For years, I've sounded like a broken record when advising my clients -- "find a few lead customers", "get a lead customer who's willing to work with you through the early stages", "find someone who is willing to help shape and mould your idea"....these are common rants of mine all in the spirit of creating something of REAL sustainable value to the market.
Well, i'm happy to say that I've followed my own advice -- well, honestly, kinda fell into it but hey, isn't that how most great ideas become successful...a bit of luck never hurts.
Last summer I began chatting with the folks at the National Research Council Canada (NRC) about the book I was writing. They got very interested in it for their researchers and scientists -- Keira Torrko championed the effort, and I'm happy to say the result was that 3 months later the NRC signed an multi-year volume agreement with wendykennedy.com inc. to use the book with the scientists, researchers, and aspiring entrepreneurs working across Canada for the NRC.
This exciting initiative brought a new layer of material for the book on the aspects of commercialization through licensing. The NRC has some of the most innovative research taking place inside their organization and often this work is best suited for licensing to other organizations. My book is a how-to guide for these scientists and researchers to express the commercial value of their ideas to investors -- be they investors such as a VC, or an investor that is a potential licensee of science or technology.
Having the NRC as a lead customer, with its rich experience in licensing and commercialization brought tremendous new insights and ideas for the book. I've been working with them to launch the book and introduce it to their audiences and coming soon we will launch the online support resources, which I call the Toolshed, to them as well.
It's been invaluable working with a lead customer like this that is a perfect match for my target segment. They been trusted advisors on the development of key material. I'm looking forward to seeing the partnership grow as we launch more support services to equip their scientist, researchers, and entrepreneurs with business knowledge to be successful.
Stay tuned for more snippets on the book. The launch date will be announced in a few more posts...
Keep well,
Wendy
author/advisor/lady with the flipcharts
So What? who cares? why you?(tm)
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