Where do Babies Come From?

Early this year, when I was in "heavy blogging mode", I created two posts that never made it to prime time.

Looking back on them, I can see that they would have been the first posts about my new venture - Zorap Inc.

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The First Test
Not published on March 2, 2007

If you have a passion for good ideas, you have probably experienced "Late-Night-Idea-Euphoria-Syndrome". It goes like this. You are SURE you have the best idea in the whole world - only your brain is too tired to make an accurate assessment. So, without any information to the contrary, your excitement builds to a giddy Teletubby euphoria and you struggle to get to sleep.

The next morning you stumble along for a few minutes trying to remember what you were so excited about. Then, with that first sip of reheated coffee from the day before, you remember. You think "wifi hedge trimmer?"

Anyhow, I had a good idea last night - and it still seems to be a good idea today. It has passed the "wifi hedge trimmer" test.

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Idea Gestation
Not published on March 4, 2007

Here are the 12 stages of idea gestation.

1. Think of idea. Ignore idea.
2. Think of idea again. Poke "easy holes" if possible.
3. Tell idea to go away.
4. If idea comes back - find out if someone else already owns the idea.
5. If no one else appears to own the idea, idea must suck.
6. Tell sucky idea to go away.
7. Make an empty WORD document, name it "New Idea". Start describing the idea. Exit. Don't save.
8. Consider taking a consulting job. Eat some Triscuits, get another Diet Pepsi.
9. Search in vain for a short pronounceable domain name for the new idea.
10. Register www.batalofasop.com
11. Regret spending $8 for domain name.
12. Work on blog instead.

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I wanted to do a good job crafting the DNA for Zorap.    Here is a little bit about my thought process...

I knew that cool and sex appeal were important ingredients for building a passionate, loyal following. But I also knew that cool was the wrong place to start. I did not want to become the first passionate, loyal follower for an idea that didn't have clear viability in the marketplace.

I had already learned that Infatuation-with-cool can have tragic consequences. At Reality Fusion, I loved the whole immersive-video idea. It was unbelievably cool! Everyone who saw it, loved it. But I didn't have a viable go-to-market plan. We spent years searching for the right business plan, or the right CEO who could figure out how to bring the product to market. In the end, we never did.

There were also the words of a good friend and mentor, who once said "If you are not in business to make money, then you won't be in business long".

So I avoided cool - for a little while, at least.

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Instead, I started by choosing the general area that I wanted to work in - a area was aligned with my technical talents, and one which I had some actual customer insight into. 

This first step was motivated by efficiency and risk reduction. I don't know anything about biotech - and it wouldn't be fair to ask investors to pay me to learn about it. So I stayed "close to home".

After that, I sought an understanding of the attributes of successful start-up companies in the market space that I was pursuing. What are the signs of a successful startup? What types of partnerships?     What technological religions should the company embrace? And finally, what is the exit strategy - and what can be done to position the company for this exit strategy at the outset?

I spent a lot of time thinking about partnerships. I decided that partnerships become stronger when each partner has a clear, concise view of their own individual value. If you aren't exactly sure what you're doing, then partners represent threats rather than opportunities.

I also thought about funding, venture capital and company scale. It is very hard to get a grasp for the game of Venture Capital without some experience to call on. My experience taught me this valuable truth...

It is very rare to find a Venture Capital investor who is philanthropic enough to look out for the founding team. My use of the term "philanthropic" is not inappropriate here.    Take money from a VC, and you have given up control of your company. It is only by the goodness-of-their-hearts that you are not laid off, replaced, marginalized, or diluted before the company "exits".

(Whoa - Hang on, let me...    calm.....    down....   a....   bit.....)

After this, I started thinking about hot trends in the market place. Things like the WII, FaceBook, iPhone, Meebo, amorphous Web 2.0 functionality, etc.  (in fact the only thing I refused to look at was Window Vista - which everyone says is a piece of crap).

So, up to this point, I still didn't know what Zorap was. But I knew some things that were more important than that - I knew what the general market space was, what the partnerships would look like, what the exit strategy was, I knew what "technological religions" the company would affiliate itself with, I knew where I wanted to get the funding from, and so on.

These were all my "boundaries".

After this, the process was relatively straightforward.    I looked for value propositions that fell within the boundaries.    I had about 6 different ideas that seemed to fit the bill, but there was one thing in particular that seemed like the "best fit".     That thing was Zorap...

..which I better get back to.

(1) In 1979, I spent 3 months of "spare time" writing a video game for my computer.    It was a super-cool videogame - I don't remember the name, but there were space ships and sounds effects and shooting at things and whatnot.    It was a great game.    Unfortunately, it would only run on one computer - mine.   I had a one-of-a-kind, customized, Heathkit H-8.  I enjoyed writing the game, but it was a little sad that I couldn't spread-the-love)