| NASDAQ-listed communications
components company
Helped the CEO develop a strategic plan to transform the company from a low-growth,
unprofitable supplier of commodity components into a profitable business focused
on an emerging, niche, communications market segment — with great potential
for future growth. This repositioning culminated in a successful sale of the company.
"TangibleFuture brought a fresh assessment of our company and the markets in which we compete. This thorough and analytically objective assessment helped us develop a strategic plan and implementation strategy that created a tidal change in the direction we were headed and the ultimate market value of our company. Each step of the process we went through with Tangible Future was executed in a timely manner with disciplined analysis and effective communication among all involved parties.
Richard Caro led our project and was meticulous in assembling needed information and creating a clear path for the company to materially improve our operating performance. All of our requests and requirements for the project were fully met. All engaged parties from management to the Board of Directors to key investors embraced the strategic plan and supported its implementation.
In summary, Richard Caro is one of the most valuable advisors with whom I have worked throughout my career."
Andy Harris, Former President/CEO, Stratos International
Korean photonics business
“Because we saw companies generating substantial revenues
from sales of a specific optical transceiver product, our company was about to
invest heavily in development of a better/cheaper version of that product, based
on a novel opto-electronic platform technology we have developed.
Luckily, we retained TangibleFuture to go out and dig deeply
into the market and its future trajectory, and learned that customer requirements
and the competitive landscape were changing rapidly. Even though there was a current
need for the product we planned to develop, by the time we were able to finish
product development the market would have shifted and customers would be buying
quite different, next generation products, for which our technology offered no
compelling advantage. With the benefit of hindsight, things have played out pretty
much as TangibleFuture said they would.
As a result of TangibleFuture’s work we shifted our
efforts elsewhere, and have saved a great deal of money.”
B.H. Lee,
Chairman, Novatronix.
Australian neuro-marketing startup
Acted as long term advisor to the founder of a startup, which is developing services
and equipment using brainwave evoked potentials to make market research more objective,
more precise, and language independent — as he bootstrapped the company
from zero to its first $1 million of revenue, and developed plans for the next
phase of growth.
“I am very happy
with our collaboration and enormously impressed by your capacity to contribute
to Neuro-Insight's development at so many levels. These range from
your astute observations regarding basic science issues to the practicalities
of translating scientific discoveries into commercial products. Coupled
to this is your ability to offer practical and invaluable advice on issues as
diverse as business and negotiation strategy, financial structuring, and
marketing.
In summary, TangibleFuture comes as close as I have ever seen
to constituting the “complete package” in terms of consulting
to high tech start-ups.”
Richard Silberstein Ph.D., Chairman & CEO, Neuro-Insight, Pty.
Ltd.
University-owned, nanotech. commercialization
company
As the commercialization arm of a large, multi-university research effort, whose
50+ researchers are focused on solving the fundamental scientific challenges that
lie on the path to quantum computing, this company owns a significant amount of
intellectual property in the field of “extreme nanotechnology”. They
asked TangibleFuture, Inc. to help them decide how best to exploit several near
term commercial opportunities based on that IP; and to help fine-tune the company’s
strategic objectives.
As a result of this project, the company significantly altered its strategic
objectives; gained a clear understanding of the near term commercial opportunities
for its IP, as well as of how best to commercialize it; and has decided on a specific
path forward.
Particularly relevant was TangibleFuture’s ability to understand the
complex science; to go out and interact with key market participants around the
world; and then to help the management team gain a clear understanding of what
the commercial opportunities might look like, and what they would need to do to
capitalize on those opportunities.
Surgeon / Inventor
On behalf of a surgeon/inventor, who invented a novel approach for transmitting
electrical power into the body to power implants (eg defibrilators, or muscle
stimulators), we dug deeply into the potential market applications of the technology,
the IP position, and the competitive landscape, and guided his engineers in an
evaluation of the likely performance of a product based on the invention. Based
on a clear understanding of the invention’s likely competitive advantage,
target applications and commercial potential, we helped the inventor make an informed
decision about the best path forward.
“I found working with Richard Caro extremely rewarding. We found the real obstacles and challenges, opportunities and boundaries, and we were able to more clearly identify the issues which would differentiate our technology. We could not have made the right commercial decisions without his help."
Dr. Gerard W. Sormann, MBBS, FRACS.
US biodiesel startup
Mentored (pro-bono) the founders of a US-based biodiesel startup in the UC Berkeley
Business Plan competition. This work was featured in a documentary on
NPR’s radio program Living on Earth (6/11/05). More...
“Richard’s philosophy and multidisciplinary
approach to value creation enabled us to appreciate the larger picture..... By
reorienting our focus from technological features to the core customer needs we
were able to craft a much more persuasive argument for both our investors and
our customers.”
Chris Carstens, Founder and
CEO, Homeland Fuels, Inc.
US communications startup
“The project led by Richard Caro helped us understand
that our target market would develop slower than we had expected. This drove us
to shift priorities and explore adjacent beachhead markets more likely to generate
near-term revenue. Had we continued on our existing roadmap, we would have mistimed
the entry to our ultimate target market, and missed a tremendous opportunity to
address an overlooked, near term, substantial customer need.
Many of our competitors
who failed to make this course adjustment are no longer in business.”
Aaron A. Bent, Ph.D, (Founder), V.P. Marketing and Business Development, Continuum
Photonics.(Merged successfully with Polatis Incorporated in 2005).
Learn more
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