Not that we have to be reminded, but COVID has certainly reminded us of the fact that we are all connected, in varying degrees, and have an impact on each other. …

As a member of a couple of angel investor networks, a former software executive, and a teacher of a graduate course on new product/service creation, I have seen many financial projections from startup founders and new product managers in large companies. One very common pattern for sales projections is a…

Product differentiation is often described as the key to business success. Companies are told that unless they really stand out from the crowd, their products or services will become “commoditized” — an undesirable position in the marketplace that results in little or no profit. This has been well-established guideline in…

I don’t think I have ever written about my teaching duties before. But circumstances change, so here goes. I have been teaching online since before COVID forced most classes online. Each semester I have an online class I try to experiment and improve. But the COVID pandemic has forced an…

This past week started the COVID-postponed Intelligent Community Forum’s Annual Summit — now virtual and continuing over two weeks. As usual as Senior Fellow at ICF, I made a presentation yesterday and led a workshop on “Bringing Broadband To Your Community”. I have previously reported on what is happening in…

If you have a new product or service in mind, you know that you need to find a way to differentiate it from the alternatives that people are already using or could use. …

Today, something a little different, but not too different — it’s about one of the public policy implications of an important change in the economy that technology has enabled. As we all know, the freelance and gig economy has been growing. According to a report this year from Upwork and…

Almost every pitch deck for a startup (or even a new corporate-funded initiative) starts with a customer problem. In some form or other…

In business, we are frequently told that to build a successful company we have to find an answer to the customer’s problem. In government, the equivalent guidance to public officials is to solve the problems faced by constituents. …