those funding amounts but in the case of proposals that would involve more than one advanced industry, those caps are removed. But again, it's pending and we'll have to see what the final legislation looks like. we've been working closely with the Office of Economic Development and International Trade on some related advanced... there's more...
RELATED LINKS: CU Technology Transfer Office || CU TTO Channel || TTO Blog || CID4 || CBSA || KEYWORDS: Tom Smerdon, Interim Associate Vice President, Tech Transfer Office, University of Colorado, Technology Transfer, The First to Invent Rule America Invents Act., Biotech Technologies, Bio Science Discovery, Office of Economic Development and International Trade, Bioscience Discovery and Evaluation Grant Program - bytes=5151245
LISTEN TO: Tom Smerdon, Interim Assoc. Vice President, Tech Transfer Office, University of Colorado

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"Commissioned sales people may be a thing of the past..."
1362_ 3/4/13 - ...Bill Flagg was convinced he needed the service and would probably buy within the next month. But, the commissioned sales person was so motivated to get the sale in by the end of the quarter, that he gave Bill a 30% discount - on the entire contract, a big dollar amount. Not only did Bill not get value from this sales person, he had to go to the tech guy to get his real questions answered - You need a technology partner willing to work for sweat equity - cast a wide net in the beginning... Bootstrapping, more insights, Watch Now Part 2 of 2
Crash Course, Bootstrapping || The Felix Fun || Bill Flagg Blog || Economy Builders || PodCast Directory || KEYWORDS: Bill Flagg, Crash Course Bootstrapping, Silicon Flatiron Center, Brad Bernthal, The Felix Fun, RegOnline, PosterBrain, SnapEngage, StickerGiant, SurveyGizmo, SFC Crash Course
Video - Bill Flagg, The Felix Fun - SFC Crash Course Series, Bootstrapping

Ron McKey, When doing Business Globally
1356_ 2/25/13 - Ron McKey is the Founder and President of FlyingBeds International; we're talking about doing business globally. Ron tells us that FlyingBeds is a two way company, he's noticed out in the market place that FlyingBeds is an exclusive, high-end presentation of Murphy beds, the Murphy Bed concept, in America. At Ron's factory here in Denver, he manufactures exquisite, unique Murphy beds. Murphy beds meaning beds that fold up into the wall. When he's out in the market place Ron said, "When I am selling over in Germany, Barcelona, Israel, Egypt; I've run across other companies that are just as unique as me in their concept. So, like the Italian bed that I bring in from the Colombo Company are the narrowest in thickness. Meaning they really fold up in 10" of space - that's amazing. But then over in Germany is a company owned by Karl Warner the Lift Bed Company and they take their beds and put them on the ceiling. They run them up by electric motor. That is cool. Very expensive but cool." Larry asked, "What are the most interesting challenges you face when dealing with these organizations overseas?" Ron replied, "They are always concerned with installation. It's relatively easy to decide on the design with email and the Internet, and we can over-night a sample to them and we can make adjustments and approve it." When asked, "What advice would you give other entrepreneurs wanting to do business overseas?" RM: "Well, you're not going to get any overseas commerce by being the lowest priced guy in the marketplace. This is my opinion, you're going to have to have something unique, either a great service or a product no one else is making. But I also bring back in products that are not available to Americans. I look at it as a fair trade. We're building a relationship with these other countries." Having worked with Ron on his website, Pat asked about the Shoji Bed and room Ron designed and created for a family living in Japan. Her question goes to Ron's background and how he does what he does. He chuckled and referred to his background as a dairy farmer from Oregon and a mechanical drawing class. He doesn't tell us about his work in the military, installing and repairing the electric wiring and cables in airplanes or his experience as a buyer or his university education in business and marketing. Pat's conclusion, there's... Listen, Watch and visit http://www.flyingbeds.com/
RELATED LINKS: FlyingBeds International || Video Library || Economy Builders || Blog || KEYWORDS: Ron McKey, Murphy Beds, FlyingBeds, Wall Beds, Italian Smart Beds, Colombo, Lift Beds, Germany, Barcelona, Israel, Egypt, Shoji Bed, > bytes=8021789
LISTEN TO:Ron McKey, Founder/President, FlyingBeds International

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Bill Flagg, Bootstrapping Video at the Crash Course
1358_ 2/25/13 - This Crash Course diagrams bootstrapping strategies for startups. Several area companies in the Front Range – ranging from early startups to more established entities such as SparkFun and Backflip Studios – have achieved financial viability without the assistance of outside financing. Bill Flagg an experienced entrepreneur, shares finding creative ways to fund a startup is important for a range of businesses. Some early stage startups may lack access to institutional financing. They may need to prove up a concept before venture capital or angel options become available. Moreover, established businesses may make a conscious decision not to take on outside financing. A variety of reasons – ranging from low capital intensity to control issues – may militate against a startup taking outside money from sources such as angel investors and venture capitalists. This Crash Course will focus upon strategies associated with bootstrapping a company and will address the following: Best Sources of Funding; Increasing Odds of Success; Freedom to Create and Thrive. Watch this video with Brad Bernthal and Bill Flagg ...Watch Video
RELATED LINKS: Crash Course, Bootstrapping || The Felix Fun || Bill Flagg Blog || Economy Builders || PodCast Directory || KEYWORDS: Bill Flagg, Crash Course Bootstrapping, Silicon Flatiron Center, Brad Bernthal, The Felix Fun, RegOnline, PosterBrain, SnapEngage, StickerGiant, SurveyGizmo, SFC Crash Course
Watch Video: Watch Bill Flagg, Crash Course Bootstrapping, with Brad Bernthal, ...

Ed von Bleichert Zero Waste &         Ralphie's Green Stampede
1359_ 3/4/13 - "Here at CU we have one of the oldest college and university recycling programs in the country, going back to 1976." We're talking with Edward von Bleichert, Manager Environmental Operations, Department of Facilities Management, University of Colorado Boulder. Ed tells us, "Our program has some rich history as a recycling program. The term Zero Waste [ZW] is a relatively new term and tries to redefine the approach we're taking." To explain, recycling is somewhat reactive. You take the waste you're given and you try to find an outlet for it. Zero waste is really more proactive where you're looking at the inputs, throughputs, outputs, and trying to minimize waste at all of those stages. As it relates to us here on campus, it's still mostly a waste focus in terms of municipal solid waste, what would be going to the landfill as trash. But we're still being proactive in that we're going upstream, into that waste stream, and we're redesigning the waste from the beginning to make sure it's recyclable, compostable or reusable. Our biggest foray into Zero Waste started with Ralphie's Green Stampede which was the Athletic Department's initiative. It includes other initiatives in sustainability like energy and water conservation. But probably the area that's gotten the most attention is the waste elimination and the Zero Waste effort. As part of that, we literally sort through all the waste of every single home football game [the waste of 53,000 people]. Mostly to identify what is in that waste stream, and be able to design it out or find a market for it, whichever the case may be, to ultimately keep it out of a landfill. The simple definition of Zero Waste, and there are many, but for our purposes we're talking about achieving a minimum of a 90% landfill diversion rate. The campus is currently about 41% conversion rate for municipal solid waste. That doesn't include... Listen for more...
RELATED LINKS: CU wins EPA Challenge || Ralphie’s Green Stampede || Single Stream in Housing || PodCasting Directory || KEYWORDS: Ed von Bleichert, CU, Environmental Operations, Department of Facilities Management, University of Colorado Boulder, Zero Waste, Ralphie's Green Stampede, bytes=4874556
LISTEN TO: Ed Von Bleichert, Manager, Environmental Operations, CU

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Michele Gebhart, Have Them Look at Business Process
1361_ 3/4/13 - We're speaking with Michele Gebhart the immediate past executive director of the ACG Denver [Association for Corporate Growth]. Now Michele has been the executive director since 2003 when the membership was 68 people. Today membership tops 500+ and growing. Michele has a very interesting background in high tech. She tells us, "Technically I've been in operations my entire career. Most recently leading the Association for Corporate Growth and before that with Fortune 500 technology companies and a global IT consulting firm." Her strengths in systems implementation, process management and program development have helped organizations through periods of significant growth and made a significant impact on increasing their customer satisfaction. She's often been referred to as the glue in the organization because of her ability to organize and move projects from objectives to accomplishments while coordinating large teams and demonstrating specialism's in all of her interactions. She's worked with the techies, the end user/customer, sales teams, executive teams and her expertise is bringing all those together. They don't always speak the same language, Michele is the person that brings all the stakeholders together through communication. Larry asked, "With all of your experience, what do you feel is the biggest challenge businesses face today?" She replied, "The biggest challenge I keep coming across is the customer experience. And I hear that not only from external customers but internal customers. I think businesses have gotten very specialized in their hiring. They're looking for specific skill sets, but then they're missing that person that brings them all together. Ultimately the customer experience is what is going to drive the success of your business. If your internal customers aren't happy and your external customers aren't happy - you're not going to last very long. Businesses need to focus more on improving that customer experience. You know, finding the people who can help them find the holes in the business and fix those gaps." Listen for more great advice...
RELATED LINKS: Michele Gebhart LinkedIn || ACG Denver || Dell Computer || ACG Denver Channel || KEYWORDS: Michele Gebhart, Customer Experience, Business Process, Communications, IT, Customers, Sales Teams, Executives, Dell Computer, ACG Denver, Association for Corporate Growth, bytes=5403692
LISTEN TO: Michele Gebhart

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Brad Bernthal, Silicon Flatirons Entrepreneurship Initiative
1355_ 2/25/13 - Brad Bernthal is Associate Clinical Professor of Law Technology Policy but, he is also the Director of the Silicon Flatirons Center Entrepreneurship Initiative where they are doing so many things impacting entrepreneurs. Brad told us, "With respect to Silicon Flatirons Center, what we do is create conditions where innovation is likely to occur." With a degree of modesty Brad recognizes he is a law professor and not an innovator and what they do at SFC is not the core engine of innovation. But, innovation comes out of certain scenes. "When we're on our game at Silicon Flatirons, we create a scene in which innovators can connect, ideally find some value through a series like our Crash Course Series for Entrepreneurs, with the Entrepreneurs Unplugged Series which brings serial entrepreneurs to campus, and the New Tech Meetup. All of which helps build out networks and helps create a scene that's sticky, where you get the innovators, new technologists, people with big ideas consistently getting together, making connections, sharing information and good things happen." Larry points out, Silicon Flatirons Center brings great speakers and presenters - and we're talking experience here not just people who talk. We are the beneficiaries of the same rich ecosystem here in the front range, it's a world class place to start a business. We are lucky to have a spirit of getting involved and giving back, that is throughout the startup ecosystem. People coming up... Ken Tuchman who has built a billion dollar business in TeleTech is going to be the guest for Entrepreneurs Unplugged [March 7th]. Looking out a little bit further the annual Entrepreneurship Conference on March 21st, taking on the Future of Entrepreneurial Finance. Larry asked Brad what he saw as the biggest challenges entrepreneurs would want to address today? "In terms of interesting challenges that I'm seeing entrepreneurs, especially in the front range, taking on, the 'makers movement' This is something to watch. This pushing software down increasingly into hardware. That plus.." Listen for more...
RELATED LINKS: Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology, and Entrepreneurship || Crash Course, Bootstrapping || Integrate || Economy Builders || Mastering Change || KEYWORDS: Silicon Flatiron Center, Brad Bernthal, Crash Course Series for Entrepreneurs, Entrepreneurs Unplugged, New Tech Meetup, Entrepreneurship, > bytes=4118050
LISTEN TO: Brad Bernthal, Dir. SFC Entrepreneur Initiative

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Bill Flagg, Bootstrapping, SFC Crash Course
1357_ 2/25/13 Bill Flagg is an angel partner in four boot-strapped, built-for-life, internet-based companies (PosterBrain, SnapEngage, StickerGiant, and SurveyGizmo). This community of businesses, The Felix Fun, delivers value to over 20,000 customers, with the help of 100 co-workers, generating $15 million in revenue per year, and growing. Prior to this Bill Flagg helped build RegOnline which he sold in 2007. As part of the Silicon Flatirons Center, Crash Course Series for Entrepreneurs, Bill spoke about his experience in bootstrapping his company. Bill tells us he started bootstrapping in high school and then college - he didn't know he could get someone to actually give him money to go out and start a business. So it was really out of his own naiveté that he became a bootstrapper. Bill was co-owner of RegOnline, which was sold to The Active Network in 2007 (he hopes to never sell another great company). In 2008, Bill started The Felix Fun to be an angel partner in helping other entrepreneurs grow great companies and thrive through organic growth. He's always had this thought in mind, 'is this extra dollar going to provide more than a dollar of value to my customers?' Because, if it wasn't going to return the value, then he knew he couldn't sustain the business. That really is the premise he uses in building and helping to build companies he works with over the last 20+ years. There are different strategies that he employs, one is, , using your capital in the most efficient way. When bootstrapping there isn't that much capital - that forces the question very acutely. The second is to really know who your core customers are. Bill says, "A lot of businesses..." Listen for more...
RELATED LINKS: Crash Course, Bootstrapping || The Felix Fun || Bill Flagg Blog || Software Channel || 2012 Software Chnl || KEYWORDS: Bill Flagg, Bootstrapping, The Felix Fun, RegOnline, PosterBrain, SnapEngage, StickerGiant, SurveyGizmo, World Champion, Olympian, SFC Crash Course, Brad Bernthal, > bytes=6946798
LISTEN TO: Bill Flagg, Bootstrapping, SFC Crash Course

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