2nd Generation Bio-products in Real Life

Posted on February 27 2013 | Author: Braden Kemp

Think second generation bio-products are only found in the lab? Think again.

Here’s a list of five ways you might have used bio-products before you even get to work in the morning:

1. Roofing
The roof that’s keeping the rain & snow out of the living room just might be made from a mix of cellulosic fibre and recycled materials like the products offered by Enviroshake. These products replace petroleum and tar based traditional roofing materials.

2. Insulation
It’s February in Canada, but nice and warm inside. That’s because your house is insulated – did you know that companies like Biobased Insulation offer GREENGAURD certified spray foam insulation?

3. Consumer Packaging
Time to get ready for work – shower, brush your teeth, etc. Even these daily tasks can involve bio-products! Companies in the Health and Beauty industry such as Colgate-Palmolive, Lush, and others are utilizing plant-based and post-consumer recycled materials in their products & packaging in an effort to reduce the global reliance on petroleum-based plastics.

4. Flooring
That new floor you recently had installed might be just as good for the environment as it looks in your kitchen. Companies such as Armstrong Tile are introducing flooring products that are manufactured using bio-based polymers from plant material.

5. Automobiles
If you’re anything like much of the Canadian workforce you commute to work in a car. What you might not know is that several integral components of your car are in fact bio-based! Seats, dashboards, and door panels are only some of the applications for bio-based composites in the automotive market.

These are some of the many ways that second generation bio-products are beginning to become mainstream – keep an eye out for bio-based materials next time you’re at the shopping centre.

Braden Kemp
Bioenterprise Corporation
 

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Filed under: Innovation

Keep it Lean

Posted on September 28 2012 | Author: Braden Kemp

Make sure your solution has a problem

Entrepreneurs are often the most intelligent, creative, and gutsy individuals out there – but even the best and brightest have a hard time guessing what the market wants.

Case-in-point: Segway. The founding team at Segway was made up of incredibly brilliant individuals and was backed by some heavy hitters in the venture capital space. They truly believed that their idea would revolutionize urban transportation. So, after collecting over $100 million in funding they set about the stealth development of the next big thing.

What happened? Well, not much. We still drive cars to work, or take the bus, train, subway, or bicycle. The original vision flopped – and it cost a lot of money. They’ve found their market now, but was it a lesson that was really worth a hundred million?

Today’s startups are becoming highly successful very quickly, and with less money than ever before. How?

Among (many) other things, the lean concepts of people like E. Ries, A.Osterwalder, S.Blank and A. Maurya are creating a movement of small, agile, and intelligent startup teams. These teams understand a key concept: don’t build it until you are as certain as possible that people actually want it, and are willing to pay you for it.

Here is a list of tips that have been synthesized from a variety of authorities on agile/lean development:

1. Start with a market need
   • What is the problem? Who has it? Why do they have it? How many of these people are there? Remember, you are making assumptions here.
2. Develop an initial business model based on your assumptions
   • The Business Model Canvas works well here. Don’t write a full-blown business plan yet.
3. Test your assumptions
   • You have made a bunch of guesses – now it’s time to see how wrong you are.
   • Get out of the building! Talk to 10 (or 20, even 100) real people about the problem you think they have. Is it truly a problem? What are they doing now to solve it?
4. Develop a product vision
   • Now you understand the problem – how will you solve it?
   • Test your vision “If I could solve your problem with this…”
   • Learn from the customer’s feedback – be ready to pivot

Once your product vision has positive traction in your market, along with commitments (or enthusiasm, at the very least) to purchase it’s time to build out the Minimum Viable Product.

The road is still fraught with risk – but at least you know you don’t have a solution without a problem.

Braden Kemp
Bioenterprise Corporation
 

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Filed under: Entrepreneur

Do YOU Exist in the Google-sphere?

Posted on March 12 2012 | Author: Braden Kemp

Why Your Start-up Needs an Online Presence

Critical mass –The minimum required to start or maintain a venture: "a critical mass of users".

Generating critical mass is an integral part of launching a business venture. You want people talking about your start-up before it even starts up. This will increase awareness and ensure you stay afloat during that key period when you transition from an idea to a bona fide business. At this point you likely can’t afford that witty Super Bowl ad, but modern marketing tools allow you to reach an incredibly large and diverse audience at a very low cost. There are a million reasons why existing on the Internet is a must, but here are just a few:

1. Start a conversation with your target market – don’t guess what they want, ask them!

Social networks like Twitter and Facebook are providing companies with a very unique opportunity, and the best part is it’s free. By building a presence on Twitter and Facebook you can develop a relationship with your customer base, and engage them in conversation.

Let your audience know what you’re doing; keep your idea in their minds as you engage in the commercialization process and you might find that they provide valuable input on key features or services they would like to see. This is the one of the biggest advantages of today’s marketing tools; rather than blasting a message to the masses in hopes they understand, you can actually interact with your target market and be sure they understand.

2. Important people need to know what you do.

Like most ventures you will probably need some extra cash to get off the ground, and unless you happen to have a rich uncle (read: John Pickard’s "6 Things Every Entrepreneur Should Know") you are going to have to ask potential investors for a large sum of their money.

Here’s the thing – investors like their money and they don’t give it away without performing some serious due-diligence on your operation. Here at Bioenterprise, we perform a ton of due-diligence on prospect companies and if your investor is anything like us, Moneybags is going straight to Google to search your company name. Give it a try – do you exist on Google? No? You should.

I’m not suggesting you hire an IT firm to design a $50K webpage, in fact even a simple landing page that describes who you are and what problem you are solving can do the trick. If key individuals who can influence the success of your organization see that you are actively developing a brand and engaging your target market, they just might be more likely to dedicate time, and perhaps money, to help you get started.

Whether a venture capital firm is considering a $10 million investment or a potential customer heard about you through the grapevine, they will inevitably turn to the web to check you out. When they do, you better be there or you could be missing out on some great opportunities. Make use of the free platforms that are available and get out there and start a conversation!

Remember – this is free marketing, and when was the last time you got something for free? Taking advantage of the options available to you online will help to build and define your brand, and that’s an important part of any business small or large. Speaking of branding, I have some thoughts on that too – stay tuned.

Braden Kemp
Junior Business Analyst, Bioenterprise

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Filed under: Entrepreneur