Week 13: Entrepreneurial Journey

It's been really interesting taking this class because I am also taking IEOR 186: Product Management. There's been some overlap but that class I'm building a mobile app whereas here we're using IP/patents which makes the mindset really different. The audience is different, the customers are different, the way we're trying to get buy in from investors is different.

The highlights is to be able to work with patents and get to this different mindset and really exercise those muscles and things we've learned so far. The lowlights would be that I was not the one who chose the patent, so it can get difficult to get buy in from the person who did in order to contribute more to the project. It was a bit difficult to work with this person because obviously they felt that they were the expert on the patent, but I think they found it difficult to let go of that ownership.

Something I learned from my other classes is that while you may be the originator of an idea, it's important to let some of that control go so that the best ideas from other individuals can help shape the final product. It's still something that our team needs to get a handle on for the final pitch- we'll see how it goes.

Week 12: Near the End

There is a lot that we need to get done. Our group is still particularly concerned with financials and making them accurate. We really wanted to get accurate numbers on manufacturing hydrogen fuel cells but it's really difficult to get into contact or find these prices. I think everything else we are settling well into: we are confident in our mission and how it will attract to people who are interested in sustainability. We're pretty confident in the technology and the good it will do, I just personally wish that there was enough good numbers to grab the attention of more business-minded people.

Week 11: Patent

1. Please explain the background, technology and idea behind your patent.

Our patent is for a chemical compound (powder) to be used in hydrogen fuel cells. The nanostructure allows for more hydrogen to be stored in a smaller space. The goal is to reduct the pressure in the fuel cell. Hydrogen fuel cells are more common in busses (large vehicles), but when scaled down to smaller cars, face problems of combustion because of the high pressure in the small space. This patent solves that issue for further development of hydrogen fuel cell cars. 

2. Please explain its claims.

The claims go over the actual nanostructure compound, with graphene ribbons and metal nanocrystals. The hydrogen gas would react with the nanocrystals on the graphene ribbons to provide a safer fuel source. Most of the claims go through the exact materials needed to make the compound.

3. Please analyze the key component of claim #1 or other claims of your patent.

The most important part is "wherein the nanostructured composite is capable of reversibly adsorbing one or more gases." The initial claim shows what the material is, but this part explains why this compound is important. "Absorbing one or more gases" will later show mainly hydrogen gas, which will reduce the pressure in the cell. 

4. What is the business potential and business markets of this patent?

Business potential is large, but still at a potential. It's difficult to gauge hydrogen car interest because it's done poorly with general safety in the past. Although our patent solves that issue, it is still difficult to measure interest based on these past numbers. 

5. Who are the potential customers in your market and why?

Potential customers for licensing are car manufacturers with hydrogen research labs in place already. For example, Toyota has actually released a hydrogen car in the $50k range, limited supply. They started introducing the technology in the late 90s to release the car within the last few years. I think they are invested enough to be interested in our patent.

6. What are the benefits/value of the patent for these customers?

This patent solves the main (giant) issue with producing more hydrogen fuel cell cars: safety. In all cars, safety is a huge factor, and as soon as a manufacturer takes a hit related to safety, even on just one model, it will affect their entire company and every product they have (aka a PR nightmare).

Week 10: More Research

   We are still not getting far with our customer research. It's much more difficult than we thought to contact hydrogen researchers for cars. I think as a group we need to think about smaller weekly deliverables to further our project. By now, I think we see that cold-contacting is not working very well so we'll have to find other means of research and interviews to get the data we want.

Week 9: Customer Part 2

Week 9: Customer Part 2

   This week, we started to collect information on research labs for car companies. It was a great suggestion from Rick and we found contact information to these labs. However, almost all of the research labs in Silicon Valley focus on automation or other software based endeavors. We couldn't find a hydrogen person in the labs. 

   I unfortunately missed our most recent group meeting this week, so it may have changed, but now the strategy would be to find where hydrogen research is done and try to get in contact with them. And still continuing end consumer research to make the business plan pitch. 

Week 8: Customer

Week 8: Customer

   This is the beginning of our customer week. We're trying to juxtapose creating a user story/business plan to pitch for licensing our patent, and then analyzing potential customers to actually license to. Finding industry customers for licensing has been difficult so we focused on getting data for general end consumers to use in the pitch. 

   Right now there's not a lot of traction because we haven't done in depth interviews (just surveys) and there is a learning curve with hydrogen cell cars. So two main problems here: 1) surveying end consumers requires educating them on hydrogen cell cars, 2) very difficult to find people who are already educated on this within our networks (1st, 2nd, 3rd) primarily because of our age and none of us have experience in this industry. 

   We'll see how it goes but I am personally doing some more research on other patents to see if we can combine or pivot because of the accessibility issue to information. 

Week 7: Team Dynamics

Team Dynamics

   I think our team dynamics are pretty good at this point. We were fortunate to find a patent and a responding professor early on so we are mainly working on learning more about the market and industry.
   I am in a team with Niels, Nick, Matt, and Clarissa. Our current patent on the Hydrogen Gas Tank is something that Nick, a Chemical Engineer, initially chose. He is currently trying to educate the rest of us and we're getting up to speed on the industry and how it works. Niels was our star during the Rejection Game and is very comfortable speaking to just about anyone which will be useful. Matt is an undergrad Haas student which will help as we develop our business plans. Clarissa is the project manager of the group and easily delegates when things get confusing. For me, I currently work at a software startup, so I hope to bring in that startup knowledge into this non-software setting. Very excited to see where this goes.