Technology Development Network

Coming May 2022 New Book on Technology Development

    Technology Development

    Lessons from Industrial Chemistry

    and Process Design

 

    by Ron Stites

 

 

 

Ron has recently completed the manuscript for a new book on Technology Development under contract with Walter de Gruyter GmbH. De Gruyter is a German scholarly publishing house specializing in academic literature. The new book should be available May of 2022. The Table of Contents below gives you an idea of the topics covered:

    Chapter 1: Introduction

    Chapter 2: What is Technology and Technology Development?

        Some Common Misconceptions

        Types/Classes of Technology

        B2B Markets

        Consumer Markets

        Government Markets

        Social/Common Good

        Impact on Existing Markets

        The Benefits of Technology Development

    Chapter 3: Some Basics Axioms of Technology Development

        Axiom 1 – Nothing is Completely Predictable

        Axiom 2 – Collaboration can be a Four-Lettered Word

        Axiom 3 – Money is the Final Unit of Measure

        Axiom 4 – Everything is Urgent

        Axiom 5 – Size Matters

        Axiom 6 – The Quest for Knowledge Requires Intuition and Deduction

    Chapter 4: The Science of Technology Development

        Markets First

        Investors/Stakeholders Second

        Go/No-Go Decision Process Third

        Finally, The Technology Development Process

        Planning to Learn

        Designing Your Experiments

            The Intuitive Phase

            The Deductive Phase

            Making Sense of Uncertainty

            Simple Statistics – Population, Sample, Average, and Standard Deviation

            Guarding Against Major Blunders

        Execute Your Plan

        Evaluation and Reporting

        Improve Your Experiments or Wrap Up Your Conclusions

        Valuation Methodology (Present Value/IRR)

        Evidence-Based Decision-Making and Data Science

    Chapter 5: The Art of Technology Development

        The Art of Human Relationships

            With Employees

            With Funders and Potential Funders

            With Customers and Potential Customers

            With Stakeholders

        The Art of Matching Technology with Markets

        The Art of Monetizing the Technology

    Chapter 6: Funding and The Discipline of Technology Development

        How Discipline Impacts Funding and the Growth of Wealth

        The Biz Plan

        Funding in Large Organizations

        Funding in Small Organizations

        Technology Development Startups – A Peculiar Subset of Small Business

        The Funding Process

            Dispelling Some Myths about Raising Capital

            Assessing Capital Needs

            Set Capital Goals

            Detail Capital Goals and Strategy

            Identify Potential Capital Sources

            Guiding Principles for Contacting Potential Investors

            Structure Capital Offering(s)

            Manage the Capital Campaign

    Chapter 7: The Future of Technology Development

        Critical Technology Development Needs

        Capital Sourcing Challenges

        Evaluation of Technology

        Use of Capital

        Scarce Supply of Capital for Small Business

        Accountability

        Patience

    Chapter 8:  Where Do We Go from Here?

        Reducing the influence of academics and Higher Education

        Strengthening review of government Technology Development programs

        Specifically requiring statistically sound review

        Encouraging small, primary investments directly in small businesses

        Graduated Capital Gains Tax

        Capital Gains Tax on Non-profits

        Phasing out Non-profit Status for all Non-profits

        Phasing in Strict Financial Reporting for all Non-profits

        Reforming all of Education to make it eventually Competitive, For-profit

        Requiring Grade-appropriate Probability and Statistics Curricula

        Requiring Appropriate Field Proficiency Probability and Statistics STEM and Professions

        Deregulating Crowdfunding for Small, Technology Development Companies

    Chapter 9: Some Final Words

If you would like information on how to get a copy, contact us at Ron Stites at [email protected]

New Direction for SALLC – Small Business Capitalization

Stites & Associates (SALLC) has long been a supporter, evaluator and developer of new technologies. These have ranged from new marketing techniques to new chemical processes. This has resulted in multiple start-up operations and five awarded patents.

One of the persistent problems with technology development has been funding that development. Frequently the initial ideas can be generated and even tested at a bench scale using personal funds, discretionary funds within organizations, small grants and loans. The problem becomes critical when the idea looks to have merit and needs real scale up testing and design.

The “valley of death” in raising capital is in the $500,000 to $5,000,000 range. This is too much money for those “informal” sources and too little for institutional investors. This might be a range for some government programs like NSF, DOE, DOD, USDA or even SBA but the risks are high, those programs are often too narrow, or they are more focused on political issues than on good science and economic success.

Many good ideas just die. That is a shame, but not the worst that can happen. Occasionally, an idea that “sounds good” but is flawed, grabs the attention of an overzealous investor and becomes a newsworthy, cringeworthy disaster – often with the help of naïve government support.

Ron Stites, the founder of SALLC, has founded a new entity, the Colorado Center for Innovation in Community Capital (the “Center”). This business is piloting a program in Colorado to supply capitalization support for small businesses. The idea is to advance the costs and provide the talent needed by small, innovative businesses to help them raise capital. This capital will be used to do the kind of testing and evaluating needed to determine if the “great” idea can be made into a sustainable business.

We are using the recent Opportunity Zone legislation to help kickstart this program. That legislation allows tax breaks to investors if they will rollover capital gains from past investments into businesses located in designated, economically depressed areas. This must be “patient money” in that the investors need to wait at least 10 years before taking out their money. This give the innovative company ample time to do the thorough evaluation, development and planning that is needed to turn the “good idea” into a great business.

We chose Colorado for several reasons, but one of these is that the selection of Opportunity Zones in Colorado was done quite well. There is a good blend of rural and urban areas, with many of the Zones having enough infrastructure to support small, innovative businesses. Hence, there are a wide variety of possibilities ranging from agricultural to housing to technological and scientific innovations.

We plan to soon expand beyond Colorado and Opportunity Zones. For now, our main focus is finding innovative companies in Colorado Opportunity Zones that are ready to take the next steps toward success.  These businesses may apply for support by completing a signup at:

Request Information

Each of these small businesses needs investors with capital gains that they might want to put to work supporting innovation and local economic development. If you are interested or just want more information, contact Ron Stites at [email protected] or visit:

Colorado Center for Innovation in Community Capital

 

Ron Stites is the Founder and Principal at Stites & Associates, LLC, and the Technology Development Network, a group of technical professionals who work with clients to improve decision making in technology driven companies by applying good management judgment based on objective evidence and sound scientific thinking. For more information see: www.tek-dev.net or email us at [email protected] .

SALLC Presenting at the 35th Oil Shale Symposium

 

 

On October 5^th, Stites & Associates, LLC, (SALLC) will be presenting a paper on the Oil Shale Industry at the 35^th Oil Shale Symposium in Salt Lake City, Utah.  The paper will be presented by SALLC Interns, Lee Yuan Ming and Matthew James.  Lee and Matthew are making a special trip back to the US to present this paper, compliments of Nanyang Technological University.  Lee has already made his arrangements to get to Salt Lake City.  Matthew is still working on getting a visa renewal and may or may not be able to make it.  It will be close.

The paper is based on the recently released eBook, Oil Shale, Treasure Trove or Pandora’s Box, by Ron Stites, Lee Yuan Ming and Matthew James.  The eBook is a detailed study of the Oil Shale Industry in the United States.  It covers the history of oil shale, the characteristics of oil shale, the value of oil shale and the challenges of developing this tremendous potential resource.  The eBook is aimed at concerned US Citizens, regulators and potential developers.  The eBook is well documented from reliable written sources and a number of contemporary interviews performed by SALLC.  We talked to regulators, academicians and industry experts to get an up to date view of the current state of the industry.  One of the more fascinating aspects of the eBook is the application of financial return thinking to this complex field.  Return on Investment (ROI) modeling is explained and applied to the Oil Shale Industry.  A link to an on-line, interactive model for three different oil shale technologies is supplied in the eBook.  We also developed a new concept that we call Return on Resources (ROR).  As far as we can tell this is the first time that ROR ideas have been applied to Public Policy.  The eBook draws several conclusions and makes several recommendations on not only the state of the industry, but how the industry should move forward.

Lee and Matthew will give an overview of the eBook at the Symposium.  They will also give their unbiased opinions about the Oil Shale Industry.  Their story is a fascinating one of evolving opinions based on learning the facts versus hearing the public rhetoric.  You won’t want to miss this event if you can be in Salt Lake City on October 5^th. 

For details on the Symposium go to:  http://csmspace.com/events/oilshale2015/

For more information on the eBook visit:  http://www.tek-dev.net/Oil_Shale_eBook

The eBook is available from Amazon at:  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B013PSC0VU

For more about SALLC visit us at:  www.tek-dev.net

 

Stites & Associates, LLC, is a group of technical professionals who work with clients to improve laboratory performance and evaluate and improve technology by applying good management judgment based on objective evidence and sound scientific thinking.  For more information see: www.tek-dev.net.