At ProductCamp 2016

My ICE talk made the "cut to 20" hurdle on Saturday.  There were initially about 25 people in the session which seems like good interest in the topic.  With the state of the webBook as it is my hope was to get input on the partner/portal concept for the startup ecosystem and to identify specific partners and portals.  The audience wasn't quite ready for this.  The expectation was a more complete rendering with examples.  Also I had hope to identify innovation portals to the ecosystem.  Again not ready for that.  Takeaway is that there is good interest in the topic.  My hope is to flesh this out more and provide higher value at ProductCamp next year.

ICE at ProductCamp Cincinnati 2016

I have proposed a talk for ProductCamp Cincinnati 2016.  First I will test the concept of startup ecosystem Partners and Portals and see if we can identify specific examples of each.  Then we will talk about startup success lying at the intersection of Innovation, Commercialization, and Entrepreneurship (ICE) and look for "innovation" entry points into the ecosystem.  It will be interesting to see if there are others interested in these topics.

Integration Idea Presented to UCRI Business Development Director

"Integration" emerged as one of the results of the PDMA (ICE)2 event.   The next step identified at the event was "Introductory meeting to Business Development Leader at UCRI."  Following up on the next step, Chuck Libourel, HNP, and Pete Kleinhenz, C-CAP Unlimited arranged a meeting with Sara Guice, UCRI Business Development Director.  I presented the ICE concept and Pete presented the "Integration" idea.  As followup Sara is planning to present ICE to her UCRI colleagues.  A followup meeting with Sara is planned.

This is an intriguing and exciting development.  (ICE)2 is starting to work!  Stay tuned for further developments on the "Integration" front. 

Would you like to host an (ICE)2 event?

PDMA Meetup Hosts Inaugural (ICE)2 and LITA Events

At the PDMA Cincinnati Tri-State Chapter Meetup 5/19/16 held at Cintrifuse, 12 participants engaged in an (ICE)2 event using the LITA process.  This meetup was the first (ICE)2 event and the first use of LITA.

The event goal centered on actions for solidifying the Cincinnati region as an ICE epicenter.  To accomplish this the group initially worked individually, then in three 4-person teams, and finally in groups around the emerging ideas.

LITA includes the identification an eCAPL (energetic Champion, Advocate, Passionate Leader) and a next step for each idea to be implemented.  By the end of the one-hour LITA driven activity, the team identified three ideas to move forward each with in identified eCAPL and a "next step."  Here are the event results.

Are you next to sponsor an (ICE)2 or LITA event?

LITA - Lean Ideation To Action Portal Added

The multiple portals to the same webBook continues to work.  The concept of LITA - Lean Ideation To Action is used in (ICE)2 Events and I created a separate webBook portal for LITA so the concept can be easily referenced separately.  See LITA.

LITA is based on the observation that in many cases the first 20% of the effort on a task provides 80% of the value.  LITA says let's just spend the first 20% of the effort and then harvest the 80% of the value.  For this to work, a strict time schedule is employed to ensure we do not get inappropriately bogged down.

LITA employs the identification of an eCAPL -- energetic Champion, Advocate, Passionate Leader as a critical success factor in getting actions to happen.  Without this, nothing actually gets done.  In this context Energy = Passion + Time.  Passion is indicated when you thought you had spent one hour working on something and it was really four hours.

I think there are many potential LITA applications.  What is yours?

Enhanced "Entrepreneurship" Description

In review with a potential business partner, he noted the very narrow description of "Entrepreneurship" on the "Why ICE?" page feeling that "Identifying funding sources needed for commercialization." focuses just on getting funding, only a part of the Entrepreneurship role.  I changed the description of entrepreneurship to "Creating a compelling business plan and harnessing the energy necessary for plan execution."  He agrees that this more completely describes what entrepreneurship is all about from the ICE perspective.

What are your thoughts on this page?

Startup Ecosystem Portals Garnering Interest

In September I introduced the concept of startup ecosystem portals as a helpful way to think and talk about the Cincinnati region startup ecosystem.  Since then, I have had the opportunity to review the concept with several people who are active in the ecosystem.  I found it easy to explain using the Startup Ecosystem page of the webBook walking through the buildup of the page using the "where am I in the buildup" indicators on the left of the page.  So far all reviewers seem to relate.  Perhaps we are onto something here.