April 29, 2008

Envision08 Wrap-up

Friday morning’s panel on the Top 10 Accounting Mistakes at Envision 08 went very well. It was one of the best attended workshops this morning. Thanks to Jason Ferguson a Partner at Calvetti, Ferguson & Wagner P.C. and Lee Prillaman a Partner at Ernst & Young, it was a pleasure sitting on the panel with you.

The top ten mistakes we presented are below in no particular order:

  • Valuation
  • Revenue Recognition
  • Infrastructure Governance
  • Budgeting
  • Internal Controls
  • Information Management
  • Development of the Plan
  • Tax Structures
  • Not understanding what an Angel or VC wants
  • The Team

To those who attended, thanks for coming to our session. I hope you enjoyed it. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me or the other panelists. We would be happy to respond.

A huge round of applause goes to Richard Scruggs and Lenae Huebner! The conference was great. Thanks for allowing myself and the others at PKF Texas to participate. We’re already looking forward to next year!

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April 28, 2008

Texas Companies Top Fortune 500 List

The annual Fortune 500 list is out. Texas pulled ahead of New York this year for the state with the most corporate headquarters with 58. 

Houston’s number of companies grew from 22 to 25 (26 including the 10 county area) this year. It’s good to see that businesses recognize that Houston’s business community is worth joining. We’re second only to New York City. Dallas follows us in the #3 spot jumping up from #5 last year. 

Not surprisingly, the majority of headquarters located in Houston are related to the energy and oil and gas industries. That said Continental and Waste Management are right up there.

What did you think of this year’s list? Any surprises?

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April 25, 2008

Stephen Covey Presents at Envision08

This morning’s presentation by Stephen Covey was outstanding. He spoke about the companies and workers of today versus the “industrial” age, which he put at pre-1980.

He discussed how companies need different things to be successful than they did 30 years ago. Organizations need to be able to change and adapt to today’s information based society. He called the current workforce “information” workers as opposed to our parents and grand parents who were “industrial” workers.

Of course he referenced his book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. He was able to show how the seven habits tie into today’s work force and made many excellent points throughout the presentation.

If you get the chance to see him speak, I would highly recommend it. He’s a very dynamic speaker and there’s a lot of substance to what he has to say. I’m hoping he’ll return to Envision next year. 

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April 25, 2008

PKF Texas - The Entrepreneur's Playbook: It's Easy Being Green

Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

Companies around the world are now “going green” for a number of reasons. No matter the size of your contribution your business can make a difference. Consider putting together an internal committee to advise on activities that would make sense for your business.

It may seem obvious, but many companies do not recycle plastic water bottles, cans, office paper and newspapers. And recycling programs can include more than just paper and plastic. Many nonprofit organizations will gladly accept electronic equipment, including older computers, printers, copiers and fax machines. 

Contact a local recycling center that will remove useful parts and then break down the rest of the materials. The centers also can safely remove hazardous materials.

Companies can minimize costs in their workplace by encouraging positive habits, such as turning off computers and power strips when you leave for the day or an extended portion of the day. Energy is still burned when a power strip is turned on.

By implementing just a few initiatives you can improve your environmental footprint, and you may be surprised about how well it aligns with your overall strategy and positively impacts your business.

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April 21, 2008

Envision08 is This Week

It’s finally here. This week I’m heading to San Antonio for the Envision08 conference. As of right now I’m planning on updating you during the conference, sort of a modified version of my Rice Business Plan Competition live blogging. I’m not quite sure when I’ll be able to make updates, so keep checking back.

The panel that I’m on, The Top Ten Accounting Mistakes, is scheduled for Friday at 10 AM April 25, 2008.

This is going to be a great conference. I’m looking forward to the attendee interaction between the sessions and at the scheduled networking events. Also, I’m curious to hear what Guy Kawasaki has to say. I'll let you know.

A big thanks goes to Richard Scruggs, Director and Lenae Huebner, Asst. Executive Director at the CNVE for all their hard work putting this conference together. See you in San Antonio!

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April 18, 2008

PKF Texas - The Entrepreneur's Playbook: Business Continuity Planning

Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

With the recent release of this season’s hurricane report, now is a good time to assess your company’s disaster preparedness. Can your company survive if it’s hit by a tornado or have an IT meltdown?

Having a disaster recovery/business continuity plan is critical to protecting your organization, should a devastating event occur. 

The plan should take into consideration the following: personnel, internal and external communications, technology issues, facilities, electronic payment systems, liquidity concerns, financial disbursement and manual operations. 

Make sure you take the time to review your procedures at least annually, if not every six months.

The Small Business Administration has several comprehensive documents on their website, sba.gov that can assist in the development and implementation of your plan. 

Being prepared for disaster is something you can’t afford not to do.

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April 17, 2008

Inc.com's Newest Site

With tax day behind us, we can now begin think about things other than the IRS, bean counters and filing deadlines. As you know I am a big fan of Inc. Magazine. I want to let you know about their newest comprehensive technology website for entrepreneurs called Inc Technology.

A spin off site from Inc.com, it has the latest technology trends affecting your business, expert IT advice and commentary, as well as strategies for deploying and choosing technology products and services.

There are articles and forums for just about every technology topic you can think of. Let me know what you think of the site. Is it useful for your business? Are there topics you would like to see me talk about or record for a PKF Texas – The Entrepreneur’s Playbook?

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April 14, 2008

Envision08 on YouTube

I wanted to share the below video clip with you. It is conversation about social media and Envision08 between Mark Nathan of the Houston Technology Center, Richard Scruggs from the CNVE, Karen Love from PKF Texas, and Dayna Marcum from Local Reach, caught on tape during the filming of spots from Envision08. Enjoy!

 

 

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April 11, 2008

PKF Texas - The Entrepreneur's Playbook: Proof of IT Value

Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

A major research study by Harvard Business School professor Marco Iansiti and Keystone Strategy Inc., proves that information technology can confer a competitive advantage. Companies in the top quartile of Iansiti’s study reported average compound annual revenue growth rates almost seven percentage points higher than the growth rates of peer companies in the bottom quartile.

Iansiti based his conclusion on data from 161 large manufacturing enterprises in the U.S., Europe and Japan. The companies were rated on the effectiveness of their use of IT in 40 business processes within five key functional areas, including finance and operations, sales and marketing, and partner and supplier management. The rankings were based on the breadth and depth of their IT use in each area.

The study’s conclusion:  there is a direct correlation between an organization’s IT capability and its financial performance.

Iansiti’s study does more than document the superior performance of organizations with more advanced IT capabilities. It goes a long way toward explaining why they outperform. “IT enables managers to handle more complexity,” he says. “And when managers can handle more complexity, they can scale up their organization.” In short, IT doesn’t just make growth possible—it makes it manageable.

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April 9, 2008

Rice Business Plan Competition Wrap-Up

Now that it is all said and done, the Rice Business Plan Competition was a resounding success. 36 plans were selected from 234 submissions. Congratulations to all who presented! You should be proud to be selected!

The plans are getting better and better each year. The difference between numbers one and seven in the final flight is getting smaller and the difference between numbers one, two and three in each flight is very small as well. The competition is tough!

Once piece of advice from the judge’s room: be prepared to make your pitch, and have lots of background information to assist in the presentation. This was a common theme amongst the flight winners. 

One of the teams in my flight, DiagNano, wrote and asked me to post the link to their website. I am more than willing to do so, they can be found at www.nanohc.com.

Below is the email the Rice Alliance sent out with the final results. Next year’s competition will be held April 16-18, 2009, so mark your calendars now.

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April 6, 2008

RBPC - And the Winner Is...

2008 RBC Business Plan Winner
 
UT Austin  Qcue   $245,000 in prize money
 
2nd place
 
BYU Klymit  $15,000 plus an additional amount $$$? for best marketing effort
 
Best Lifescience Plan
 
Carnige Mellon wins $100,000
 
Other information to come tomorrow.
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April 5, 2008

RPBC - Part Four: Wild Card Round

Here are 6 of the finalists...

UT Dallas
UT Austin
BYU
U Illinois @ Chicago
U Chicago
Harvard

And one to be picked from this group from the wild card group.

Michigan
Wake Forest
U Illinois @ Chicago  (yes 2 entries)
Carnegie Mellon
Ohio State
UNC

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April 4, 2008

RBPC - Part Three: Traycer Diagnostic Systems and IMMUTELL

Final two of the day…..

Traycer Diagnostic Systems

Traycer Diagnostic Systems leverages a unique set of technology to become a leader in microwave and terahertz medical imaging with a strong focus on replacement of x-ray mammography.

In my opinion the best presentation of Flight 3 for the day.  Well done….good use of backup slides to supplement your point…You nailed your IP, had you background material ready to go…Good business case, good metrics…

Excellent outline of your collaboration business partners.

WOW….

Good luck.

IMMUTELL

IMMUTELL’s mission is to develop, produce, and market cell mediated immune response diagnostics to help combat diseases that are difficult to diagnose.

Great story and a very effective message…Good use of slides to emphasize your points….

Some slides seemed a bit busy and it was difficult to see what you were showing us.  A compelling business case….

Last group of the day….I was tired.  But my fellow judges had some good feedback for you…

My next post will outline who has made it to the finals.  I think 1 team from each flight will be selected to go forward…Stay tuned.

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April 4, 2008

RBPC - Part Two: HeartSounds and GlucoFast

HeartSounds

HeartSounds is a platform medical device company specializing in the emerging field of computer-aided auscultation utilizing patented sound-separation technology to provide non-invasive diagnostic devices.  The company has developed a fetal heart monitor that is more accurate and provides greater ease of use than current devices.

Good use of slides & showing use and market.  Good multi-use of the technology.

Good overview of the IP and status of its.

Good website.

The second speaker had a bit too much motion moving back and forth during the presentation….

Good luck.

GlucoFast

GlucoFast has developed a non-invasive, continuous monitoring device that can provide advance detection of hypoglycemic episodes for diabetics.

Slide transition was not clean.  Someone needs to stay there and drive the show while the others are presenting.

Great potential but not sure if you have thought through the practical application….too much concept right now….No presentation on the IP and you need to study the possible business applications…..The subscription idea was a great suggestion from Ms. Capper.

Good luck!

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April 4, 2008

RBPC Part One - DiagNANO and AutoTB

Good morning GregsHead fans its Friday and I must be at the 2008 Rice Business Plan Competition. I am in Flight 3 sitting in Room 218 getting educated on all the next great bio-life science ideas. I will try and provide a few brief comments after each presentation. 

I only get 10 minutes between presentations….so I have to work fast.

DiagNano

DiagNano is an early stage technology company focusing on in vitro cancer diagnostics. They offer nanotechnology-based products for tissue biopsy analysis to provide clinicians with a patient-specific cancer fingerprint.

Good start & clarity in presenting the case for your product. Good explanation of the limitation with the current technology. Excellent presentation of what your product can do.

How did you arrive at the $30 billion market and the related slides? Why is there no reference to collaboration with MD Anderson? 

Financial forecasts don’t make sense in light of your requirements. You should have had your updated financial forecasts ready and available for the question that you received….in short you look unprepared.

A better explanation of what and how….the ROI slide should have been part of the presentation as well.

Good luck!

AutoTB

More than 1/3 of the world’s population is infected with TB, a disease that kills over 2 million people annually. Improved diagnostics are desperately needed to combat this epidemic.   AutoTB plans to create a device to automate sputum microscopy, which will decrease analysis time, increase sensitivity, and eliminate the human error present in current procedures, while integrating into the existing infrastructure and remaining inexpensive and accessible to developing countries.

Good explanation of the problem for TB. You presented an excellent overview of the AutoTB performance.   Good multi-use of the timeline slide. I like the source of and your credit as to the size of the market for your numbers. It was nice to see the discussion of the other uses of your product.

It was not clear to me what your IP really is for this product. It seems you need some additional advice. No discussion of competitors, no overview of patents….not sure of the market application going to developing country.

I didn’t see an ROI slide on the per use of the product….

Good luck

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April 4, 2008

PKF Texas - The Entrepreneur's Playbook: Demands of a Global Market

Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

We are evolving toward one world of business—a diverse yet unified global market, with customers, partners, and suppliers who work together across cultures and continents. The global workforce is always on and always connected.

As a business investment, technology has the flexibility and capacity to adapt as your people increase their own capacity and output.   More specifically, we believe you can amplify the impact of the people in your organization with a business productivity infrastructure built on the 2007 Microsoft Office system.

Three key solutions form the core of this system:

  1. Pervasive messaging, workspace, voice, instant messaging, and conferencing capabilities simplify how people work together.
  2. Forms, documents, records, and Web content management and search technologies streamline the management of information and processes.
  3. Reporting; analysis; scorecards; dashboards; advanced analytics; extraction, transformation, and loading (ETL); data mining; and data warehousing technologies improve business insight and drive business performance.

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April 2, 2008

Thanks AMA Houston!

(L to R) AMA Houston Tech SIG coordinator Rob Roberts, Michael Berry, Katie Laird and Greg Price after the blogging for business panel on April 2, 2008.

This morning I was one of three panelists at the AMA Houston Technology SIG’s event, “Blog Forward: The Rapid Evolution of Blogging as a Marketing Tool.” A big thank you to Rob Roberts and the AMA for asking me to present, it was a great crowd.

Katie Laird from Schipul and Michael Berry from Clear Channel Houston joined me on the panel. The links to their blogs are below. Katie contributes to six!

It was interesting to get their perspectives on blogging, as their blogs have a different focus than fromgregshead.com.

To those who attended, thanks for your questions and thoughts. I enjoyed our interaction. Feel free to comment here on the blog, or email me with any questions you may have about fromgregshead.com or blogging in general.

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April 1, 2008

The Rice Business Plan Competition is This Week

It’s finally here! The Rice Business Plan Competition kicks off on Thursday. Like last year I’ll be live blogging from the competition. Thirty-six teams from top MBA programs from across the country and globe have been selected to compete.

This year I’m a judge for flight 3. Below are the teams that will compete in my flight:

HeartSounds, Inc. - University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL
AutoTB - University of Cambrdige, UK
DiagNano - Georgia Tech, Atlanta, GA
GlucoFast  - Lancaster University, UK
IMMUTEL - University of Aarhus, Denmark
Traycer Diagnostic Sys. - Ohio State University

Good luck to all the teams and stay tuned for my thoughts and observations from inside the judging room!

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