Treat Your Technology Assessment Conclusion as a Hypothesis – and Proof-Test It!!!
This is the first of a series of posts to share with you six important lessons we’ve learned through our experiences working with numerous commercial clients in a variety of situations. On the path to your success in developing and commercializing technologies, they will help you avoid common pitfalls, unwarranted assumptions, and other sources of technical and commercial bias that could add up to business failures.
No matter who does your technology assessment, whether you perform it internally or externally, whatever conclusion you come to, treat that conclusion as a hypothesis. Here is a case example:
Client: Industrial, Automotive, and Aerospace Manufacturer and Marketer
Situation: Client was about to make a significant investment in a potential target acquisition. The target company owned a unique thermal barrier coating technology for aircraft turbine blades which the client judged to be a significant and attractive market differentiator for them.
Technology Assessment Need: Client was concerned about their internal ability to assess the new, cutting-edge coatings technology, and wanted additional “vetting” of this technology.
Our approach: We took our client’s conclusion, that this coatings technology was worth their investment, and treated it as a hypothesis by asking the following questions:
What could go wrong? Could we find aspects of the technology that would invalidate this hypothesis?
Here is what our research uncovered:
- One of the coatings facilities our client would acquire was actually a joint venture: someone other than the target company owned the intellectual property!
- A competitor of our client had recently bought access to a non-U.S. 300-man facility with a technology that threatened to upstage the target technology
These two findings alone were sufficient “red flags” that our client put a “caution” light on the acquisition plans and directed additional due diligence on these two investment hypothesis-busters.
In this case, treating the conclusion of the client’s technology assessment hypothesis led to the discovery of new, highly relevant aspects of the potential technology acquisition. These new findings prevented a premature investment – an investment that likely would not have produced the financial and commercial results that motivated it in the first place.
Are you facing a technology investment decision?
We’re ready and able to help you with your due diligence. Contact us at http://www.prakteka.com/contact-us/
or via direct email at mah@prakteka.com
The Online Gazette... 