Category Archives: Innovocracy Startups

How Much Money Should You Raise?

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I’ve been on calls and video shoots with three new projects we’ll be posting in January. One of the questions that comes up is how much money to ask for. We usually recommend a couple of things to think about:

  • Our sweet spot is a range between $3000 and $15000
  • Generally we recommend asking for the lesser amount- it is entirely possible to raise more than you ask for
  • Decide how you are going to use the money and be specific: A prototype, more research, an early production run, a next generation version, etc.
  • You can explain how you’d spend additional money if you get it: With $3000 we can take our current version and upgrade it to use cheaper parts. If we raise $6000 we’ll do that and build a test production run of twenty gizmos made for testing.
  • It’s easier to raise money if you show the potential supporter that their contribution is going to result in measurable progress towards a usable product, service or device, etc.

These days the ability to make things at lower cost is a reality. Innovations like rapid prototyping, 3D printers, agile software development, minimal viable product, cloud access to tools and other often free resources mean you can change the world for a few dollars.

To see how far this can go, read about an entrepreneur that is funding six startups with $37.00 dollars each (that is not a typo). The 37 bucks gets you six months of server rental and a hot beverage. He has had hundreds of applications for the program!

How to strengthen the story of your innovation

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We have a bunch of exciting new Projects coming to Innovocracy after the holidays. And one of the big value-adds we work on with our Innovators is helping them tell their story in a compelling way. Story is the key word- we respond to stories emotionally and if we have an emotional response we are more likely to reach into our pockets and support that innovation.

So let’s look at some factors you can use to strengthen any story:

  • Humanize it. Who will be directly for affected, for the better, by your invention? Innovocracy is a social innovation platform. Tell us, and the world, who benefits and how.
  • Get specific. Tell a story about one person who you want to help or have helped. With the autism training device we funded last year we heard about the family of a twelve year old girl who was trained with the device. It changed their lives (think about it).
  • Be excited. Enthusiasm is contagious. Don’t speak in a monotone or talk about tech specs. Talk about what excites you about the work you’re doing!
  • Get testimonials. Real people talking about your invention and its potential. Quotes are great but video is better. Powerful.
  • Update frequently. Keeping people posted on progress is a part of the reward they get for supporting you. Make them feel their donation is still making a difference.
  • Tell specifically how you will use the funding: Goal, timeline, desired result, testing, availability, website, prototype, product, etc.
  • Talk about your qualifications as they relate to your project. A long list of achievements is nice to have but only those that make you exceptionally qualified to build your Project and promote it are important.

As you start thinking about funding a Project via Innovocracy start gathering a tickler file of this info. Anecdotes, interesting or unexpected outcomes, people stories and more. Photos and video clips, even drawing or specs. We’ll help you post them here and spread the word on social media. It’s easy with a powerful story.

The Wrap-Up From MonoMano

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We just received a great summation of how MonoMano benefited from working with Innovocracy. They are a fully operational small business bringing the joys of cycling to those with disabilities. I’m not going to paraphrase, here’s the whole thing- and it was a total pleasure on our end too!

“Dear Mikael,

I am pleased to submit a Final Report on the Innovocracy funding of MonoMano.  The team has completed the expenditures of the funds provided through Innovocracy and have been able to make substantial progress, in spite of very busy schedules.  David sent me the following note to summarize their activity and report back to you and possibly the donors.  Their expenses included two tricycles for testing and marketing, materials and supplies, contract manufacturing, business software, insurance.    This funding mechanism was really invaluable for the team and it’s very rewarding for all of us to see the potential for our students to extend their successful projects.  We look forward to working with you again!
Funds received:    $5931
On behalf of MonoMano, Inc., I would like to thank everyone at Innovocracy, Prof. Amy Lerner, Prof. Laurel Carney, and everyone who donated to our cause. These invaluable mentors coupled with generous financial contributions were paramount to our success thus far, and we are incredibly grateful for all of the support. Thanks to these resources, MonoMano has translated a first generation design in April to an up-and-running small business.
Upon first receiving funding in early July, our team was able to file a provisional patent for the design and establish the MonoMano, Inc. as a Delaware S-corp. Meanwhile, the team was making a few design improvements, and we purchased the materials and tools required to manufacture the first 25 units in August. Between August and now, Dominic, Sara and Martin have been working hard to finalize the devices into customer-ready products. In September, MonoMano acquired a recumbent tricycle in order to properly calibrate and test each handlebar for quality and safety.

Recently, MonoMano purchased liability insurance and transitioned into sales and marketing efforts. Our website is now fully-functional and linked to PayPal for easy sales (www.monomanocycling.com). This month, the team published a Facebook advertisement and began making sales calls. Another tricycle was sent to Dominic in Florida to be used as a local marketing tool. User installation instructions have been created and are included with the purchase of the device. Additionally, we have purchased tax software to help with filing in the coming months. We are excited to have two new customers, and are looking forward to the exciting future of this venture.

I would like to reiterate how valuable Innovocracy and our advisors at the University of Rochester have been to our team. The continual feedback, guidance and support has been integral to our success.
- David Narrow, CEO”
Is that cool or what?

MonoMano Progress Update

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We checked in with the MonoMano team to check on the progress of their one arm control bar for cyclists, one of the first funded Innovocracy Projects. Things are moving along for the business they’ve formed around their invention (with a little help from the Innovocracy team!).

From David Narrow of MonoMano:

“MonoMano has now transitioned from manufacturing to sales and marketing efforts. We have established a $50 installation quote with Park Ave bike shop, have a Facebook ad targeted to stroke survivors, and have begun making sales calls to adaptive sports organizations and physical therapy outpatient centers. I have attached a photo of our most recent handlebar, and should have a photo with the handlebar mounted on the trike coming soon.”

Actually the image above showed up right after Dave sent that message! Fantastic work guys and thanks to everyone whose funding helped make this a reality. More images and info on the MonoMano website.

MonoMano Update: See what your funding helped build

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The assembled MonoMano control arm

25 New Control Arms Ready For Final Assembly by MonoMano

Innovocracy’s second funded project from the University of Rochester has used their funds to build 25 improved models of their handlebar control arm designed to enable those with the use of one arm to ride a recumbent bike. MonoMano is a business now and though its five founders are headed for grad school they are continuing to refine their designs, take them to market and work on new projects. Here’s Amy Lerner’s update:

“The MonoMano team has made excellent progress during the last few months, showing great momentum towards the launch of their product. The team has focused their expenditures on purchasing the materials and components necessary to assemble the first 25 products to be delivered – modified handlebars compatible with the identified models of the tricycle. They have also identified a potential manufacturer for some of the components and investigated appropriate insurance necessary before delivery of the product to customers. A company web page is in place and procedures for marketing are under development. The team has begun establishing a board of directors and advisors and has done a remarkable job proceeding with a team dispersed around the country.

The breakdown for anticipated expenses (including approximately $1750 already spent) is as follows:

Components, bicycle parts, packaging: ~$2000 (most already spent)
Liability Insurance: ~$1000 (in October)
Tricycle (for testing and verification of manufacturing): ~$1000 (in October or November)
Outsourced Manufacturing (vendor identified) ~$2000 (in November)

… We are all very grateful for your support in launching this exciting company whose product will serve the needs of a unique and deserving group!”

VizWiz and The Socially Beneficial App: Support This Innovocracy Project

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“Another, called VizWiz, allowed them to take a picture of an item and pose questions about it to an online community of sighted people.

At one point, Charlson posted the question, “What does this box say?” Seconds later, a response was read aloud by the device: “Honey Maid graham crackers,” the phone said.

With VizWiz, “I have 10,000 people in my pocket waiting to help me,” Charlson said. “It’s amazing.”

From Boston.com article on the use of apps to aid the visually impaired.

One of our current Innovocracy funding Projects is VizWiz, a iPhone/iPad app that reads print for visually disabled people. The premise is simple but the execution is complex: The user points their iOS device at printed material and takes a photo. The photo is transmitted to a website where a volunteer reads it aloud. That reading is transmitted to the device, in real time, and it is read back to the user.

VizWiz is raising money on Innovocracy to make their app scalable, in other words to go from serving 5000 users with over 50,000 translations to many times that. The funds they raise will help the app reach many more people without compromising quality. This not only means increasing their volunteer base and the ability of their web site to handle volume but it also puts them on a path to automating the translation from print to speech.

“Despite their limitations, the apps are still a means to reducing such dependence on others, according to Charlson. “There’s absolutely a rush,” he said. “There’s a feeling of acceptance and inclusion that only comes as a result of a high level of independence.”

As we’ve written about, Innovocracy is not just about creating profitable products and services. These products need to have a core function that benefits society. VizWiz is a prime example of how this works. The app is free and the volunteers are unpaid. The users’ quality of life is impacted in a meaningful and positive way. And all it takes is a donation of a few dollars from you to take this to the next level. To Donate Visit This Page.

We see that as a total win-win situation.

VizWiz was developed out of research from the University of Rochester, a founding Innovocracy Network Member Institution.

Innovocracy Announces Academic Crowdfunding Project for an App for the Visually Impaired

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VizWiz App Builds on a University of Rochester Prototype Already Used by 5,000 People to Answer 50,000 Questions

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Rochester, NY (PRWEB) August 10, 2012

Contact: Martin Edic, 585-727-3119

Earlier this year, the University of Rochester Human Computer Interaction Group developed an initial iOS application called VizWiz, that blind people can use to answer visual questions in their everyday lives. Users simply take a picture and speak a question they’d like to know about it, and their questions are answered by people out on the web, usually in under a minute and all for free.

Thus far, answers have been provided primarily by workers on Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, a paid microtasking marketplace. In order to broaden the availability of the service to a larger portion of the visually impaired community, the project is now seeking crowdfunding through the Innovocracy platform.

“We would like to create a web site to serve as a hub and answering center for VizWiz volunteers. The site will allow users to sign up to answer questions, track worker quality (and perhaps give rewards to the best ones), and, most importantly, allow VizWiz to remain free to users,” says Jeff Bigham, Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science at the University of Rochester. He adds, “Building a volunteer workforce may eventually allow for more ambitious VizWiz services, such as a streaming video option”.

New supporters can make donations through the VizWiz project page on Innovocracy (http://innovocracy.org/vizwiz-support-network) as well as download the current version of the application on the Apple App Store (http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/vizwiz/id439686043).

About the Innovator
In 2009, Jeff appeared on the MIT Technology Review Top 35 Innovators Under 35 for his work on Web-Anywhere, a free screen reader that can be used with practically any web browser on any operating system. He is also the recipient of the NSF CAREER Award which is the National Science Foundation’s most prestigious awards in support of junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars. Jeff is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Rochester where he heads the Rochester Human Computer Interaction Group (ROC HCI). His work is at the intersection of human-computer interaction, human computation, and artificial intelligence, with a focus on developing innovative technology that serves people with disabilities in their everyday lives.

About Innovocracy.org
Innovocracy, a benefit corporation based in New York State, is a social funding platform created to rapidly commercialize innovation coming out of academic research. Innovocracy is building a network of leading research universities, as well as of individuals with an interest in sponsoring commercializable research, in order to efficiently identify and fund critical proof-of-concept activities and take the first steps toward building companies around university-based innovations. Most of the products and services supported by Innovocracy create social benefit for society, such as those related to healthcare, sustainability, education and extreme affordability. Innovocracy’s social funding site at http://www.innovocracy.org helps inventors raise money from donors with a personal or professional interest in the social benefits of those inventions. All the funds raised, except third-party credit card fees, go directly to the innovator while conforming to the unique requirements of each member university. In addition, Innovocracy offers to work with select innovators to facilitate the creation of startups to commercialize their research. Learn more at Innovocracy.org.

Link to this on PRWeb: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/8/prweb9783501.htm

Crowdfunding News: June 18-24

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Crowdfunding is a super hot topic right now so we’re going to highlight a few news items each week that we’ve found interesting. Because things are evolving almost daily with new concepts and sites appearing and pundits weighing in, this weekly column is not ‘state of the art’, it is closer to social anthropology, i.e. we’re engaged observers and participants watching an emerging phenomena:

Weighing In On The JOBS Act:

Here’s a pretty fishy take on using crowdfunding to fool NASDAQ into thinking you have a large enough shareholder base to be listed.

 Innovocracy News:

Light news this week as summer begins!

General Crowdfunding News:

A seemingly frivolous lawsuit has The Oatmeal creator raising defense funds on IndieGoGo (over $180,000) who, in turn get sued by the lawyer who brought the suit on tax questions. Confused yet? Going to see more stuff about the sales tax and deductability issues as this progresses, I’m sure.

 News For Project Owners

Marketing guru Seth Godin shares insights on why Kickstarter projects fail and succeed: Their tribes are not big enough. While Innovocracy is quite different, this advice is directly applicable to your Project.

 

Crowdfunding News: June 11-17, 2012

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Crowdfunding is a super hot topic right now so we’re going to highlight a few news items each week that we’ve found interesting. Because things are evolving almost daily with new concepts and sites appearing and pundits weighing in, this weekly column is not ‘state of the art’, it is closer to social anthropology, i.e. we’re engaged observers and participants watching an emerging phenomena:

Weighing In On The JOBS Act:

The Economist takes a look at equity crowdfunding- a view from across the pond.

 Innovocracy News:

MonoMano, an Innovocracy-funded company, demonstrates their single handed control device enabling those with the use of only one arm to ride a recumbent bike.

General Crowdfunding News:

Crowdfunding or CommunityFunding, a white paper from yet another site trying to differentiate their model from the crowd. However, the community concept is pretty important- we tap into large communities centered around universities including students, alumni, parents, faculty and administration.

Clayton Christensen, author of The Innovator’s Dilemma on why he invested in crowdfunding site CircleUp. Their focus is equity investing in consumer and retail startups.

 News For Project Owners

Sir James Dyson on why failure is a desirable trait.

 

How Do Innovocracy Projects Become Businesses?

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One of our goals in starting Innovocracy is to see successful projects develop into revenue-generating businesses that benefit both the inventors and the institutions that helped them innovate. While it is much too early in our evolution to see how this will unfold, considering your options should the opportunity arise is important. We hope to provide support for this next stage in energizing innovation in higher ed.

Company Vs. License

There are basically two scenarios for successful commercialization of your product or targeted research. Start a company or license the IP to someone else. Even early in the process, having an idea which you prefer can change the way you do things. If you are developing for a complex industry with large markets like pharma and most medical devices you are probably looking at licensing because of extensive capital requirements and long time frames to get to market. It takes deep pockets and infrastructure very different than a start-up to support these kinds of products.

If you serve a niche market that can be profitable or you have a product like software that can be developed and distributed with lightweight resources, then you might consider a start-up. Affordable scalability and an easily reachable market are the criteria in this example. It costs a lot of money and time to reach a big market. A niche is much easier to bootstrap on a marketing level. Scalability at the early stage really means digital. If you’re designing chips that require fabs, that’s not scalable for a start-up. License. An app? Scale to the moon for practically nothing, if you can reach a receptive market.

The Power of Traction

Fortunately, if you have successfully funded via Innovocracy you have proven, in a small way, that there may be a market that you can reach with limited resources. And you have begun to acquire ‘traction’, that all important indicator that there is an interested market. This, in turn, can help you raise capital to start a business.

On the licensing side, multiple patents and other IP help with traction. If you used your Innovocracy funding to do a proof of concept, then you may be headed for a license. Use your funding story to flush out possible partners.

Ask Yourself: Am I A Manager?

Finally, ask yourself if you really want to manage a company? It’s very different than working in a lab. If the answer is yes, you probably need an operationally-inclined business partner. If not, work with your tech transfer people to find a licensing partner.