Since its inception in 2005, FountainBlue has connected stakeholders to facilitate innovation and leadership between the executives, entrepreneurs and investors and other major stakeholders across the Silicon Valley and beyond.
As we enter into our 13th year in business, we will consider the advice of one of our business heroes Bill Gross, the CEO of Idealab. Bill Gross has been so successful launching and running Idealab for over 20 years, creating more than 10,000 jobs, fostering 40+ IPOs. His greatest learning from this experience is that the most important criteria for success is first alignment with market trends and customer needs. Without this, nothing else would matter.
Of secondary importance is the people. You will need people competent and resourceful enough to deliver solutions and technologies to address these trends, and the needs of the customer.
And *then* comes the importance of the idea and the technology itself. An idea can’t stand on its own. Without the people, without the timing, it can’t go anywhere, and often never goes anywhere.
FountainBlue will continue our monthly When She Speaks series into its 12th year, and our VIP roundtable series into the third year. There continues to be huge value in facilitating connections between the executives, entrepreneurs and investors and other major stakeholders, while supporting the branding, strategic and business development objectives for all participants throughout the year. Given the above, FountainBlue will be organizing our monthly VIP Roundtables based on specific industries, and partner with a market research firm who will profile top trends to target leaders in that industry.
FountainBlue’s Customer Advisory Boards
In addition, to ‘go deeper’ into the relationships with the entrepreneurs, executives and investors in our network, we are creating and supporting Customer Advisory Boards for our tech start-up clients, to better connect them with the tech advisors, mentors, customers and partners who can help them understand the needs of the customer and the trends of the market. Specifically, FountainBlue works with Customer Advisory Board members to provide services including the ones listed below.
- Strategic Direction: Refine, Define, Confirm
- Market Research: Clarify and Validate
- Branding and Messaging: Visibility Across the Ecosystem
- Positioning and Pricing: Value Proposition, Differentiators
- Partnerships: Business Development, Channels, Alliances
- Use Cases: Proof of Concepts for Target Audiences
- Alignment: Align Internal and External Influencers
- Expansion: Grow Membership, Energy and Participation
- Prioritization: Features, Timelines and Milestones
- Fundraising: Managing All of the Above Toward a Funding Goal
FountainBlue creates and runs a Technical Advisory Council to support the Innovation Ecosystem. Technical Advisory Board members:
- Identify and Nurture Groundbreaking Technologies
- Engage a broad ecosystem of stakeholders around these technologies
- Enlist sponsorship, participation and support for the ecosystem
- Mentor and support entrepreneurs in our community
- Educate and Present on technical topics and issues of interest to the community
If you’re interested in finding out more, please e-mail us letting us know which of the below activities are of interest to you, what types of start-ups are of interest to you, and what background you have in these areas.
About Our Blog: Innovating in an Age of Personalization
Leadership and Innovation will facilitate the transition from an Age of Information, where we are inundated with data and information, to an Age of Personalization, where we leverage technology to deliver customized solutions for demanding customers.
Our posts are designed to stimulate thinking and reflection and prod our clients and community members to take action and reach toward higher and different goals and results for themselves and for their companies through this transition. Individual articles may be forwarded and shared with permission and full credit given to FountainBlue and Linda Holroyd. Read our monthly blogs on this topic, or follow us at http://www.scoop.it/ageofpersonalization. Below is a list of our topics and articles.
Background
- Innovation Through the Ages, August 1, 2012
- Delivering Personalization to the Masses, September, 2012
- The Evolution of the Web, February, 2014
An Age of Personalization
- Serving the Last Mile, January 2014
- Delivering Customizations to the Masses, June 2014
- The Tech, Logistical and Business Innovations of Internet 3.0, August 2014
- IoE = Integration of Sensors + Big Data + Supply Chain, May 2014
- Creating a Friction-less Experience, October 2017
Corporate Qualities
- Embrace the Age of Personalization, December 2014
- Being Customer-Centric, July 2013
- Choosing Collaborations, June 2013
- An Ecosystem Approach to Engaging the Right Customers, April 2013
- Innovation and Diversity: Two Sides of the Same Coin, November 2013
- The New Sales Professionals, January 2013
- The Next Generation Leader, November 2014
- Leading Beyond Complacency, October 2014
- Bridging Silos, November 2014, first published March 2013, as part of EMC’s eBook Connective Behaviors that Spur Innovation
- Ten Shades of Innovation, September 2014
- Innovation Hurdles, November 2014
Innovation Opportunities
- Successful Business Models in an Age of Personalization, January 2015
- Separating the Wheat from the Chaff, December 2014
- Something From Nothing, March 2015
- The Thing About Healthcare, April 2015
The Age of the Customer
- A Cow’s Eye View of the World, September 2015
- Choose a New Way, February 2016
We will continue to curate content at http://www.scoop.it/t/personalization as we advise and inform our entrepreneurial and executive clients and community.