The Business Plan and Owning IPR
May 31st, 2006 by 
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Loading ...I just attended a session on how to encourage technology entrepreneurship. There were many issues discussed, but I think these two are important.
a.) Numerous references were made that one way to create entrepreneurship is holding business plans competition. This is I think important. The person who knows technology may not understand business, and you need both technical and business expertise to make both work. Over the last few years, I have talked and worked with many people who tried to form technology companies with nothing more than just a vague idea of what their products can do, or a vague idea where they can get funding, or basically nobody in the company who has any business or management expertise Sometimes, their estimates or ‘hearing’ of the potential product or service is way off target, but sometimes, it may have been viable, but they simply run out of cash, and therefore had to stop the business. Thus it could be important that the creation of a formal business plan , while not eliminating risk, can allow the entrepreneur to have a better idea of the risk, and plans before putting in his money.
Remember the advice of the E-Myth : Just because you know the technical side of the business DOES NOT mean you know the business.
b.) There is one area that was universally agreed on with the speakers, and this is about intellectual property which we need to emphasize. And maybe I go back into a talk that was given by Joey Gurango, a well known mentor capitalist in Manila in one of his talk a few weeks ago. Joey basically separates the development of software can be sold two ways – as a service or as a product. Most American companies sell software as a product, that means they own the intellectual property, but allows the user to use the software for a fee. Most Philippine companies sell software as a service – that means they develop software for companies who pay them some amount above cost but they normally don’t own the copyright. As per talk during the 2nd ICT Strategic summit by Dennis Posadas, and Lawrence Hughes in that while doing outsourcing business, or sub-contracting business is ok, ultimately the goal of a technology company should be the creation of products or services, and owning the intellectual property that will allow the company to sell its products. This is the way that most hugh companies, like IBM, Cisco, Microsoft, Oracle, Google, and others make the money.
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Posted in Entrepreneurship | 
June 7th, 2006 at 10:14 am
MR. WILSON NG
(www.bizdrivenlife.net)
Dear Mr.Ng:
I have been an avid reader of your Sun Star IT column (Wired Desktop) whether this 73 years old Senior Citizen PENSIONLESS R.A. 1616 Phil.Government retiree is in his foreign country of “exile” or back on a protracted visit to the homeland.
As a fellow Cebuano, in your dual capacity as an IT aficionado and top honcho of Microsoft in southern Phil., may I take this opportunity to seek your kind, free authoritative advise/assistance – if you may – on 2 web-based “advocacies” that I am “initiating” even at this late stage of my life. One is in the realm of spirituality and evangelism – SANTO NINO GLOBAL DEVOTION (SNGD) — myself being a member of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal Movement, and being a Cebuano, hence, my lifetime devotion to our revered Protector, the Santo Nino. This primordial “advocacy” is my humble answer to His challenge: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and everything shall be added unto you.” The other, is in the temporal – the GLOBAL FILIPINOS ECONOMIC MOVEMENT (GFEM) – which I feel is the “addition” portion of our equation. The inspiration, researches, and the drafting of each of the Conceptual Framework of both were done both during my “exile” days and back here at home. Both are now in the launching stage.
But myself (summary of humble credentials furnished) not being IT-savvy (I started to self-study its grassroots basics only less than 2 years ago), we have a start-up difficulty in launching both Web-based Projects due to the following constraints: 1) Hard-up of funding — we are starting only from scratch in coming up with our SNGD Website thru a surplus PC (Pentium 3, Windows 98), fed thru dial-up line (because our broadband application is still pending with PLDT), with technical help volunteered only by my nephew who is Hardware-oriented (5th year Computer Engineering student). 2) Hence, we don’t have as of now the “volunteer” assistance of a Programmer to help us launch our Web-based “advocacies”. For which reasons may I inquire, with due indulgence, if you kindly know: (a) Where we can get a more updated PC on a LEASING ARRANGEMENT ONLY. Better still, if lent to us for free initially. (b) If there be any Programmer who could help us voluntarily at the outset, but perhaps with a fee later as soon as the Lord showers us with some operating funds from some kind benefactors for our spiritual devotion movement. God bless!
BRO. BUEN SEMILLA