I need some Harvard Business Review-type advice. How does one balance recruiting proof-of-concept contracts to improve valuations when major players such as Google is poising to enter the market in 12-18 months?
Timing and ramp-up have been delayed fort his 2-year old endeavor due to executive team recruitment and other window-dressing efforts when a sellable product can be rolled-out in 3 months utilizing strategic partnerships (which would dilute the scope of our proprietary IP and skew the value proposition as more execution based). I posted this question on my blog as well - http://business360.wordpress.com/2007/09/10/venture-capital/
Thanks for your help!
Answers (1)
It takes around 2 years before a patent is issued so if one is not already in the works to protect your IP, the only other competitive advantage you may have is time and speed. Furthermore, if you think your competition can be as formidable as Google I would seriously consider alliances and partnerships to have a 9 month lead before cash-rich giants come to the dance and own 50% of something rather than being the very proud owner of 100% of nothing, nil, nada, zilch.
That is why I like Alfred Lord Tennyson's quote
"'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all."
