Strategy

Seelig believes that it is important to build relationships and network with the people you meet everyday. It is a small world and as you go through life you are going to meet the same people again and again, she adds.

Roos talks about how the industry in Silicon Valley keeps changing. From the 1970s, the era of the brick and mortar technology industry, the Valley has seen a boom in semiconductor companies and computer companies, followed by the era of information technology and the Internet in the 90s. In this transition, the Valley has become global, he adds.

Autodesk prices and packages its products differently in different countries. Bartz discusses how Autodesk has been successful doing business in emerging markets. She talks about the importance of looking at wage standards and labor standards of the country when selling global products like AutoCad across the world.

Tom Byers, professor at Stanford University and founder and a faculty director of the Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP), stresses that "Entrepreneurs are not born, they are made". He discusses a framework that elaborates the difference between an idea and an opportunity.

Hawkins shares his views on outsourcing and discusses how his company decides when and how to outsource. He believes that since the world is becoming global, outsourcing is the right thing to do.

Moore uses the core/context analysis framework to discuss how to overcome inertia in strategy and structure.

Moore elaborates on the four different innovation zones: product leadership, operational excellence, customer intimacy and value renewal. These zones make up the market maturity life cycle.

Peter Seligmann, CEO of Conservation International, believes that China is the future of global environment, a country leading the world on how to preserve its natural ecosystems. He emphasizes that once the relationship between wealth, health and environment is realized by society, people will begin to understand that long-term survival is going to depend upon the availability of resources.

When asked what the future of technology and venture capital will look like, Doerr frames it as career advice for his daughters: learn Mandarin and earn a degree in a biotechnology related field.

Verma stresses the importance of listening to customers and learning what they need and want, rather than building a product based on assumptions.

Mandelbaum moved into the outdoor toy market because she loves sports and outdoor games. She is thriving at Monitor because they focus on companies that have developed innovative applications for technologies that exist, rather than brave new world startups.

Raikes talks about how companies can be successful at software and hardware, but only within a certain scope. If you're looking at the overall market, it has to be either hardware or software, he says. Within a niche, it is sometimes important to do both.

Jeff Raikes, group vice president of Productivity and Business Services (PBS) at Microsoft Corporation, explains his own background and how being open to opportunities helped him become the only undergraduate from the Engineering Economic Systems department at Stanford. Plans change as opportunities arise, he says. He also recommends entrepreneurs look for a job they love.

In Raikes' early days at Microsoft, the strategy was to focus on agility--to have the products run on a number of different computing platforms. To be a successful entrepreneur, you have to learn and respond to challenges that arise and adapt your strategy accordingly, says Raikes.

Hennessy explains there are opportunities for spin-off technology from big science government projects which can lead to startups and companies. GPS, which was a successful spin-off of Gravity Pro-B, is an example. He believes that the best environments for discovery and creativity are ones that include a wide range of people with different expertise. Universities are special because they provide the opportunity for people to work together and share ideas, creating a more productive, and more interesting, environment.

Hennessy predicts that the internet revolution is only half over. The remaining opportunities will be harder to find, but there is still a big impact to be made. Computers are still way too complicated and could be doing a lot more for the user. Wireless technology will increase mobility. In order to allow the continuation of increased performance in computing, there will have to be some major changes in technology.

Fluidigm started the wrong way, notes Worthington. Instead of discovering a market opportunity and then finding the technology and team to take advantage of it, they invented the technology first, realized its potential, and then searched for an application for it. Worthington suggests that most technology companies, in fact, work the latter way.

When experimenting with new capabilities and technologies, unexpected things happen, notes Worthington. These unexpected results can often be a useful source of new knowledge.

From the beginning of the company, Worthington was aware in the back of his mind that someday Fluidigm would have to go global and setup manufacturing overseas. He has had previous successful experience in Singapore and was drawn by the favorable economic and governmental conditions.

Danger decided not to enter the wireless cash market. Hershenson explains the importance of focusing on what is essential to the product, and avoiding nonessential sources of competition.

According to Wirt, the biggest factor in determining whether a convergence device is successful or not is the rate of the technical change of its components.

Wirt talks about how the PDA is a unique product in that its customers use it for both personal and business use. Still, consumers like to have differentiation. PalmOne has segmented its product line, creating the Zire sub-brand, to better address both consumer groups, he adds.

According to Wirt, Europe is ahead of the US in cell phone use. An example of this is the popularity of Bluetooth in Europe and its relative obscurity in the states.