Insider Chatter by Donna Bogatin

 YAY! So far, the Facebook fanboy syndrome has not overtaken the country!

I engaged in a friendly debate last evening with Dod Dodge, Microsoft, and Eric Auchard, Reuters, as co-panelists on the closing “Technology Trends of Today and Tomorrow” discussion of the 17th annual Council For Entrepreneurial Development Conference in Research Triangle, North Carolina:

A panel of high-caliber media representatives will share perspectives on current and future trends in the tech industry. The panelists will reflect on the conference itself, including the 30+ emerging technologies which will be demoed throughout the day, then possibly discuss if/how these demos are related to trends or what’s coming on the “horizon” in various tech industries.

What were those demos? For example:

3dMD LLC (Atlanta, Ga.) 3dMD provides high-precision, ultra fast (1.5 milliseconds) 3D surface imaging devices and sophisticated real-time 3D volumetric imaging software for patient measurement, evaluation, planning, monitoring progress and outcome simulation. 3dMD’s 3D software platform supports a new generation of treatment tools that simulate hard and soft tissue outcomes using the patient’s fused image, (CT/CBCT/3dMD/etc) as the foundation. The company also has dynamic 4D, (60 frames per second), capture which is the basis of cutting edge research being conducted by Dr. Carroll Ann Trotman at t he School of Dentistry, UNC – Chapel Hill.

Potomac Photonics (Lanham, Md. Potomac is expert in miniaturization of medical and electronic devices using laser-based technologies. Precision contract manufacturing, laser system manufacturing and technology development are provided for companies ranging from market leaders to start ups. Features 1-300 microns and critical components for medical products like glucose sensors, DNA microarrays, stents and various diagnostic and drug delivery products; and electronics products like High Density Interconnects, chip cooling and flexible displays, combined with 15 patents, give clients and Partners competitive edge.  Potomac is a mature company with an enviable 247 company clientele, profitability and positive cashflow in all but 2 years and limited only because of lack of growth capital.  Accellent is a good growth and history model because of similar offerings.

Specialty Wood Components (Raleigh, N.C.) Specialty Wood Components is a clean tech company targeting the “green” building materials segment. Specialty Wood Components is commercializing a chemical-free, patented process that combines very high temperatures and compression to dramatically increase the strength, hardness, dimensional stability, and resistance to decay/rot/insects of wood. As a result, wood product companies adopting the Diamond wood Process are able to use less expensive and more abundant raw materials (e.g. pine, spruce, fir, birch) in lieu of more expensive (e.g. oak, cherry) and/or exotic woods (e.g. ipe, teak) and/or pressure/chemical treated wood and/or composite/synthetic wood products.

IN OTHER TECHNOLOGY WORDS: Med tech, green tech, high-tech, BUT NOT FACEBOOK APPS!

I was so engrossed in getting to know the individual, real-world cutting-edge entrepreneurs showcased in the heart of the South East tech corridor, that I didn’t even realize that there were no “must have” Facebook Apps. Not until I returned to the blogosphere, that is, to be greeted by a blogger spat over Facebook love!

It seems that the Internet’s “court jester,” Esther Dyson, message to “throw out your development to go use Facebook,” hasn’t reached the Research Triangle, and THAT IS A GOOD THING!

MORE CED COVERAGE: DayJet CEO: Business Models Drive Disruption, NOT Technology and The Future of Technology VC is Now in Research Triangle

PLUS: Is a Facebook vs. LinkedIn Showdown Near?

CONTACT DONNA BOGATIN

Edward Iacobucci began his Tech 2007 keynote this morning in Research Triangle by sharing that he was a ‘geek” before it was fashionable, way back in the 70’s.

Iacobucci has come a long way since creating his own Computer Science specialty at Georgia Tech, pioneering the IBM OS2 in the 80’s and founding Citrix Systems in the 90s to innovate with server-based computing.

For the new millenium, Iacobucci set his sights on regional business travel, founding DayJet in 2002 to build “the world’s first per-seat, on-demand jet service.”

Five years and $200 million in debt and equity financing later, DayJet ”took off” last week, in Florida:

DayJet members, which number more than 1500 business travelers, can now book just the seat they need aboard DayJet’s fleet of Eclipse 500 VLJs–very light jets–customizing travel according to time and budget requirements: fly point-to-point between an initial five Florida DayPort and return home in a single day, with pricing a ‘modest’ premium to an equivalent full-fare economy coach fare.

For Iacobucci, DayJet’s operational launch is the culmination of his in-house engineering build-out of a “proprietary, fully integrated, real-time logistics optimization and operations system.”

While the IT power is formidable, Iacobucci stressed that the foundation of the future sucess of DayJet will be thanks more to its new type of “customer adaptive” business model, than to the cutting edge technology.

Iacobucci’s core message to the audience of tech entrepreneurs and investors today in Noth Carolina was that while technology is an “agent for change,” it is “new applications of technology” that creates market disruption.

In other entrepreneurial words, don’t look to technology to build the next “bigger, better” implementation of an existing solution, deploy technology to create and serve a new market opportunity.

Iacobucci seeks to disrupt the “modality of travel” by disaggregating regional air transportation with DayJet’s new “on-demand travel sold by the individual seat.” business model.

For the first time, “customers will be in control,” of where they fly, when they fly, and how much it costs, according to DayJet.

Iacobucci hails DayJet as the “next major advance in corporate productivity and regonal economic development” and is confident this chapter in his “geek” business life will also advance the financial returns of his investors.

ALSO, MEET INSIDER CHATTER IN NORTH CAROLINA AS WELL! The Future of Technology VC is Now in Research Triangle: Donna Bogatin Featured On Wrap-Up Panel!

CONTACT DONNA BOGATIN

I will be engaging in a friendly debate with Don Dodge, Microsoft, on Thursday, as we take to the Research Triangle high-tech stage together, along with Eric Auchard, Reuters, at the Council for Entrepreneurial Development Tech 2007 conference in North Carolina to address “Technology Trends of Today and Tommorrow.”

Focused aroud “The Tech Demo Room” where 40 Southeast-based breakout companies in the making will showcase the newest entrepreneurial applications in med tech, digital media, mobile communications, clean tech, IT security, and more, Don, Eric and I will wrap up the day with a high-level look at what is working now, and what will or will not be leading edge over the next five to ten years.

Don jumpstarts the conversation today by suggesting “failing fast is a good thing,” be it in the entrepreneurial life-cycle or the sales cycle:

When you are rasing money, selling a customer, or tyring to get a deal done, it is the long drawn out process that never ends that will kill you, It is the same thing with startups. Being successful is always the goal, but if it is going to fail, fail fast.

In good co-panelist fashion, however, my counterpoint is the old adage, “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”

In other words, perserverence is perhaps the greatest asset an entrepreneur can have, as successful web 1.0 entrepreneur Steven Krein attested to in launching his new Web 2.0 venture last week at the NY Tech Meetup, OrganizedWisdom Health.

Krein recalled his orginal Web glory days: 1996 Co-founder and CEO of the first Internet promotion technology company, Promotions.com, which went public on NASDAQ in 1999 and was acquired by iVilage in 2002.

When asked at the tech meetup for the single most valuable lesson he had for startups, Krein advised that perserverance is easily the greatest asset an entrepreneur in the making can have. Krein shared that he had personally made the rounds of 1000 funding sources, and recieved 1000 NOs before a yes. For Krein, the greuling investment process helped him refine and focus his product and business model so that it evolved into a success-prone venture.

Sometimes, in the entrepreneurial process, “all we have to fear is fear itself.”

ALSO: YAY! Twitter, NOT Jaiku, Can BE the Next Google

CONTACT DONNA BOGATIN