Steve Morris's blog

They like your product - but in the end they won't use it.

The main topic of conversation at last Thursday's Founder Lunch was the tendancy for entrepreneurs to be overly optimistic about early customer adoption and sales.

It happens again and again.  The aspiring entrepreneur comes up with a truly great idea.  He or she first shares it with friends and family, and they all love it.  Then, somewhat emboldened, our entrepreneur shares the idea with a few prospective customers.  And then a few more. 

Learn about SBIR Grant Funding for Tech Start-ups on Sep. 17

On September 17, 2010, Congressman David Wu will host a Funding Innovative Research conference at Portland Community College’s Rock Creek campus to bring together Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grant program managers from six federal agencies and researchers from around the region.  If you're a technology entreprenuer and you're not familiar with the SBIR and STTR programs, you should consider attending.

OEN Members Receive Discount on Office Space

If you're a tech start-up, a member of the Oregon Entrepreneurs Network (OEN), and you're looking for office space in Beaverton, we have a great deal for you.  OEN members will receive a 10% discount on their first 3 months of office space rental.  Monthly options for 24/7 access start at just $200 (list price).  That means you get a place to work for as little as $180 per month.

Find out more about OTBC co-working office space at this blog post.

OTBC Offers Co-Working Space for Start-ups

 Starting October 1, 2010, OTBC will be offering office space for tech start-ups.  If you're looking for an environment where you can work along side and learn from other motivated entrepreneurs, check out office space at OTBC.  Contact us for more information.

Oregon BEST Announces Commercialization Grants

On July 21, Oregon BEST announced a Commercialization Grant Program to accelerate the commercialization of technologies developed by universities and small businesses in Oregon collaborating with Oregon BEST’s member faculty.   Beginning on July 19, 2010, Oregon BEST will accept Commercialization Grant proposals from Oregon BEST member faculty (University Partner).  They have up to $225,000 to invest in the form of grants of up to $75,000 each to teams that include one or more University Partner and a

Congressman Wu Convenes Cyber Security Experts

On Wednesday, July 7, 2010, Congressman Wu convened a panel of Cyber Security experts at OTBC to discuss "the growing challenges faced by their industry and the impact of pending federal policy on computing safety and our economy".  Attendees included Brad Ketch, CEO of Safety Plan, Inc., and a graduate of OTBC's FastTrac TechVenture program.  As Brad put it:

OTBC Becomes Certified Councelor in EDLF Micro-Loan Program

OTBC was recently certified by Business Oregon as a business counselor for the Entrepreneurial Development Loan Fund (EDLF) program.   The EDLF is a micro-loan program that provides intial loans of up to $25,000, and a follow-on loan of up to $15,000, to Oregon entrpreneurs.   It assists micro-enterprise and small businesses and fills a niche not provided through traditional lending markets. 
 
The fund has the following qualification criteria:

How to find a start-up

Are you interested in finding a start-up to join?  If so, here are some ideas on how to find one.
 

Oregon rolls out BOOST program

In an effort to promote immediate job growth, the Oregon Legislature in its 2010 special Legislative Session created a new program for small, traded sector businesses in Oregon.   The Building Opportunities for Oregon Small Business Today (BOOST) program, housed at the Oregon Business Development Department – Business Oregon - is for qualifying small businesses with 100 or fewer employees that propose to create or retain jobs.  

Where Start-ups Go Wrong

Larry Wasserman, an experienced COO/CFO who has been a part of and consulted with many start-ups (a dozen or so) provided an excellent presentation this week for the OTBC FastTrac TechVenture program on managing start-up operations.  Larry summarized the ways he has seen start-ups go wrong in their approach to operations management: