Organic circuitry tattoos

A super thin electronic patch that sticks to the skin like a temporary tattoo could transform human/machine integration.

Materials scientist John Rogers of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and his colleagues have invented a form of electronics that almost precisely matches skin's mechanical properties. Known as epidermal electronics (EES), they can be applied in a similar way to a temporary tattoo, i.e. a user simply places it on the skin and rubs it on with water. The devices can even be hidden under actual temporary tattoos to keep the electronics concealed.

Professor Rogers has said that EES eliminates the "distinction between electronics and biology" because it "integrates with the skin in a way that is mechanically and physiologically invisible to the user."

Consumerization of IT, BYOD (BringYourOwnDevice)

BYOD is not anymore a trend, it's a fact. As stated in ReadWriteWeb, "BYOD means more than just devices themselves. It means SaaS: the cloud, mobility, social networking, new app delivery and support models and all the inherent opportunities, rewards, and risks (security, privacy, and so on) that come with these. IT organizations that adopt a posture of simply accepting devices into the workplace, and fail to proactively evolve processes and platforms to optimize productivity and minimize risk, are ceding competitive advantage."

Owned Paid Earned framework for marketing

The buzzwords "owned", "paid" (aka bought), and "earned" media have become very popular in the interactive marketing space. Nokia was an early pioneer in this space, and nowadays many agencies also use the model to help develop digital strategies. Personally I like its simplicity and applicability in real world. As we all know, everybody is an expert in marketing - or at least have a strong opinion how it should be executed in growth companies. The Owned Paid Earned framework at least provides its practitioners with an holistic view how to spend often limited marketing budget. See also Forrester's blog entry on this subject.

If you require experts how to apply the framework, one consultancy I can recommend is Own.Bought.Earned.

Summary of financial sources in Finland

Greenstep has listed various sources to obtain finance in Finland. See at Rahoituskone.

Q: Why startups fail? A: Premature scaling

Some time ago The Startup Genome project analyzed data from over 3.000 companies and came up with some surprising answers.

Business Model Generation

A business model describes how your company creates, delivers and captures value. And one of the most useful tools in formulating your business model is the Business Model Canvas.

The Business Model Canvas was initially proposed by Alexander Osterwalder. His concept / Business Model Canvas is a simple graphical template describing nine essential components: Customer segments, value propositions, channels, customer relationships (such as self service or personal assistance), revenue streams, resources, activities, partnerships, and costs. See Osterwalder’s book with Yves Pigneur Business Model Generation, alternatively you can use the Business Model ToolBox app for the iPad.

I've done two consulting engagements using BMC, and I can vouch for its usability.

Finnish Biz Angels

Veraventures, a Finnish government backed early stage investment organization, runs ExtraEvent service. If your company is looking for investment up to 200k€ from business angels, check Veraventures web site for more information. The required Executive Summary form is particularly useful - forces you to contemplate the fundamentals of your biz endeavor.

I presented one company a couple of months ago in ExtraEvent and the company consequently received an investment of over 200k€ from a single angel.

First steps when starting a tech business

Most startups fail because they didn't develop their market/customers, not because they didn't develop their product / services.

Ergo, I suggest you start by reading two books: Steve Blank's Four Steps to the Epiphany, and a complimentary book by Eric Ries, The Lean StartUp.

If you are not convinced, review on-line Steve Blank's book first 30 pages or so at Customer Development Process.