Inventions Management For the first time in my life I am getting a front row seat at the process of inventions management. My company is trying to innovate in the electrochemical arena which involves everything from filing patents with the U.S. Patent Office and the various international patent agencies to managing the process of commercialization of the inventions, taking them from the laboratory to the marketplace. As one would imagine, there is a lot…
Responsible Hosting I have owned vacation homes since 1986. That is 33 years. Over that time, I have owned vacation homes in the Berkshires (2), The Hamptons, Park City (5), San Diego and Ithaca. By my count, that is a total of ten vacation homes. At one time, I have owned as many as three at once (what a headache). The big issue is always how to maintain the home in my absence. By…
Beyond Meat I am intrigued. Beyond Meat, the California start-up that launched its highly successful IPO a few months ago, now trades at over 100X sales. What’s especially interesting is that the concept of an alternative protein that provides a substitute for meat products (beef, pork and chicken) is hardly new. Where is tofu with its patent infringement claims? How upset must the ubiquitous veggie burger be at this turn of events? Even Bacos…
Road Show Last night we went to New York City Center for a performance of Steven Sondheim’s musical Road Show. This is a twenty-year-old version of a story which has been produced under various names like Bounce, Wise Guys and Gold!. While we thoroughly enjoyed the show, it had little to do with the production and almost everything to do with good music/singing and the captivating story of the life and travails of the Mizner…
Breaking Up is Hard to Do Do many of us even remember the days when our telephonic voice choices were AT&T and nothing more? The telephone invention is like most great inventions, the early pioneers working on such a device fade by comparison to Alexander Graham Bell, who patented the device in the U.S. in 1876. History rewards the commercializers of great inventions. Just ask Thomas Alva Edison. Bell fancy-stepped his way into forming…
Desk Toys There is an advertisement on TV these days for insurance with a guy in his office, which is turned into a ball pit. Who can tell anymore if these ads are for Geico, Progressive, Farmers or whatever? Unless there is a gecko or that androgynous Flo person in the ad, they are all funny and good entertainment to watch, but all they really do is remind us that insurance is a competitive…
Pivoting In my business we have decided to try to pivot. Let me try to explain what I mean by that. Life is about flexibility and change. When a business faces a roadblock, especially an insurmountable one, the only sensible thing to do is to alter direction to get around the roadblock. By most standards, that is considered intelligent management. In a hedge fund that is called style-drift and is deadly to investors as it…
The Long and the Short of It We have all heard about the UN report that gives us a dozen years to take corrective action before the climate change battle is irretrievable lost. That report, while falling on seemingly deaf Trumpster ears, has made the EU sit up and get even more serious than they have been about addressing the root causes of things like greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Running a business called Low…
Borderlines This is not the pro-immigration rant you have all come to expect from me in this blog. By the way, I am very pro-immigration and I do seem to be ranting more lately (mostly at work and at the moon over Mr. Trump), but this piece is about different borderlines. I am haunted by great movies and there are very few that are greater than Steven Spielberg’s Empire of the Sun. I think…
There’s No Accounting for Taste Do you remember that scene from the original Ghostbusters movie when The EPA nerd lets loose the ghosts that the team has trapped and kept in a special Ecto-Containment Unit in the wall of the converted firehouse (actually located in Tribeca just off West Broadway)? The team is forced to describe to the mayor what will happen if the ghosts get out. Venkman says, “This city is headed for…