Books and blogs: growth and exits

Here are a few resources I've come across over the last couple weeks.

I visited the facilities of ATP Innovations earlier this week and am impressed with the level of innovation happening there. Along the way, I came across a related blog calles Successful Innovation which emphasizes events and podcasts by ATP Innovations' bizBetClub.

While at the last Angel Forum, I picked up a copy of Basil Peter's latest book: Early Exits.

"This book is about the large number of other exits - the ones that are not driven by the VCs. Exit opportunities have changed dramatically in the past few years. Today, it's more likely that a company will be sold without ever having an investment from a venture capitalist.

Exits are also happening much earlier than before. The largest number of exit transactions today are in the under $30-million valuation range. These exits are often completed when companies are only two or three years from startup.

The goal of this book is to help entrepreneurs and angel investors have more successful, more frequent and more profitable exits."

I also recently had the pleasure to preview and provide a review for Tom McKaskill's latest book: Raising Angel & Venture Capital Finance. In a private email from him, he mentions the book is available free and may be distributed and put on my website, even though it costs $25 on his. Well .. here goes: FREE. Tom writes about his book:

"The objective of this book is to show the entrepreneur how they can create a business which assists the Angel Investor or VC fund to achieve their objectives. In doing so, there is a high probability of raising finance."

Overall, both books provide great overviews of the current state of privately funded startups (read not publicly listed). I highly recommend both for entrepreneurs who want to start companies, keeping in mind how they want to structure their business to attract the support of angels. While the ultimate goal is presented as a successful exit, the intermediate goal is just as clear: build a profitable business with high-growth potential.

PS: I have added a google calendar bar to the blog to highlight upcoming events related to innovation and entrepreneurship. Thankfully the events can easily be imported into other calendars without requiring manual transcription, and there's a separate RSS feed, too.

IJTE publication available now and organizations that support innovation in BC

This is just s short announcement that the IJTE article I co-authored with Elicia Maine is now available via Inderscience:

• Bliemel, M.J., Maine, E.M.A. (2008) Network embeddedness as a predictor of performance for New Technology-Based Firms, International Journal of Technoentrepreneurship, 1(3), pp. 313 - 341

Also, here's a fun course projected I worked on with Ben, Josh and co during their MBA at SFU. It's a reapplication of Puttick's Complexity Grid to organizations in Vancouver and BC that promote innovation (link):

Here's another interesting article that's applied it to Clusters:

• Carrie, A. (1999) Integrated clusters – the future basis of competition, International Journal of Agile Management Systems, 1(1), pp. 45-50(6)

PS: Congrats to Ben & Josh at Saltworks for scooping 1st place and the sustainability prize at New Ventures BC!

Publication announcement: Network Embeddedness as a Predictor of Performance for New Technology-Based Firms

Another publication I am a co-author of just got accepted for publication at the International Journal of Technoentrepreneurship:

Network Embeddedness as a Predictor of Performance for New Technology-Based Firms
by Martin J. Bliemel, Elicia M.A. Maine
Abstract: The logic of network embeddedness has been widely used in the technology entrepreneurship literature in recent years, yet its operationalization and use are neither well understood nor agreed upon. This paper provides a literature review of the logic of network embeddedness as it has been invoked and operationalized to predict the performance of New Technology-Based Firms (NTBFs). We find that: 1) existing studies, both inside and outside of the technology entrepreneurship literature, employ the logic of embeddedness and operationalize network embeddedness in vastly different ways; 2) empirical NTBF studies frequently use linear and unidimensional measures when invoking embeddedness to explain NTBF performance; and 3) surprisingly few studies rationalize NTBF performance using curvi-linear methods, interaction effects or contingency factors that account for firm contexts and firm constraints. All other operationalizations are subject to unbounded conclusions, thus overlooking the costs of maintaining network relationships. The studies that consider such constraints support the logic of network embeddedness, in that there is a growth-stage appropriate portfolio size and composition that leads to superior performance. Network embeddedness appears to be a useful predictor for NTBF performance when operationalized at both the dyad and network levels and accounting for firm characteristics and environmental conditions. Without accounting for such firm and environment specific variations, the predictive value of network embeddedness is far lower. An appropriate operationalization of embeddedness for predicting the performance of NTBFs should take both the relative benefits and the relative drawbacks of strong and weak ties into account. We propose that it should also account for the limited capacity of the firm to engage in external exchanges of either strength. With such contingencies, network embeddedness can guide executive’s decisions in managerial resource allocation, and policymakers in industry networking activities to stimulate regional firm growth.
Keywords: Network Embeddedness, Growth, Technology Entrepreneurship, New Technology-Based Firm, Networks, Performance

To learn more about my research, you'll have to either read my papers, or just meet me in person. My upcoming presentation at AOM is a good start.
For more info about Elicia's research, you can also check out her new Advanced Materials Commercialization site with Jim Utterback and Elizabeth Garnsey.