Last Tuesday night Integrated Timing presented its elevator pitch to the class. Unfortunately our two Caltech teammates were unable to attend class session due to interviews and so Nelson You and Dave Precht, our business students, had to present and field questions on their own. The pitch went fairly well given that Nelson and Dave do not have the same technical knowledge of the product that the Caltech students do.

The team found it difficult to develop a compelling story when presenting an idea for an electronic component. The team discussed the benefits of using a metaphor versus being direct about the product and its benefit. Ultimately we decided that it was too difficult to develop a metaphor that explained the compelling story properly so we therefore used the direct approach. After all the teams presented, one of the judges commented that they prefer the direct approach rather then having to waste energy in trying to understand the metaphor being used.

During the preparation for the presentation Nelson You received some advice from Dr. Crookston on developing an elevator speech. Dr. Crookston advised that we should have a catch phrase for our name and so together they developed the phrase, “Providing Crystal Clear Solutions.” This phrase fit perfectly with our core business because the product we are developing directly replaces current timing devices that utilize a quartz crystal in their operation.

This week the team is tying up all the loose ends in our research so that the finale feasibility analysis could be completed. Each team member is making corrections to their assigned parts as suggested by Dr. Allen and Dr. Pickar during our one-on-one interviews a few weeks ago.

Sadly our team received the news that Integrated Timing was not one of the five teams selected to present to the panel of venture capitalists. Our team will lend our support to the teams that move foreword to aid them in delivering a successful pitch.

November 16 TOP

This past week has been a little slow for our team. We had a few members out of town and we have had some difficulty finding a time that the entire team could meet.

This coming Tuesday our team will deliver its Elevator Pitch to the class and potential investors. Dr. Allen provided the class with a list of requirements and some hints on how to do well. The team has been working on the slides for the speech and determining who should present the information and who should field the questions from the class. According to Dr. Allen, the MBA’s should be a bit more polished when it comes to presenting while the Caltech students would do well by answering the technical questions about the technology. We are still deciding the team’s assignments.

The team is anxious to hear feedback from the elevator pitch on Tuesday night. The team feels that although we received positive feedback from the draft we could do more to perfect the analysis and presentation. We shall see Tuesday night.

The modifications to the draft are moving ahead. Chris White and Dave Precht are working on developing estimates for manufacturing costs and the capital equipment required for the process. Nelson You is concentrating his efforts on shoring up the pro-forma financial statements according to Dr. Allen and Dr. Pickar’s suggestions.

November 10 TOP

Our team met with Dr. Allen and Dr. Pickar on Tuesday night to review our draft feasibility analysis. Our team felt our draft was fairly good, but we knew we had to improve the business model and further develop our contacts. We were anxious to find out what the experts had to say.

During the meeting Dr. Allen and Dr. Pickar offered several suggestions on how to improve our analysis of the feasibility of the product. Dr. Pickar thought our pro-forma statements needed a bit of work, because our numbers seemed a bit too aggressive. We predicted $725,000 in revenue with a profit of $378,000 for an initial investment of only $52,700. A suggestion was made to further develop our engineering model so that we could more easily market the idea to potential buyers. This suggestion will increase our start-up costs but we agreed it would be beneficial.

Our draft discussed the tasks needed to launch our product into the market, but we lacked insight into the potential risks. Dr. Allen suggested that we discuss the hurdles that we’ve identified so that our team and potential investors could understand the entire picture.

One key benefit Integrated Timing is offering its customers is a cost savings due to the ease of producing our product. Dr. Pickar suggested that we firm up our estimates of actual manufacturing costs of current and proposed products. The estimate should be detailed enough so that potential customers or investors could better understand the technology and capital requirements that are involved.

Our team also needs to sell our benefits more. Dr. Pickar suggested that we showcase the benefits that our product is delivering to the customer by moving them closer to the beginning of the analysis. He explained that the reader should not have to read half of the analysis before understanding the real benefit of the product.

Dr. Allen suggested that we also should begin thinking about the next generation of our product. A good feasibility analysis should indicate the estimated useful life of the current product and what the potential is for future innovation.

The last suggestion was to add more figures, charts, and pictures to our analysis to supplement the writing. This will enable potential customers and investors to quickly understand the concept better.

After the meeting the team decided to split up the tasks to improving our analysis. Dave and Chris will work together to flush out the manufacturing costs while Nelson is honing the pro-forma financial statements. Chris is also working on contacting additional customers to better understand the potential of breaking into the market.

October 19 TOP

Two more days until the draft copy of the Feasibility Analysis is due. The team is working feverishly to finalize as much of the analysis and strategy as possible. At this point the team has several different business strategies that we could follow and we are assessing which would be the most beneficial to launching a new business.

Last week the team met with several contacts to flush out more information about potential markets and products. On Wednesday night the team had dinner with Scott Smyser of iSuppli. It turns out that Mr. Smyser is the individual who introduced Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) technology to the Epson Corporation. This may lead to a great contact with Epson because one of the possible products Integrated Timing is considering is one that will enhance the SAW technology to provide a more stable solution. We also discussed the possibility of offering a product to the government contractors to replace a relatively expensive component called an oven controlled crystal oscillator (OCXO). Integrated Timing’s technology may provide the edge on existing technology because of the growing demand for higher frequency and stability under harsh environmental conditions. The meeting was concluded with a promise that Mr. Smyser would discuss the new technology with some of his contacts at Epson to gage their interest level in the new enhanced SAW product. Mr. Smyser is also going to provide us with some contacts in other areas of the industry that may be interested in Integrated Timing’s technology.

Chris and Amit met with Bill Collins on Tuesday afternoon. Mr. Collins gave several examples of how he successfully sold technology when he worked at International Rectifier. The basic strategy was to dig in to the exact problem of one major customer. Often, when the "pain" of one customer is clearly understood, a whole set of customers have the same problem, and the sales pitch can be replicated.

Amit and Chris met with Louise Wannier on Wednesday. We continued the discussion of the market from the previous meeting and discussed our strategy for developing our relationship with Kyocera. We also practiced some phone calls we are planning and discussed licensing.

Christopher White contacted a source at Raytheon to discuss the interest level of our technology within the government region (OCXO Market). Chris determined that there was quite a bit of work being done with relation to frequency devices and that Raytheon seemed interested in what Integrated Timing had to offer. The frequency and phase noise of the reference are the important selling points.

Nelson You met with Marshall Lerner, a patent/license attorney, this past week to discuss potential licensing strategies and how to derive an accurate royalty rate for our industry. Mr. Lerner referred Nelson to Alan Goedde (Freeman & Mills Inc.), another patent/license attorney, who then referred Nelson to Cecil D. Quillen, Jr., the retired General Counsel of Kodak, who, according to both Mr. Lerner and Mr. Goedde, is a specialist in determining royalty rates. This contact has yet to be made but is in the works.

The team will have a break from class session in the following few weeks so that we can shore up weak points in the analysis and begin preparing for the elevator speech.

October 12 TOP

The due date for the draft feasibility analysis is coming up quickly and the team is beginning to feel the pressure. The team is having a difficult time finding a time that all members are free to meet. Work, other classes at school, and midterms have been tying up much of the team’s time away from class. Last week we decided on meeting at 9:30pm on Tuesdays. This seems to be the only time that all members have open every week.

The team is beginning to work on the feasibility draft itself. To save time and effort the team has decided to split up the writing of major sections. Each member now has their section and is dedicating their effort on research and writing.

Accomplishments for the week.

The team is continuing to make new contacts and develop existing relationships established earlier. The team regrets to inform that we have not been 100% successful at making some of the contacts. One member tried desperately to contact the CEO of Forza Silicon to perform an interview, but only got the run around

Our Caltech duo met a second time with Ms. Wannier who provided guidance relative to actions that we should take in our quest to gather information. She also offered to sit in on any meetings or telephone conversations that the team needed help with.

A new contact from Arrow, an electronic re-seller, agreed to put get together some price information. We set an appointment for a face-to-face interview late next week.

After careful consideration the team once again contacted Scott Smyser with iSuppli to see if he would be interested in meeting for dinner. We have set up a meeting for Wednesday night in Glendale to discuss the market in more detail. In our conversations over the phone Mr. Smyser acknowledged that are proposed product is very intriguing and that he was aware of another firm who is working on a similar product.

Last Tuesday our team was able to meet and talk with Mr. Bill Collins after he presented in class. Unfortunately only Chris White’s schedule allowed him to meet with Mr. Collins for an extended period of time over dinner. We are hoping to utilize Mr. Collins expertise in start-ups as well as the electronics industry.

The team is also making some progress on the pro forma financial statements. Our Tech Scholar Nelson You met with an accounting professor and a finance T.A. to gather further insight into the statements.
To furthering our understanding of licensing our product to a manufacturing house we have left a message for Marshall Lerner, a patent/copyright attorney and advisory board member of the Lloyd Greif entrepreneurship program. We hope to determine current licensing strategies and the royalty rate used in our industry.

October 5 TOP

This week our team was struck with illness. Two of our members were out of commission for several days, slowing our progress. Despite this set back the team continued to communicate via phone and e-mail to keep track of progress.

Bill Collins, the VP if the Tech Coast Angels, Los Angeles section has agreed to be a mentor of Integrated Timing. Mr. Collins will no doubt prove to be invaluable to the success of the team.

The team has been hard at work attempting to identify and contact individuals within the electronics industry by developing a value chain for the industry as well as searching the Caltech and USC Alumni database for contacts. We have secured a meeting with the president of a fabless mixed signal design firm next week. The team will attempt to gain information regarding the pain this firm is experiencing and to determine the direction of the industry in the near future.

Industry research provided insight about a firm named Selectron. It turns out that many of the large networking companies, such as Cisco, outsource much of the design and manufacturing to companies such as Solectron who provide this service. We realized that contacting Solectron may be more useful than contacting Cisco. Solectron also recently acquired CMAC, a company with expertise in frequency control, ceramics, and electronics packaging. The team is currently researching this acquisition

The team has also studied the financial statements, web pages, and analysis reports of the top five suppliers of crystals and oscillators: NDK (Nihon Dempa Kogyo), Epson, KDS, KSS (Kinseki), and Toyocom. This information will be useful in determining potential customers, competitors, extrapolating in-depth information about each company’s infrastructure, and in creating our pro-forma financial statements.

In anticipation of possible licensing our technology to a manufacturing firm we have began researching various licensing agreements used in industries similar to ours.

A lunch meeting at Caltech on Friday provided more good news for Integrated Timing. Chris and Amit spoke with Louise Wannier, the founder of two successful companies. Ms. Wannier is willing to advise the Integrated Timing team on business related issues.

September 28 TOP

Amazing! In only our second week our team has grown from three to four. Nelson You, a Technology Scholar at USC, has decided to join our team after becoming familiar with our proposed product. The team felt that Nelson would be able to add a fresh look at the product from a business standpoint. To tell the truth, the team wanted to borrow Nelson’s new BMW 330ci convertible.

Our team name is becoming somewhat of an oxymoron. The two times our team has met we have been a bit tardy. Nelson, who has midterms this coming week, stayed up until 6am the day of our meeting. Needles to say, he was a bit late. We also are 2 for 2 in turning our on-line journal assignment in late. My bad. Hopefully this is not a sign of the future. We are committed to turn things around and do justice to our team name.

So what did we do this week with regards to the project?

Bill Collins, a contact we met last week, generously aided our team in contacting a member of the manufacturing team at Kyocera in San Diego. Chris White talked with this gentleman over the phone for quite some time and was pleasantly surprised to find out that Kyocera seemed very interested in the product. He went so far as to ask Chris if we needed any equipment or assistance in continuing the development of the product. Unfortunately we are not ready at this time to make such a commitment to a particular company. The call was ended with a promise to keep in touch to further develop the relationship.

The team met at Leavey library on Saturday to formalize a project plan that Dave Precht put together. We also discussed our approach to the research strategy and the Customer Test assignment. The meeting was concluded with the following tasks:

1. Research specific companies and their competition and Customers
2. Perform a patent search to identify similar products
3. Perform a search on sample licensing agreements
4. Begin developing contacts in the Frequency Oscillator industry
5. Writing a draft of the customer test assignment

September 21 TOP

Christopher White’s background is in electronics, engineering and applied physics. Christopher is currently a PhD candidate in Electrical Engineering at Caltech. Christopher is also the inventor of the technology.

David is a 2nd year Marshall MBA student with interests in Entrepreneurship. David holds an MS in Industrial and Systems Engineering from USC along with a BS in Manufacturing Engineering from Cal Poly Pomona. David is currently a Program Manager at Boeing Electron Dynamic Devices in Torrance California.

Amit Kenjale’s background is in computer science, chemistry and entrepreneurship. Amit is currently a PhD Candidate at Caltech.

The Product

The new technology is an electronic component that generates a precise reference frequency from the microwave absorption properties of a unique dielectric. Results are highly repeatable across a batch of components because the reference frequency depends on the material chemistry not on mechanical tolerances.

This contrasts to conventional crystal oscillators where the reference frequency is set by precise manufacturing controls on the mechanical dimensions of the device. Integration is the most important trend in electronics, and the new technology opens the door to designing a complete frequency synthesizer in a single IC package. The new technology, unlike crystal oscillators, does not need a vacuum package and can be produced using low-cost ceramic manufacturing. Today, packaging is one of the most important and only drivers in the crystal oscillator market for cellular handsets.

The new frequency reference technology is an innovative challenge to conventional timing module designs.

Accomplishments

The first week after team formation was used to discuss the technology and its potential markets for application.

As Chris White continues to work on the actual technology and proto-type, Dave and Amit began researching the industry and potential markets.

David Precht, while doing industry research, uncovered a Marshall MBA alumni that is an analyst for iSuppli Corporation. This researcher publishes marketing research on the crystal oscillator industry and agreed to help the team by providing them with some of his research. This information is unavailable to the general public without a subscription to iSuppli’s services. This information and contact will prove itself to be extremely important in the launch of the new technology.

Ken Pickar, Cal Tech Professor and e-Team advisor helped the team by organizing a teleconference with Bill Collins, the Vice-President of the Los Angeles chapter of the Tech Coast Angels and a former member of the electronics industry. Mr. Collins provided informative guidance about the electronics industry as well as several directions to follow in gaining industry information and assistance in launching the new technology.