· TRW, Cydrome, Ardent, Stardent, Kubom Pacific

· VP Engineering at Chronologic Simulation

· Director, Verilog Consulting Services

· President, Silicon Sorcery

CHICKEN OR EGG?

• A company is expensive to run - A chicken needs food
• Get the idea first, then start the company - An egg doesn't eat!
• Do a Business plan FIRST!

CONSULTING IS A GREAT WAY TO

• Meet the customer 
• Feel their pain 
• Earn their trust 
• Attain Eureka!
• All while earning money...

FUNDING PROS & CONS

•  Self funding: Chronologic
  - Highest risk, lowest cost
•  Synergistic funding: Silicon Sorcery 
  - Split risk with knowledgeable partner 
  - Need to keep them in the loop
•  Venture funding
  - They want to help you spend the money
•  Customer funding -> The goal!

CUSTOMER ORIENTATION 

•  Pick 2 or 3 key customers
•  Make them happy
•  Success will follow

TEAM BUILDING

•  Choose smart people who are easy to work with
  •  Smart people can learn new things
  • Grouches are always grouchy
  • Diverse experiences are a plus 
  • Brings more potential customer contacts 
  • Brings more skill sets together

•  Pessimists and Optimists need each other 
  •  Checks and balances

MARKETING

•  Perception is reality
•  To appear big, act big 
•  You start with a great reputation
•  Later you can only make it worse

TO MERGE OR NOT TO MERGE

•  Would you sell your house, but still live in it?
•  Maybe it's OK if you sell to the Bank
•  If you sell, it's best to expect to leave

ADVISORS

•  View them as possible investors
  - Give them stock options
•  View them as possible customers 
   If they won't buy the product, who will? 
•  View them as possible employees
   Get them to build it with you 
•  View them as possible owners

KEYS TO SUCCESS

•  Build something you would use
•  Share the gain, and people will still share the pain
  - A small group can only do small things, and achieve small success 
•  Do the paper work
  - $100 spent to do it right is worth $100,000 to fix it later.