Jigantus.com

Developing that great product is a difficult thing. Creating the product that works well for the user is an art, sometimes a bit of luck, but always due to hard work and some smarts.

To stay ahead, one must not become obsolete at the hands of the competitors, but become obsolete by doing to themselves. In order to stay ahead, a business cannot be stuck with itself but instead, be willing to change perhaps what maybe already hugely successful, or someone else will.

Often times, the first mover is not the winner. Once a company has identified a space and has moved in with success, others follow, and in some cases do surpass the first mover.

In the case of Yahoo, Netscape, Webcrawler, Altavista, only Yahoo really remains strong player. Google came later and surpassed all of these cutting edge companies. Google continues to innovate and stay ahead, exploring new markets and in many times creating demand.

So once you have the first position, don’t stop, businesses change and products improve. If the market is large enough, others will follow, especially in the technology field.

Cell phones have been around awhile now and have long ago become mainstream. We can no longer live without them and consumers have paid to use them. Cell phones are evolving to become smarter, hence the name smart phones and are being sold in greater quantities everyday, replacing many of the traditional cell phone units.

Nokia, Blackberry, iphone and the Google Android are proving to users that they can’t live without. Although still more expensive then less sophisticated phones, the value add offers a compelling reason for consumers to switch.

From January to July 2008, U.S. consumers bought 9 million smart phones, an increase of 84 percent from the same period a year ago, NPD found.  http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2329913,00.asp

With these phones come new opportunities. The iphone store has over 15,000 applications and counting. The ever lowering cost of data provides a price point where penetration is feasible to the masses and continues to be more so everyday.

Why are these phones so great? They offer developers a chance to create and enable technologies for a user at the tip of their finger in a small neat package. browse the web, play games, access social network sites, play music and whatever else the entrepreneur can dream up. Applications are easy to build and connect with the user real time, offering many practical uses.

Industry projections see smart phone penetration into the billions in the near future. if you have a web site, develop your apps, if not, look to incorporate a mobile interface. It’s still early to stake your claim in this growing new market.

In follow up to the last post,  we have managed to file for a patent and are in a patent pending status. This is an interim status that allows us to secure a date of the claim for our invention while we wait to see if it gets approved. By no means is it a slam dunk, but it is a step in the right direction.

During our search, we found nothing even close to what we were trying to do, so this makes it more hopeful.

Having this status gives us a bit more confidence in being able to own this market, and not worry as much about competitors. It can also deter competitors from trying something similar. Having this status will also appeal to any partners we may seek during our building process.

So our next steps will be to build upon our initial idea and come up with some marketing spin offs and identify future potential. Next we’ll build the core and see where it goes from there. We have lots of great ideas to do this but will start with the heart of our IP, keeping in mind, the orginal idea doesn’t always end up being what you envision in the beginning.

It is especially exciting because we are attempting to create a new market, the opportunities are endless. This may mean uncharted territory awaits us, but that makes it all the more fun. Stay tuned.

When I started this process, I didn’t really realize that Intellectual Property IP was a critical issue. I mean, I understood what it was, but I suppose I underestimated it’s long term impact. The mentor program we attended helped me realize that having IP is essential for raising money or even just to have for your future business.

For some reason, VC web sites do not talk a lot about IP, but they want it when they invest.

Getting IP is not easy. There are so many patents out there, and when you think you’ve got a great idea, someone out there could have the same, and perhaps years ahead of you!

But if you can get it, it means your business is protected for up to 20 years. Anyone who wants to compete with you using the same technology, has to pay you royalties, usually around 5-7% depending on how much IP of yours they use.

It can help secure your marketplace and be a big stick you can wave at your competitors. In a recent example I read, iphone has the patent on a “double touch” of the pad, which is now deterring Google Android from offering the same feature.

So conduct a patent search on your own. You will eventually have to do it professionally, but if you can eliminate an idea based on a preliminary search, you might save yourself a few bucks. Looking at other people’s patents may also help your creative juices.

Google offers a free tool http://www.google.com/advanced_patent_search.

If all looks good, or you have questions, I would highly recommend you to consult a patent lawyer in your area. Go meet with them, tell them about your idea, and they can tell you if it can be patented, the next step would be to get a search and opinion from them. Fees can range between $1300 to $2000 for this process. You can also consider going to a patent search agent on your own to save a few bucks, but you risk missing something and might just need to redo it if you decide to move forward so getting a lawyer is well worth it.

If you come up with that killer idea, it could help feed your family for life.

Once you have your idea, you can file for the patent. A lawyer will explain all the guidelines as far as time, rights in other countries etc. (I am not a lawyer). Patents can take years.

Even if you get back iffy results from the initial search, don’t give up. Find a way to make it work. The initial search might just be the beginning to make your creative juices flow.

In my case, things are looking good, and we are filing. Once this is secured, we will start building the product for launch. I’ll keep you advised on this blog as things progress.

Not only have I found that the idea you have has to be unique, parts of it cannot be covered by other patents, which makes it really hard.

The iPhone and Google Android are 2 of the newer smart phones on the market. In the case of Android, released late last year, it offers developers free access to develop applications for the phone, while the iPhone remains more controlled by Apple. Blackberry and Palm are other players in this field.

With data access rates becoming cheaper while these phones become more powerful, distribution will continue to grow at a fast rate. This is likely why we see so many new applications being developed for mobile solutions, in the case of the iPhone, there are thousands already available.

The penetration of these devices to the consumer provides huge opportunities. Still in its infancy, smart companies with new and bright ideas have a chance of building themselves a solid marketplace. Existing businesses should find a way to extend themselves into this market, or risk loosing an edge.

Talk about the impact of these devices have going on for years, now is the time to get serious.

Techcrunch just wrote an article about click fraud.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/01/27/report-click-fraud-at-record-high/

It says that click fraud is at an all time high, possibly due to the economy problems. I actually suspected this before the article came out.

Even on reduced bidding, we have lower sales and more clicks then before. How else could this be? Click fraud has always been one of those things ad providers like Google, Yahoo, or anyone else involved in PPC sweeps under the rug.

They play it low key, to keep their model and revenue going. After all, why would they want to kill 30% of their existing revenue?

The FBI can detect and locate hackers, why can’t the PPC people do it? They have the resources.

Bringing in revenue for the big corporate giants is the game now. Integrity is gone. Google’s motto was “Do No Harm” but by letting things like this go, they are in fact doing MUCH harm buy standing still. Using the excuse that they didn’t actually do it, doesn’t hold water.

The next generation model that makes sense is the Pay Per Action one. No fraud, and advertisers pay only if they get results. Problem is Google doesn’t want to give up their fat margin PPC system even though it IS better for the customer.

I understand this perfectly, they can’t give up their $16 billion plus ad model to move to a lower revenue PPA system. More revenue keeps them on top, gives them money to stop and crush PPA opponents before they can get off the ground.

Because Google has so much traffic, advertisers continue to use them. As long as Google can keep up the traffic, their PPC model should survive. They even have a Chief Economist for PPC, which shows you how much they need to keep this system alive.

Google knows that PPA is the next natural step, but are trying to prevent it and milk as much mileage out of PPC as they can.

PPA will come, when and form whom, I don’t know, but the way things are going, it has too. It will take a site that has GREAT traffic,  and a PPA model to make them stop and think. But perhaps they just buy them and make sure the ad model is PPC. Was that a Youtube strategy? Google bought  Youtube so Microsoft doesn’t get them into a PPA model?  Maybe, at least part of it.

Anyways, click fraud, over bidding will continue as long as PPC thrives. Unfortunately we have to play the game…at least for now.

So you’ve built that web site to the best of your ability, you’ve taken into account all that you think the user wants and you’re ready. Navigation, ad copy all seem to be perfect. You spend money on ads and the traffic starts rolling in.

You better make sure you have a good user tracking program so you can analyze user behaviour. Even if you think you’ve got the site layout right, and the content to draw them in, you can only tell if you track the statistics.

Are the users leaving on a specific page? Do they consistently like to search a specific key word? What pages are most popular? Can you improve?

The advantage if being able to track users is that you can find hard evidence where you can. In a real brick store, you can see people, talk to them, in a web store you can’t.

With proper planning, you can experiment with copy, page layout or other promotions by simply tracking the difference in user behaviour and conversions when you make these changes. Only through experimentation can you get to your ultimate goal, which is not always what we think it is.

Most hosting providers offer tracking software within the package, Google Analytics offers a free system that works pretty well, so there are no excuses.

This approach is nothing new, but so many people don’t take this advice. If this is the article that gets you too, then great, if not, it may lead up to it, either way, get up and do something if you aren’t already. To those of you who are, good for you. Tweaking like this is the difference between being good or being great.

So keep tinkering, until you get it, then tinker some more. Like anything, good results take hard work.

Yesterday we presented at the BC Technology Mentorship Program to a panel of industry experts. It is a government sponsored program where 1 company per month is selected to present with the goal of receiving feedback on the investor pitch and the business plan. Organized by Bob De Wit, the group was comprised of:

Basil Peters (Angel Fund Manager)

Doug Blakeway (Angel)

Danny Robinson (Angel, technology expert)

Stas Bekman (Angel , expert in SEO)

Dr. Fred Popwich (SFU Natural Language Processing)

Karam Bayrakal (Fasken Martineau Technology Lawyer)

After I presented the pitch, the members commented on the presentation style, format and then made suggestions on what to include and how to present it. I had done a few dry runs with other knowledgeable people and thought I had covered the bases.

However, I received a different perspective from the panel who offered numerous suggestions of change. Some of the interesting comments were, despite the business idea, companies who get investment are the the ones who are more entertaining presenters!

On the business idea, the group felt it was clear we needed to make some adjustments. Their feedback was a good look in the mirror for us and we will take their recommendations to heart. Although as entrepreneurs we have to decide what and who we listen to, we have to at least listen in order to make things work. The chair Bob De Wit said to me before, most companies who go into these sessions avoid pitfalls because they listened to the panel, to those that didn’t they usually didn’t turn out to well.

On the positive, we have an excellent team of people and have identified a huge weakness in the market, the pain we see is real, things need to change. We just can’t give up.

As the Internet is extremely fluid, original ideas that start, don’t always end up on where you thought you might be in the beginning. We’re going back to the “garage” and find that killer application.

To anyone else who has the opportunity to get feedback from this program or anything similar, my advice is to do it. In 6 months we are able to go back and get feedback on a revised pitch and plan. If we had not gone thru this exercise, perhaps we would have launched as is, and run ourselves into the ground. Now we have great ideas, some priceless marketing tips and at least now we have a better chance of changing the world

I just got back from the CES 2009 show after spending 3 solid days there. The first thing that comes to mind is that it was exhausting! There were over 2700 exhibitors spread out over the size of over 20 football fields in multiple locations.

On top of that, there were no seats for people to sit down and rest. We had to eat our lunch on the floor along side everyone else. In most cases, vendors that we wanted to meet were not grouped by category and were scattered between buildings. Dependent I suppose on how much they were willing to pay for the floor space. So being my first time there, I wanted to see as much as I could so that meant walking, walking and more walking.

The show however was well organized. With frequent shuttles, plenty of staff and security on hand, it was impressive how they managed to move almost 150,000 people from point to point.

Aside from the “exhausting” factor, the CES show is a place where companies can display new technologies, unviel new product launches and to connect with people. From people I talked to, this years show was more subdued, with about 65% of usual attendance and scaled back displays from many vendors due to the economic downturn.

For me, the purpose was to look for new product lines to promote on the web that are complimentary to small and medium sized business needs. As this was a consumer oriented show, I would say it wasn’t hitting the nail exactly on the head but I did find some good leads and met some important contacts

From my perspective, consumer hardware products are evolving to converge with the web. Mobile applications, security systems, gaming, audio video are becoming more connecting the world then ever before. It will come to a point where every movement you make, every photo, video, sound, pulse you leave behind becomes a data point to be crunched, sorted and used to decipher some intelligent way to use to market.

We’re not quite there yet, as all the pieces are not yet aligned. In some ways it will make our lives easier, more efficient but with less peace and privacy.

Businesses that can position themselves to utilize data to make peoples lives easier will have a chance to have a huge impact in the future. Our plan at Jigantus has always been to do just that.

I’ll be heading to the CES show this week. It will be my first time there so I am looking forward to it. I have spoken to some people who have attended and it sounds daunting. I have been to Las Vegas before and it is a massive place.

In leading up to the show, I definitely notice the difference in attendance. I almost went last year and noticed the hotel rooms are sometimes going for less then half of what they had in the past. Also, incentive offers are abundant as well as cheaper and more available flights.

This does appear to be the year where only the core people are going, which looks like the theme of 2009. Only things that need to be done, will be done in a no frills kind of way. We will be no different.

It will be key to identify future trends, when scouting products, I will have to choose wisely so energy in 2009 will be spent marketing products that people want, where we can make money on with less service and hassle.

I’ll let you now how it goes.