Managing High-Tech Start-Ups (eBook)

Front Cover 1
Managing High-Tech Start-Ups 4
Copyright Page 5
Table of Contents 6
Acknowledgments 10
Prologue 12
Chapter 1. A Different Kind of Business 16
Where Do I Start? 17
Starting a Company: Living on the Edge 18
Unique Product + Unique People = Success 21
Razors and Computers: Is There Really a Difference? 25
Chapter 2. Planning for Success 30
Beyond the Next Bench 30
Objectives, Strategies, Tactics... What's the Difference? 32
Good Strategies Make Good Companies 40
Positioning: High-Tech Chess 42
Think of Your Business Plan as a Treasure Map 44
Stay Loose 47
Chapter 3. Organizing the Company 50
What's in a Name? 50
INC. Is Where It's At 52
Patents, Copyrights, & Trademarks: Guarding the Golden Eggs
The Big Differences in OEM Businesses 66
Help! Getting Outside Assistance 70
Chapter 4. Funding Your Venture 72
The Upside and Downside of Venture Capital 80
Partnerships and Joint Ventures 88
The Appraisal 90
Planning for Liquidity with an Exit Scenario 92
Chapter 5. Staffing Your Company 96
Recruiting the Privates 97
Employee Benefits Are Good for You, Too 102
Corporate Culture Shouldn't Be an Accident 109
Chapter 6. Marketing, Sales, and Support 112
Sales Training 123
Setting a Price is Like Walking a Tightrope 123
The Product Splash 126
Who's Gonna Sell This Stuff? 131
Sell Around the World in Milliseconds 142
Some Products Are Really Special 152
Product Support Sells, and Sells, and 154
Chapter 7. Growth Through New Product Development 158
New Product Development Is Your Fountain of Youth 160
Develop a Strategy 162
Duplicate the Success 164
Making It Manufacturable 168
Chapter 8. Setting Up a Manufacturing Operation 170
Make it or Buy It? 174
Getting It Together 175
Quality 180
Can We Do It? 180
How Are We Doing? 182
Electronics Manufacturing in the 1990s 183
Chapter 9. Quality is Not a Handbook, It's a Philosophy 186
Quality in Manufacturing 187
Quality in Engineering 188
Quality in Marketing 190
Quality in Sales 190
Measuring Performance 191
Chapter 10. Maintaining Financial Control 192
Are We Making Any Money? 194
How Healthy Is Your Company? 196
Cash Is King 206
Growing the Business 211
Monitoring Performance 214
Garbage In, Garbage Out! 215
Chapter 11. How to Get Started 220
Appendices 226
A: Business Plan Outline 226
B: The Product Proposal 230
C: Volume-Price Graph 234
D: The New Product Marketing Plan 238
E: Sales Training Seminar 244
F: How to Plan for International Sales 246
G: Product Development Program Manual 248
H: Components of Manufacturing Information Systems 252
I: Deming's Fourteen Management Principles 258
Glossary 260
Bibliography 264
Index 268