A Slice of Tech Pie                                                                                asotp1
“Make sure this is run by the numbers, check and double check facts because the CNN press will be all over my ass on this one. I want personal updates on the hour . We'll need to make a press statement for the 11 pm news…”

In The Beginning                                                                                    astop2
The 5 on 5 action is fast and furious on the basketball court. The team with sleeveless tatter tees with LabTech printed on the back run a weaving fast break ending with a stylish 360 degree slam dunk by...

Chess King Rules                                                                                      astop3
The gravelly voice over the speakers retorts, “You sure are a cocky SOB for such a homebody youngster. Let’s speed up the clock from 1 minute between moves to 10 sec.”

All About Changes at ZVZ                                                                  astop4
Gene kicks his trash basket across the room, “Quit giving me the techno speak crap! Drop my cost and keep my schedule or you’ll be drop kicked and blackballed from this industry”.

Playtime at School                                                                                    astop5
A mature woman wearing half a dozen dried pasta noodle necklaces around her neck hits the big triangle to get everyone’s attention. “Hi everyone, I am Principal Catherine Cutty. I want to single out and thank…

There have recently been various articles on the best cities for startup / accelerator hubs in the USA.
 
Popular Mechanics which seem to emphasize the lower cost of living, great maker space facilities which make hardware fabrication cheap.
St. Louis, MO ; Asheville, NC ; Portland ME ; Baltimore, MD ; Holyoke, MA ; Boulder, CO ; Reno, NV ; Des Moines, IA ; Cleveland, OH ; Urbana, IL ; Queens, NY ; Detroit, MI ; Austin, TX
 
Entrepreneur Magazine seem to emphasize the mix of finance, university and local government supporting resources.
Oklahoma City, OK ; Boulder, CO ; Minneapolis, MN ; Miami, FL ; Cambridge, MA ; Omaha, NE ; Des Moines, IA ; Raleigh, NC ; Nashville, TN ; Atlanta, GA ; Austin ,TX ; Seattle, WA ; Salt Lake, UT ; Denver, CO ; Memphis, TN, Indianeapolis, IN ;  Boca Raton, FL ; Bellevue, WA ; Rockville, MD ; New York, NY ; Columbus, OH ; Tulsa, OK ; Santa Monica, CA ; Irvine, CA ; San Francisco, CA .

 I have just added a few of the areas on both lists that were not included in my earlier articles last year and early this year. How is your city helping the start-up community?
 

IOWA
 
Iowa State University Research Park has provided space and business development services to start up and growth focused technology companies for 25 years.  The result is an entrepreneurial support infrastructure composed of numerous peer businesses, professional services and University resources.  Co-working facilities are provided at the Park’s incubator and consist of small private offices and Internet access.  The Park features technology and wet-lab incubators, testing labs and resource centers dedicated to business success and all available on an as-needed basis
 
The Square One DSM Accelerator is a full time accelerator for startup companies that are past the idea / incubation stage and are experiencing traction in the market. This full time business accelerator helps companies move from market traction to critical mass. We provide mentoring, connections, financial modeling, advice and support on raising capital along with a facility from which the startup can work.
 
Gravitate Coworking, Des Moines
Gravitate, an entrepreneurial center of gravity in Des Moines, is a large co-cworking space with seating for up to 40 people at a time. Members can utilize many amenities such as a lounge and cafe, offices, event space, and video studio.
 
 
COLORADO
 
With 89 local alumni companies, Techstars Boulder is a high-profile tech accelerator with a national presence.
 
The Unreasonable Institute tackles big issues of poverty, education and social injustices. This accelerator touts its social mission and asks participants to stretch themselves over a five-week period in Boulder.
 
Gearing up for its third class of companies, Boomtown Boulder specializes in tech and media companies.

How does your product rate? What makes it stand out from competitors? Are you looking at the right factors (ones your customer care about)?

1. Performance  [ primary operations, ease of use, quality output]
2. Features [ bread and butter functions used most of the time, unique functions]
3. Aesthetics [ the look, texture and feeling ]
4. Price [ too expensive, too cheap or affordable]
5. Service [ speed, politeness, effectiveness ]
6. Reliability [ does it worked as expected and frequency of failure ]
7. Durability [ product life in years ]
8. Safety [ does no harm to people or property ]

 
Let’s face it the items 1 to 4 is what is going to strongly influence the first time buying decision. While items 5 to 8 will strongly influence whether they will be buying you product again. While safety is very important consumers will assume it is safe, unless risks are very clearly spelled out on the product packaging.
 
Customer profile characteristics you should be aware of before you even develop the product may include:

1. Age in years [ 0-3, 4-8, 9-13, 14-18, 18-23, 24-30, 30-40, 40-50, 50-60, 60-70, 70-80, 80-100+ ]
2. Income in USA $s [ 0-10k, 11k-24k, 25k-35k, 36k-50k, 51k-70k, 71k-95k, 96k-180k, 181k-500k, 501k+]
3. Family status [ single or married, with children, without children ]
4. Geographic location [ apartment, house, city, rural, suburb, continent, country ]
5. When they use it [ at work, at play or both ]
6. Need it [ government mandate, driving business costs/productivity]
   
7. Want it [ cool factor, status, convenience]

 
These are broad categories to get you started but you have to drill down to more detail to get a clear picture. Also break it down not just to ID the typical user but look at tails or clusters of your data break down to get some insight into "the why" they are using your type product. Research your customer! In the USA the US census data is good start for basic info. Ask your local librarian they are a wealth of information.

September 2016 Calender

TechCrunch Disrupt .   San Francisco, CA , USA,  September 12-14 , 2016
…debuting revolutionary startups, introducing game-changing technologies and discussing what’s top of mind for the tech industry’s key innovators. Disrupt gathers the best and brightest entrepreneurs, investors, hackers, and tech fans for on-stage interviews, the Startup Battlefield competition, a 24-hour Hackathon, Startup Alley, Hardware Alley, and After Parties.


International Manufacturing Technology Show, McCormick Place, Chicago, IL, USA , September 12-17, 2016
The International Manufacturing Technology Show is one of the largest industrial trade shows in the world, featuring more than 2,000 exhibiting companies and 114,147 registrants. The event is held every two years in September at McCormick Place, Chicago


Energy and Clean Technology Venture Forum, Rice University, Houston, TX , USA,  September 15, 2016
The Rice Alliance's 14th Annual Energy and Clean Technology Venture Forum on September 15, 2016 is the largest energy and clean technology venture capital conference in the southwest.


11th International Conference on Researches in Science and Technology (ICRST) , Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, England, September 20-21, 2016
WASRTI aims to bring together worldwide researchers and professionals, encourage intellectual development and providing opportunities for networking and collaboration. These objectives are achieved through academic networking, meetings, conferences, workshops, projects, research publications, academic awards and scholarships.


Surge 2016  , Gaylord National Resort, National Harbor, MD , USA, September 21-22, 2016
 Two days of mind-blowing, practitioner-oriented sessions presented by some of the most established professionals in our field. OmniTI has a reputation for scalable web applications and architectures and a history of sharing the knowledge we learn, working on some of the most critical web infrastructure you'll find anywhere


SAE 2016 Aerospace Systems and Technology Conference (ASTC), Convention center, Hartford, Connecticut, USA, September 27-30, 2016
Unlike other aerospace and defense events, this conference focuses on the practical application and implementation of technology, and technology in development in commercial, military and general aviation. No other event provides the breadth and depth of technical presentations across these domains!