Tuesday 20 March 2012

Business and Innovation - PG03 - (20 March 2012) - Easter

With Antonio, Beatrice and me present today we talked about considering the market, feasibility and explored emergent technology solutions for mobile.

Continuing from our previous discussion we talked again about defining the market share (as estimates) of the complete mobile platform market (ie.Android 50.9% / Blackberry 5%), compared with the business consumer type market share (ie.Android 10% / Blackberry 70%).

We thought some more about emerging technologies.

We looked at the choice of mobile technology (4G/Touch/VR/AI/Gestural) in deciding the selection of mobile manufacturers (ie.Apple/HTC) to support features on the app (VR/AI,etc), and list of possible partners to reduce R&D costs.

(Anyone who isnt clear with the above paragraph then just say!!!)

Finding possible partners:

Beatrice send a list of mobile makers in the previous email, but also shown again here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mobile_phone_makers_by_country

3G/4G - mobile product company - Hutchinson, Orange, Samsung, Nokia, etc.

http://www.differencebetween.net/technology/difference-between-3g-and-4g/

Touchscreen:
- Samsung
- Google
- Apple
- HTC.

Voice Recognition:
- Apple SIRI - on mobile
- TrueVoice + Flash - cloud based VOIP mobile serivce
- Nuance Dragon - we do not know if they have experience in mobile...
+ others?

AI (Artificial Intelligence):

We thought about criteria in assessing the value of the AI partner:
- must support mobile
- must be innovative
- must be commercial
- is able to develop a good service for our needs

MASA Group
NASA - innovating > HumanMachinesRus
ESA - ACT advanced concepts team, netherlands
SETI institute -
Artificial Intelligence Databank
CYC
CNSA - http://www.cnsa.gov.cn
a-i.com
intelligent-earth.com
Daden
Artificial Solutions
VirtuOz
CreativeVirtual
MyCyberTwin
The Self Service Company
ECreation
Inbenta
Trinicom
nextIT
syntheticix
Nohold
AgentBot

Artificial Intelligence Goes Mobile - (have a read)
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/sep2010/tc20100920_845294.htm

Saturday 17 March 2012

Business and Innovation - PG03 - Saturday Group Meeting (17 March 2012)

Notes from Saturday Group meeting

1) Market discussion
2) Technology discussion
AI (ELIZA) - chatbot
Dragon
SIRI
Truevoice

Voicemode / touchmode fallback.

3)Platform models - Android, Iphone, etc.
Platform market size - from Lola

Example language questions - I want to buy/Where do I find?

WolframAlpha (iPad) - Market info tool

AC.Look at reports - Business consumer
Safari journals - Devices

Try Embedding Prezi presentation into a webpage, with accompanying business plan doc link.

Cycle 2:
D=Deliverable
D1.Business Plan
D2.Presentation
Learning Log?
Cycle 3:
D1.Presentation
D2.Media Distribution Plan
D3.Learning Log

Have 3 levels of learning:
Basic - vocabulary/colloqial conversation
Intermediate - grammar/informal and formal sentences
Advanced/Business terms/formal sentences

Group debate on whether to keep 3 levels as separate applications/features OR have same features for all 3 levels? Depending on market consumer and potential profit in each consumer type.

Group debate on whether to have the VR app working on all platforms with all features operational, or only on particular platforms with operational features and no support for lower tech platforms, or on all platforms with the caveat that certain features may be unsupported on certain platforms.

- Actions spreadsheet added onto Google Docs by Lola
- Business Plan to be added as an initial framework document by Elkin
- Presentation file to be built later with involvement from all

GROUP DISCUSSION
Market
3-7 - too early
8-11 - not compulsory
12-16 elkin area of interest, less money from state. mainly established ones are private schools. GCSE.
17-19 - not compulsory, A level.
20-25 - niche market.
25-40 - business/personal/import/export
40-60 - adult education


http://www.yellowbridge.com/chinese/radicals.php

Tuesday 13 March 2012

Business & Innovation - PG03-07 (Cycle 2) Group: Chinese Language Learning Tool (13 March 2012)


13 March 2012 (PG03-07)
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Peter Le Voir

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Starting a Business

Funding for a Startup
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What type of business?
Self employed
Own business

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Founder of 7 businesses:
Pet Superstore
Contracting business
Chairman of Desserts company
Founder of Corporate Finance Startups
Patent Startup - particularly Telecoms
Working with Service companies
Housebuilder
Advisor to Kings College Business club
Exhibitions Business

CGT can be lower than income tax

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Worthwhile building a business, if you have a business partners.

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Video streaming with mobile phones business - started from early age.
Office in Silicon Valley, Office in London, first had office in Elephant and Castle.

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Having a scalable is easier to grow.
Than just having services.
Software scales well.
Brand can scale.

Can have large consultancies. - but they can take a long time to grow.

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Own business - responsible for raising capital.

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Talk about how you plan to fund it

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Sources of Money
Self
Self Funding
Bank
Friends/Family
Angels - take a business plan to them.
Institution

- business where people pay in advance is better.

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would rather voice is not online, in recording.

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Bank wants a personal guarantee - taking greater financial exposure.
- say no.

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At Rocket, initial equity money put in.

Person who owns the shares, owns the business.

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Structure of Business

Self employed, Partnership or Company

Main difference is Liability, Company has limited liability, person is not liable.

Maximise the upside, minimise the downside.

Capital Structure

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Wants Income and Shares, but doesnt want to personal guarantees

Factors

Business Plan
Product/Service
Market
Financial
Operations
Management

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People should mitigate the risks

If people fail in business, they should not come up with excuses.

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Financial - work out what sales

gross margin
break even
profit/loss
cashflow

Can make a profit and still run out of cash.

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People don't like backing businesses if there is only one person involved, prefer a group.

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Management Structure - very important

can fall out with partners...

Respective roles

Time Span - very important

Shared Values

important to have separate spheres of responsibility.

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Complementary skills are important

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Important to both have understanding of the timeline,
One wants to realise shares and move on.

Shared values are important - trustworthy and honesty

Shared values can contradict with complementary skills - a balancing act.

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High margin - software is high margin, to download the disk, 40% for microsoft.
food is low margin, distribution costs, 30p made on every sale.

High margin, cash generative is ideal
- ITE, JK Rowling.

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Still need to fund income during start up period: Self fund, do not release too much equity for this

Use of clubs, networking, social media, incubators to accelerate learning process.

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Need to do lots of networking, to get the contacts.
- put yourself out there.

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In Group work out a summary of how we will fund the startup

- each group explains how they are going to fund the startup

Sources of Money
Self
Self Funding
Bank
Friends/Family
Angels - take a business plan to them.
Institution

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FUNDING CONCEPT

Chinese Language Learning Tool

Picture based Game

Possible stakeholders - have a workshop
- Institutions
TSB - allocated money to UK businesses, biggest pot
Can fund the research

type of funding, grants, may only want to see outcomes.

Scenarios - IP rights.

ideas

similar to record

IP creation, licensing to external distributors/partners

IMPORTANT: Mix of percentage profits for each type of partner

partners, brought in to funding, dont need to give money.

IDEAS COMPANY (80%)
DEV COMPANY (20% share?) - outsource?
WEBSITE owned company X (%)
AMAZON sells product (%)

R&D stage

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3 Minutes

Looking for validation of the market.

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Distribution is important

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European IT challenge - 12pm

Will Pearson - Director of Technology
Degree show - Paris, four people taking part in opening a show
Work with groups of designers
13-16 June - Urban planning project/Installation design
4 days

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Define the market...

Positioning is important

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Group planning: - Afternoon
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Outline business plan

Presentation

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emails: antonioponamaia@gmail.com

wireframe

Monday 12 March 2012

PG03 - Business and Innovation - iPhone dev programs (12 March 2012)


http://maniacdev.com/2010/01/iphone-development-windows-options-available/

asme guidelines

Programs for developing iPhone apps
- Flash CS5.5 (included in design Premium CS5.5)

- *Airplay SDK > Marmalade SDK (starting from $149)

- Unity 3D (Free)

- Stonetrip 3D (ShiVa3D) (Free)

- Appcelerator Titanium (???)

- Genuitec MobiOne (with Phonegap) - (15 free day trial)

- DragonFire SDK
iPhone Dev Kit ($99.95 single download)
iPad Dev Kit ($99.95 single download)
iPhone & iPad Dev Kit ($149.95 single download)

Sunday 11 March 2012

Business and Innovation - PG03 - Market Research/Consumer Behaviour - 11 March 2012

How to do Market Research?

http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail?itemId=1073790741&type=RESOURCES

- Ask the right questions
- Talk to the right people
- Talk to enough people
- Keep research impartial
- Interpret results with care
- Be realistic

should I use a Market Research agency?

- Present existing results to the group, to decide whether to create new surveys.

from Sitepoint:
http://www.sitepoint.com/market-research-tips/
  1. Be clear about your objectives before beginning your market research.
  2. Identify your target audience, how many respondents you require and what data you are hoping to collect before beginning.
  3. Make sure your target group is relevant to your needs and represents the market you are targeting.
  4. Watch for and incorporate unsolicited feedback you receive on social networks or review sites.
  5. Say thank you to every single person who contributes to your research.
  6. Provide a place for open-ended comments on any survey that you use.
  7. Make it common practice to ask clients for suggestions at every interaction.
  8. Understand the difference between qualitative and quantitative research and format your questions accordingly.
  9. Review your surveys and questionnaires to ensure you’re not phrasing anything offensively.
  10. Develop a chart or graph from the data collected to make it easier to visually analyze the results.
  11. Record interviews or focus groups whenever possible for review and analysis.
  12. Don’t ignore criticism because you don’t want to hear it; it can be the most valuable feedback you receive.
  13. Ensure your survey is neutral and doesn’t involve leading questions.
  14. Make it quick and easy to complete your survey or questionnaire.
  15. Aim for a large enough sample group to give you meaningful data.
  16. Create your surveys and interviews so the focus is on measurable data.
  17. Follow surveys with a phone call or other personal contact to round out the answers provided, whenever possible.
  18. Put yourself in the shoes of your potential clients when writing your survey questions.
  19. Ensure that all participants will remain confidential to encourage participation.
  20. Be impartial throughout the whole process, or use an outside person to facilitate.
  21. Keep your mind open to new opportunities and needs that you didn’t consider before conducting your research.

Consumer Behaviour

(Google Scholar)

Consumer Decisions - The effect of word of mouth
http://www.ijoi-online.org/attachments/article/29/Vol4Num3.pdf#page=188

Structure of document: (ideas for structuring of Market Research report)
- Table of Contents
- List of editors
- Introduction
- Creativity management
- Creativity techniques
- Methodology
- Data discussion and analysis
- Conclusion
- References

Study on the effect of Enterprise Brand Strategy on Purchase Intention
- Abstract
- Introduction
- Literature review
- Brand Strategy
- Purchase intention
- Correlations between brand strategy and purchase intention
- Demographic variables
- Research methods
- Research framework
- Research subjects and sampling
- Analysis and Discussion
- Factor analysis of Brand strategy
- Correlation analysis of Brand strategy and purchase intention
- Multi regresssion analysis
- Moderating effects of demographic variables
- Conclusion
- References














Saturday 10 March 2012

Business and Innovation - PG03 - Games and Learning Ideas (11 March 2012)

Games and Learning Ideas:

Possible roles:

Graphic Designer
Graphical Ilustrator
Photoshop Artworker
Photographer
Flash Animator
Sound Musician
Chinese Illustrator/Calligrapher
Chinese Speaker
English Speaker
Chinese Interpreter
Chinese Game Designer?
English Game Designer
Game Programmer
Database Programmer
Onsite Photographer


Screenshots of Existing Apps/Games:
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- TO ADD

Mandarin Madness Game

http://www.techinasia.com/

Tuesday 6 March 2012

Business & Innovation - PG03-06 (Cycle 3) Group: Chinese Language Learning Tool (06 March 2012)

Chinese Learning Tools Group

Market Research Role

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Libby Anson - Flux - Game to be played competetively
Business Strategy, planning, process.
Team of 6 can win 3000, win 500 each.
Team must work well together.
TO REPLY
27/28 march

1 team of six people
prep work - Xing

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MARKETING

Roles Chart
Availability Chart
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In cycle 1, you identified business opportunities and put forward a business idea. You are now in a team to develop one of the ideas pitched into a viable business plan.
Remember, your idea may have been chosen- Congratulations! - but it NO LONGER BELONGS TO YOU. From now on, the development is in the hands of the whole team and the concept is likely to change in line with further research and analysis.
All of you will need to have an overview of all aspects of the project, and the marketing strategy is to be shared across the team. However, you need to distribute final responsibility for areas among members of the team. Please see some examples of how you could do this in page below.
At the end of this cycle each team will have produced a business plan including:
Customer/Audience Profiles
Competitive Analysis
Budget: (Accumulative) Cash Flow Budget and a Profit Loss Budget for the first 3-5 years of the business (as appropriate)
Start up Action Plan
Investment/ funding proposal
Links:
Consumption, Planned Obsolescence and Waste paper by Neil Maycroft
enloop- cloud business planning tool
kooky plan wiki - wiki for entrepreneurs
Stanford Entrepreneurship Corner - 2000 videos and podcasts by leading entrepreneurs and business thinkers
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NACUE CREATE: list of useful resources for start up entrepreneurs in the creative industries

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Add to blog - 06 March 2012

Academia.edu

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In cycle 1, we looked at trends, economical, social impact on the industries you're in and how these are affecting and may affect your industries. STEEP is an acronym for a number of factors which you will want to consider when planning your business:
S= socio-cultural
T= technological
E= economical
E= ecological
P= political

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SWOT is a classic tool for business planning and strategy.
S= strengths. These are internal strength to your company. Experience, capital, machinery, skills are strengths.
W= weaknesses. Again, these are internal factors. Lack of experience, weak bargaining power, bad reputation, lack of specific skills, weak network come under this category.
O= opportunities. These are external factors. Looking at emerging trends will help you populise this category. Your location, network, current events, gaps in the market, weak competition will provide opportunities.
T= threats. Again, external to your business. The double dip recession may be an opportunity or a threat depending on your business model/ offer/ target market etcetera. Competitors and copy cats may be a threat.
STRENGTHS
WEAKNESSES
OPPORTUNITIES
THREATS
Once each area is populated, look at opportunities and strengths to find solutions and ideas for how weaknesses and threats can be adressed. Also, see which strengths you have which could be applied to other opportunities than the ones you are currently pursuing. If you find new product or service idea- do further swots to explore these separately