Jim shares the steps a large company might go through to evaluate an innovative idea and create a business model around it. Squirrel reflects on how these steps play out in a startup - often in the reverse order, i.e. shoot first, then aim!

SHOW LINKS

- Paper on the Business Model Pyramid: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Abhijit_Ganguly5/publication/295560198_Business_Model_Innovation_in_Practice/links/5aec64cfa6fdcc8508b77852/Business-Model-Innovation-in-Practice.pdf

- Paul Graham on doing things that don't scale: http://paulgraham.com/ds.html

Find us at http://jimeuchner.com/ and http://douglassquirrel.com

We consider how startups look at IP protection (usually pretty haphazard) and how big companies do (usually much more carefully). We consider "moats" for your innovation and the varying value of patents - depending strongly on your ability to stay alive long enough to win in court.

- IP and innovation paper: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08956308.2010.11657627

- Joel Spolsky on schlep businesses: https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2007/12/06/where-theres-muck-theres-brass/

Find us at http://jimeuchner.com/ and http://douglassquirrel.com

What motivates big firms to start VC arms? Jim's surprising answer is that (strategically) their goal often is to learn rather than to get lucky on a big bet like an independent VC. But this sometimes backfires as the VC function becomes beholden to finance, who demand an unrealistic bottom-line return.

- Jim's journal, Research Technology Management: https://www.jstor.org/journal/resetechmana

Find us at http://jimeuchner.com/ and http://douglassquirrel.com.