Blog Archive July 2008
BeHeron is happy to report that Google is setting up a venture capital arm. They seem to be following the lead of Intel, Johnson and Johnson, and Dow Chemical. While corporate capital may have inherent strings attached, it is good news that more money will be available to startups. This is especially true in today’s tough financial markets.
Google Climbs Onto Corporate VC Funding Bandwagon
“Search engine giant Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) Latest News about Google is setting up a new venture capital arm and has hired William Maris, a 33-year-old former entrepreneur, to help coordinate the venture fund, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.
Google "does not comment on market rumor or speculation" company spokesperson Andrew Pederson told the E-Commerce Times in an e-mail .
Google is the latest in a long line of large companies across several sectors to create a venture capital arm. Chipmaker Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) Latest News about Intel, pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson and the Dow Chemical Company (NYSE: DOW) Latest News about Dow Chemical all have units dedicated to making early stage investments in startups...
...More and more companies are getting into the venture capital game, Mark Heesen, president of the National Venture Capital Association, told the E-Commerce Times…”
At BeHeron we often ask ourselves, where do the best ideas come from? Is necessity really the mother of invention or is our unique human curiosity more at play? Well, we are not philosophers, by any means, so we will leave the guessing to the liberal arts majors. What we can say, is that the people who have great ideas are those who simply are not satisfied with what they have been given and constantly ask the question why not “do this”.
Which brings us to today’s topic, a talented (at least in our view) inventor named Yasmin Sethi has taken a relatively new material and applied it to, of all things, chess. We found Yasmin during a late night search of the internet for improved glass for a project we were working on. While chess had nothing to do with what we wanted, it definitely piqued our curiosity.
Yasmin designed, “A Chess Set inspired by the novel 'Alice through the Looking Glass' where the pieces magically turn transparent when they touch the board…The chess pieces have an opaque mirror finish, when they touch the surface of the board they magically turn transparent and reveal the identity of the piece contained inside them. When removed from the board they revert to being opaque, hiding the identity of the piece…”
The technology is rather simple. “The chessboard is made out of LightPoints, a material manufactured by SCHOTT North America, Inc., which is glass that has LED's embedded in it; the pieces are coated with Mirona, a Material that turns transparent when light shines through it. When the piece is placed on the board it completes the circuit and lights up the LED under it turning it transparent, like magic.”
Now this inventor did nothing more than take an existing technology and apply it in a new way. It is these types of inventions that will cause the rest of us think, “Why didn’t I think of that?” It is these ideas that are often the most profitable because someone else provided the R&D to develop the new material/technology. And, it is why we love to stay up late scouring the internet for new and underutilized “stuff”.
We received a tip from one of our forumers that solar demand has been so high that it has limited the amount of panels that could be given to individual vendors and installers.
See portions of the referenced SF Business Times article below and the entire article here.
"The worst of a silicon shortage is over, but solar developers and installers say they can't get all the panels they need to complete projects slated for this year. A rush to finish projects before a 30 percent federal tax credit expires Dec. 31 could be partially to blame. But some in the industry also say solar panels are being diverted overseas, where they fetch a premium..."All of the sudden, our reliable sources for modules who are usually saying 'How many do you want?' are saying, 'This is how many you're getting," he said…”
The biggest fear that the solar industry has (and those who wish to profit from it) is that the demand will push prices back up at a time when production volumes were just starting to push the prices down. Frankly, we don’t think you should worry. Demand has pushed manufacturers to start building fabs at a breakneck pace. These fabs are multi-billion dollar investments and will take time to come on-line. Also, they are not investments that are killed easily. It may take some time, but inventories will start rising again and prices will continue to drop. Our bet is that solar power will be competitive with the grid by 2015. When you tell your friends, just remember that you heard it here first!
Like any true geek, we at BeHeron love a good gaming system. But, it's just not all fun and games, we can learn a lot from them as well. For instance, we can’t help but notice the move to more interactive motion sense technology such as Nintendo’s new Wii™ MotionPlus. Nintendo claims that, “The Wii™ MotionPlus accessory , combined with the standard accelerometer and the sensor bar, allows for more comprehensive tracking of a player's arm position and orientation, providing players with an unmatched level of precision and immersion. Every slight movement players make with their wrist or arm is rendered identically in real time on the screen, providing a true 1:1 response in their game play.”
Gaming is not the first to market, what we like to call, “motion translation technology” in new products. A company called Intuitive Surgical in Sunnyvale, CA has already sold hundreds of surgical robots called da Vinci; that translate a surgeon’s hand and feet movements into precise instrument movements within the patient's body. This system allows the doctor to make complicated movements that were previously impossible without large open incisions.
And, of course, the military has also been at the forefront of this "motion translation technology", from helmet guided displays that move and target weapons systems to remotely guided bomb diffusing robots.
But the key to the Wii story is that you no longer need a military budget or a hospitals wallet to build and/or purchase these components. We guess that the add on for the Wii remote will cost between $10-$50. With costs this affordable, it won’t be long until we see this technology in many new applications such as construction equipment, manufacturing, and mining operations, just to name a few. Frankly, this technology will be used anywhere that a human can’t or won’t go. The key is, will you be one of the many to cash in on this new technology?
Today we move from high-tech to über low-tech. Lets talk about Shampoo shall we. No, BeHeron has not changed its focus one week into its launch; rather, we noticed a commercial that drives home a good point for fellow entrepreneurs. We saw that Gillette, the best a man can get in the world of shaving, is now selling of all things, Shampoo.
How does this impact my company you ask? Well you don’t need to have a Procter & Gamble marketing department or a Gillette budget to realize the importance of brand equity. This is the one asset that most startups forget to develop, or worse, ignore. It is also an asset that many entrepreneurs forget to monetize when selling their business. Why you ask? Because it is never noticeable on your bottom line until you lose it. Gillette will be able to sell shampoo, not because shaving made them experts on dandruff, but because of a name and a simple tag line.
A brand can convey up to six levels of meaning and, if done correctly, can make your marketing efforts easier and open your company to new product areas with “less” effort. The three meanings most recognized in product placement ads are product values, culture, and personality. While we are talking about personal care products, Axe Body Spray is a good example of this. However, the three meanings that BeHeron believes should always be conveyed by your brand are product attributes, benefits, and the target consumer. In this case think BMW, “The Ultimate Driving Machine”. This brand not only conveys the attributes and benefits, but also, the consumer. How you ask? Believe it or not this tag line is made to target wealthy men with a need for performance. We will let you guess the age group!
We at BeHeron are better described as capitalists rather than environmentalists; but that being said, we love what the solar industry will bring, not only for our readers pocketbooks but also the environment. With our ever growing dependence on foreign oil and all the trouble that brings, any energy we can develop at home is a good thing.
Which brings us to our topic of the day, a company called Solar Electrical Vehicles. SEV is exactly what BeHeron is all about, a startup venture that can recognize an emerging technology, rising costs, and a consumer base willing to change buying habits. They have developed the technology to adapt solar power to hybrid vehicles such as the Toyota Prius.
They claim that by adding a molded solar panel to the roof and adding additional battery capacity they can increase the fuel efficiency by up to 29% depending on driving habits. With this car you won’t be asking for a covered parking space! Will they be able to hold a proprietary advantage is anyone’s guess, but we commend the effort nonetheless.
But what else will the solar revolution bring? High energy costs are an opportunity for on-site/on-demand energy which can be beneficial in multiple applications. What opportunities will be available to developers of energy storage devices, power converters, and adapters? What services will be required to allow this industry to grow? If oil stays at these prices, as we believe they will, the alternative energy industry and the opportunities it brings will be just as profitable as the internet boom during the 90s.
Please feel free to add your thoughts to our Everything Solar Forum.
Today, BeHeron launches as one website in a large sea known as the world-wide-web, but we hope to establish a meeting place for entrepreneurs, inventors, and like minded capitalists which believe that no problem cannot be solved for a small profit! We invite you to explore our site and register to our forum. In the near future expect a daily blog that brings you the latest information regarding new products, entrepreneurial finance, intellectual property, and product marketing. We hope that this site will bring value to whatever venture you attempt. If you have any comments or suggestions please feel free to email us at admin@BeHeron.com.
