Now’s the time to start an RFID company
Posted by Patrick Sweeney on Wed, Jun 17, 2009
This week's blog is for anyone who has had an entrepreneurial inkling in the past and has considered starting their own company. The timing is perfect to start an RFID company. I say this at the risk of creating another competitor, but at the same time helping the industry accelerate up the adoption curve.
In my ten plus years as the leader of technology companies I've learned many lessons that "I wish I knew then." Among those are the three keys to success in a start-up:
The reason the timing is perfect for an RFID company is that the industry has broken out of the perfect storm we sailed through last summer when the technology improved dramatically, the cost began a steady downward trend and the international standards stabilized. These three factors were validated over the past year and now have created a solid foundation for a legitimate industry. In Andy Grove's Only the Paranoid Survive Grove talks about the strategic inflection points that end up being the death of old established companies, but offer the opportunity for companies with their finger on the pulse of the market. Those folks feeling the heart beat also have a great idea who is spending and where the money is.
For those in the RFID industry it's clear that the big companies who have stuck to the same RFID strategy that they had three or four years ago are abandoning their practice, or withering with little more than marketing. Witness the lack of many of the biggest players at the recent RFID Journal Live. It was the best show in the history of the industry because it was only attended by folks who already knew the industry and were not looking for a free education, and had a project either budgeted or in mind for the near future. Yet, because they could not see the adoption cycle clearly the big system integrators and software companies will miss the boat and end up buying companies a year or two from now to get back in.
If you are one of the industry experts I suggest you start a company now. Here's why: If you get just one or two deals this year it will pay your salary. A down market is the best time to bet on yourself, but you need a certain amount of testicularity to do it. The best way is take a relationship you've developed over the past couple of years - preferably with a paying customer- and use them as your launch pad. Follow two of ODIN's core tenets - Create Supremely Satisfied ClientsTM and Hire the Best you can.
When the economy rebounds in a year or so you'll have worked out the kinks. Major industry will be looking for efficiency plays to help meet fast ramping demand and RFID will fit the bill. Then you can sell your company to one of those big players that didn't read the timing correctly. All you have to do is look at history - Sun missed the data center management space and bought SevenSpace, HP and BEA missed the network automation timing and bought Opsware and RealOps. There are a million examples.
If you aren't sure you'll take the plunge I'll make a deal with you. Write a resignation letter to your current boss. Date it six months from now and sign it. Make three copies. Keep one for yourself, give one to your best friend and send the last one to me. I promise I'll mail it, even if your best friend and you chicken out -then you can call yourself a successful entrepreneur. That was the same offer Jim Collins made to me in 1997.