Last evening CU Boulder held its kick-off event for the New Venture Challenge, the campus wide business plan competition. Brad Bernthal, Associate Law Professor and Director of Entrepreneurial Ventures at Silicon Flatirons, began the evening by citing the importance of the Challenge, which he deemed as “fundamental in creating an entrepreneurial launch pad” at the University. Among the benefits the contest brings to students and faculty across campus are making entrepreneurial resources accessible to those seeking guidance, connecting the campus to the external business community, and “collapsing the campus,” or creating a venue that encourages the mixing of talent from the different academic verticals.
The featured speaker of the night was Paul Berberian, a serial entrepreneur living in Boulder who is presently CEO of Zettasun, a solar panel producer utilizing advanced optics to lower manufacturing costs. Formerly Berberian founded a bevy of successful companies including Market Force Information, LINK-VTC, and Raindance Communications, the last of which raised over $100 million and went public in July of 2000.
Berberian emphasized five points is his hour long talk focused on selecting the right business idea and entitled “Picking a Winner.” First, the entrepreneur should have a grasp of hemself, with an understanding of lifestyle aspirations, personal constraints, and what type of appetite she has for risk. Second, Berberian believes that in choosing an idea, “if you don’t have an angle you are destined to fail.” Angles – or strategic differentiators – include:
- Roll-up: Buying up the various competitors in a fragmented industry to create the dominant market player. This strategy might not be an ideal angle for first time entrepreneurs due to the heavy capital requirements on the front end.
- Better Widget: Incrementally improving something that already exists.
- Better-Faster-Cheaper: Taking an existing idea and broadening its customer base by making an aspect of its product profile accessible to a larger audience.
- New Approach: Breakthrough idea on how to address a known demand in a different way.
- Novel Concept: a product or service the market has never seen before.
- Geography: Taking an idea or product from one geography and becoming a local monopolist on that product or service in a different location.
Berberian next stressed “doing the hard stuff first,” which effectively means talking to potential customers and experts in the field. While admitting this is awkward and akin to cold calling, Berberian maintains that “all real information is in people’s heads” and not found by data mining the internet. He recommends LinkedIn as a good tool for locating experts in the field, particularly those who have recently moved on from a position of responsibility where the entrepreneur has questions. As a fourth point, Berberian emphasized looking at lots of ideas quickly, pushing oneself to create a process through which a steady stream of potential business ideas can be processed. Such a ruthless examination offers protection from the pitfall of becoming emotionally tied (and thus biased) to a single idea. Finally, the entrepreneur needs to do the work and have a passionate zeal. Without these characteristics, the likelihood of a successful outcome falls below tolerances that should be acceptable to anyone.
The next CU Venture Challenge event will be Pitch Day being held Wednesday, November 18th in the ATLAS Auditorium. This forum is an ideal venue for those seeking to test market their pitch and/or find team members or partners. More information can be obtained at the CUNVC website.
