Date: Fri, 8 Sep 2000 06:57:42 -0700
Mr. Rod Welch
rowelch@attglobal.net
The Welch Company
440 Davis Court #1602
San Francisco, CA 94111 2496
| Subject: | Setting KM Standard |
Rod,
[Responding to your letter on September 7, 2000...]
Your marketing insights are lining up with my instinct. You are talking to over the horizon people. They are looking for a major application, but have spent zero time looking for customers. (You really need both to have a business). SRI is a "think tank", not a "business incubator", and as such, this is the expected and rewarded result. (A white paper with good ideas in it).
I have had a major customer in this week, and not gotten to the medit hobby. I have to rewrite the save routine to use the new calls in DOS. (Since you want the old routine there also). The memory problem is how I structured the pointers in the program 15 years ago to save memory. The medit like program in "C" that I use as an editor doesn't have the memory problem, but doesn't have the exact same commands or macros. (I just write what I want in "C", and you never took the time to learn it).
You still are focused on product and technology, and not on customers. The "if we build it, they will come" attitude hasn't gotten you anywhere in the last 10 years. Projected, postulated, or "religion mandated" need is not the same as expressed or latent customer need. Why not give away 100 copies, and see what the reaction is from a group of "evaluators". You could start with the folks at SRI, but they will just borrow the ideas, write them up, and then sell it in a white paper or prototype to industry. Instead, start with a group of real potential customers, and collect real market relevant data.
You will learn what customer expectation is for a "management product", if people like numbers, function keys and etc. You will can also understand what they do like about the program and system, what functions and capabilities they use, and how to improve them. This can be the seed group to get a larger program developed.
Food for thought,
Cable Network Operation
Morris
Morris E. Jones
Business Unit Manager
morris.jones@intel.com