Steve Pearson Talks about Business Intelligence for Early Stage Companies
Where are you from
originally?
I was born in Denver and moved to
Boise, Idaho, in 7th grade. After high school, I moved to Texas to
join my family’s home state and get a job. That’s a long way to say that I call
Texas my home!
What university did you go to?
The University of Texas at San
Antonio.
What is the idea behind your startup?
To provide business intelligence in
the early phase of a need or idea development, when that information is most
valuable.
For example, if you want to
explore where a market is moving many years down the road, wouldn’t you want to
know that another company already holds a patent similar to your technology?
Or, would you want to know about
an adjacent technology that could disrupt your market and make it much smaller
in the near future?
What need does it fulfill?
Many of the small to medium-sized
businesses we help are used to keeping idea generation and development
in-house. Only when the idea is fairly mature will due diligence be performed
to verify future market sizes, patentability, technical feasibility and so on.
We believe this approach wastes
time and money. A small amount of early phase due diligence is much more cost
and time effective than lots of money invested in medium-to-late stage
development.
What exactly does it do?
Our consultants are well versed in
technology, markets and intellectual property. We bring in the appropriate
expertise for each client’s needs to supply competitive intelligence and work
together to develop innovation and strategy most likely to succeed.
Who is it for?
Our typical client is a vice
president or director at a small to medium-sized technology, energy,
transportation or consumer products company. Any company or institution can be
a great fit, but only if they have a culture open to outside input.
What was the most challenging aspect of starting up?
Our challenges are similar to many
other start-ups: too little time and forging new channels to bring in appropriate
clients. Our business is so novel that it can take 20 minutes to educate a
prospective client about what we do and how we can meet their needs.
What is the next step for you and your business?
Persuading satisfied clients to
endorse our work publically. It is no surprise that many clients see a
competitive advantage to keeping themselves and their companies anonymous.
What advice do you have for entrepreneurs?
Make your plans, obtain your
financing and network to establish relevant contacts as quickly as possible. Get
as far down the road as possible before leaving your current position.
What resource have you found to be the most helpful and
why?
Input from friends, colleagues and my network. Honest input
from a friend beats 10 lost clients on any day.
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