A leg up on getting started: Raising visibility for a business startup

Posted on by
Reply
Northern Virginia Technology Council

 

Starting a business or working in the technology startup world is a daunting challenge and gut wrenching exercise. With a 90 percent failure rate, it is no wonder launching a successful, sustainable and profitable business is such a nerve inducing endeavor.It is reasonable to say that small businesses, innovators and entrepreneurs are gluttons for punishment. They the very lifeblood of America’s economy and must possess a near endless reserve of determination and dedication to an extremely difficult task.

There are a multitude of factors that contribute to the failure of a business, including a lack of necessary capital, poor market timing, inability to properly understand end-user and customer needs, failure to execute, loss of specific vision, poor allocation of resources, and the list goes on.

Even so, there are a multitude of opportunities out there with fast approaching deadlines aimed at addressing at least one potential pitfall that startups face, which is exposure.

The Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC), the largest technology trade association for the technology community in the country with roughly 200,000 employees in the area, is keen on facilitating opportunities to highlight great businesses regionally.

“The majority of NVTC’s technology member companies are small, with fewer than 10 employees,” notes Bobbie Kilberg, NVTC President and CEO. “And membership in our startup technology member category has doubled in the last two years. We believe that growth in the entrepreneur community is critical to driving innovation and the future development and sustainability of our regional and national economy.”

In turn, NVTC hosts the ‘Hottest Ticket Awards’ annually to highlight entrepreneurial efforts by technology firms. One of these awards, ‘The Hottest Bootstrapped Award,’ seeks to recognize companies that demonstrate the ability to achieve the ‘most’ with the ‘least,’ as the award nomination descriptor explains.

“The NVTC Hot Ticket Awards are unique because they celebrate the efforts of the rising stars that are shaking things up in the region’s technology community,” explains Kilberg.

“The nominees benefit not only from great networking at the event, but also from being recognized among an elite group of truly dynamic, ground-breaking companies. In recent years, being named a finalist for the Hot Tickets has been a stepping stone to wider recognition and growth.”

NVTC is not alone in its effort to provide the necessary exposure to propel emerging businesses with a brilliant idea but finite resources out of obscurity. In fact, Gregory FCA, a full-service integrated public relations firm that lists SAP, Sprint, FedEx, Nike, and various venture capital firms (to name only a few amongst an impressive list of top tier clients), is also jumping into the game of assisting emergent, disadvantaged and disruptive startup firms.

The firm has created and unveiled what it calls the ‘Best Unknown Business in America’ contest. Its stated purpose is to identify and recognize the country’s best-unknown business, granting the winner $10,000 in cash and an in-kind services contribution of $40,000 for a public relations campaign.

Greg Matusky, President of Gregory FCA sums up the intent of the contest explaining, “We developed the contest after realizing there are thousands of companies out there with great stories to tell but no one to tell them to. So we decided to find the best unknown business and give them cash, as well as a mouthpiece for telling their story. We think it’s a fun way to celebrate American business while helping an unknown company catapult their visibility.”

For its finishing touch Gregory FCA added some star power and always appreciated entrepreneurial know-how to the equation by enlisting the support of Miles Spencer, a serial angel investor who also co-created the MoneyHunt, a reality based television show that funded aspiring entrepreneurs.

As Spencer explains, “My life’s passion has been about building businesses and helping them grow, so I understand intimately the role that visibility plays in transforming companies and ramping up their growth. When Gregory FCA came to me with this idea, I thought it was an excellent way to find the next breakout American company that could benefit from the exposure that a professional public relations firm can provide.”

While publicity and public recognition are not the only defining elements to the recipe for startup triumph, it sure does not hurt to have it in a new business’ bag of tricks. As every entrepreneur knows, it takes more than a dollar and a dream to achieve success.

The deadline to nominate a hot entrepreneurial technology company for NVTCs 2013 Hottest Bootstrap award is May 3.

The deadline to submit a nomination for the ‘Best Unknown Business in America’ sponsored by Safeguard Scientifics and Gregory FCA is June 18.

To read more from the Washington Times Communities, please go HERE.

About these ads

Holistic Security: Remaining Vigilant

Posted on by
Reply
2013 Boston Marathon Aftermath (wikipedia)

2013 Boston Marathon Aftermath (wikipedia)

“Capitol Police are responding to reports of suspicious packages in the Hart and Russell Senate office buildings and a bomb squad is on the scene. The buildings have not been evacuated, but certain areas of the buildings have been closed.” – Politico, April 17, 2013

The recent terror attack at the Boston Marathon is a stark reminder that the threat to the homeland remains ever-present. While the investigation is in its initial stages and the reason for the attack and number of perpetrators remains unclear, it is clear that businesses and security professionals need to remain vigilant.

Proper training and awareness of company emergency protocols, continuity of operations programs, and corporate security efforts are coming to the forefront of the minds of CSOs and other executives who are tasked with ensuring proper safeguards are implemented.

Part of this equation is ensuring that all employees, from the C-level Executive all the way down to maintenance staff, are reminded to stay alert and report suspicious activity and anything outside the norm to the proper channels.

Elsa Lee, a former U.S. Army Counterintelligence Agent and terrorism expert explains, “Following a security incident, especially the recent tragic terrorist attacks in Boston, it is important that all corporate security officers recognize that their people and company team members are vital assets and partners in maintaining vigilance and security awareness. People are the first line of defense and serve as a critical protective component as well as a reporting mechanism for enhanced situational awareness.”

Underscoring Lee’s observations about individuals being vitally important eyes and ears, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has asked the public for assistance in the ongoing Boston bombing investigation. In an online post the FBI stated, “If you have visual images, video, and/or details regarding the explosions along the Boston Marathon route and elsewhere, e-mail them to boston@ic.fbi.gov. No piece of information or detail is too small.”

While the FBI’s request for information is a reactive tactic, preventative reporting plays a key role in thwarting attacks and disrupting precursor planning for such attacks. Lee, who is also the CEO and founder of Advantage SCI, LLC, a prime defense contractor and a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned and Woman-Owned Small Business, recommends that CSOs and other security personnel encourage employees to stay alert and report suspicious activity.

Specifically, Lee proposes four main points that should be emphasized during this heightened period of security.

  1. CSOs and corporate security personnel need to formulate aggressive proactive strategies and strong security programs that are well documented, well rehearsed and well coordinated across all sectors — the first responder community, businesses and the public.
  2. CSOs and corporate security personnel need to remind employees that they must be aware of their surroundings and of suspicious people. In recent years, observant citizens have reported suspicious individuals covertly photographing metro railways and trains, as well as other soft targets, in major cities across the nation — from Los Angeles to New York. The perceptive employees and average citizens who report such instances become a vital element, serving as an early warning net, particularly during periods of heightened alert.
  3. Collaboration and cooperation remains key. Everyone needs to work together. Employees need to be sharply attuned to what is happening around them. If they see, feel, or know that something is out of place, out of the norm, or simply strange in that moment of time, they need to act on it.
  4. Suspicious activity should be reported immediately. Terrorist attacks require planning and preparing before they are carried out. It will be difficult to detect and thwart terrorist activities on the day of the attack. If terrorist activities are not discovered in the prepping stages, the best you can hope for is that someone will detect a package or backpack left unattended or placed at the target location on the day of the attack, when civilians are already in danger.

To read additional post at CTO Vision, please go HERE.

*Published on April 17, 2013

The Reality of Single Actor Cyber Attacks (CTO Vision)

Posted on by
Reply

13510b35c8b8a54

Editor’s note: Timothy Coleman is a prolific writer and analyst who publishes frequently on topics of interest to operational technologists as well as strategic technology thinkers. 

“The security of our IT systems and the physical security of our firms assets remains a top tier priority. We are investigating the matter and diligently working to address this issue…”

It is difficult to imagine a worse day for a CIO, CSO, CTO or company representative, who, after being told that a major security breach has occurred on their watch, has to deal with responding to a media request to confirm or deny a massive attack has occurred – much less the ensuing multitude of severely displeased customer queries.   But it happens, and it happens often.

Breaches in security, especially on the cyber scale, are particularly detrimental because they expose flaws and shortcomings in the most delicate sector of a business’ domain.  As technology advances at an exponential rate, so does the amount of techniques for manipulating it.

“As criminals and hackers become more tech-savvy and daring, it is up to security professionals to help businesses stay several steps ahead,” said Ray Cavanagh, a board member of the American Society for Industrial Security’s Physical Security Council and the Vice President of the security company Crescent Guardian.

“To do this, companies and corporate security personnel need to increase their vigilance and recognize the importance that convergence of physical and IT security affords. Together, once siloed assets will play a larger role in better anticipating threats, adapting to trends and increasing the ability to anticipate potential areas of vulnerabilities, counter penetration efforts of opportunity, and thwart targeted attacks across the spectrum.”

As simple as it seems, increasing vigilance and anticipating vulnerabilities in security, even on the most rudimentary scale, can be more complicated than expected –and usually is.

The truth is, in this advancing age of technology, cyberpunks and malintent coders can usually find, or make, a way to access desired information with enough determination and skill.  It’s up to businesses to keep the most adept intruders and technically proficient exploiters on their side of the security struggle.

Illustrating this reality, and the consequences that even the most mundane and juvenile attacks on corporations have, is the recent example posted in Forbes of Kevin Mitnick’s favorite acknowledged exploit as a kid targeting the McDonald’s drive-thru intercom system.

To read the full post at CTO Vision, please go HERE.

By Timothy W. Coleman and Olivia Wilson

XPrize Foundation Features Forbes Article on Huffington Post

Posted on by
2

x prize logo

The X Prize Foundation, a non-profit organization that designs and manages public competitions intended to encourage technological development, featured my recent Forbes article on the hacker Kevin Mitnick in the Huffington Post today.

Thanks, Peter D!

huffington-post-masthead

Check out the Huffington Post piece HERE.

Cheers!

 

 

Is mobile health approaching its iPhone moment?

Posted on by
Reply
Photo: Medical iPhone technology

Photo: Medical iPhone technology

Technological advances once merely imagined in Sci-Fi flicks (think of Star Trek’s communicator, Bluetooth technologies, and even a quasi version of touch enabled computer screens) are being realized and even superseded thanks to modern innovation.

Mobile technology, in particular, is experiencing a surge of advances in relation to the medical industry. Research breakthroughs, advances in supporting technology infrastructure, and even substantial allocations of resources from private investors are realizing far reaching technological dreams, and then some.

Several weeks ago, Mike Lazaridis’ Research In Motion’s Blackberry Vice Chairman, (the maker of those once ubiquitous handheld wireless devices), launched a $97 million dollar Quantum Valley Investments fund to support innovation and entrepreneurs focused on creating non-invasive medical diagnostic equipment. The idea is simply to make “Star Trek’s” medical tricorder device for diagnosis a reality.

The push to go mobile has been years in the making and has, in many respects, been assisted by underlying communications technology and the utilization of what many in Silicon Valley have termed the social, mobile, web trifecta. Smartphones, applications, and social media have helped to drive mobile advancements in relation to consumer technology adoption, and impactful breakthroughs in medical technologies have been evolving as well.

And the mobility aspect of consumer technologies isn’t slowing down any time soon. In fact, the utilization of once consumer-focused technologies into broader and, dare it be said, more significant applications continues to move forward at a rapid clip. Mobile health (mHealth) remains a serious innovator and benefactor in terms of mobile technologies.

Marc Perlman, Global Vice President of Healthcare and Life Sciences, Oracle Healthcare observes, “The mainstreaming and explosion of wireless devices and the advent of mHealth technologies bring an unprecedented opportunity to transform the delivery of healthcare while improving outcomes, particularly in the area of chronic condition management, which based on recent reports accounts for at least three-quarters of all healthcare spending in developed countries.”

“Since tools being developed can monitor a variety of indicators – including vital signs, blood glucose, and heart ECG [Electrocardiography] activity – and provide immediate information to healthcare providers, they hold the potential to minimize – or actually prevent – costly incidents through timely intervention.”

Perlman’s observations about industry trends and the fast pace of technology innovation, as well as mainstream adoption, should not be overlooked or trivialized.

Recently, researchers from Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), one of two Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology located in Lausanne, Switzerland, claim to have created a tiny implantable device placed just below the skin that can analyze proteins and acids instantaneously. A Bluetooth connection then transfers this information to a computer or smartphone.

As EPFL states, “The implant, a real gem of concentrated technology, is only a few cubic millimeters in volume but includes five sensors, a radio transmitter and a power delivery system. Outside the body, a battery patch provides 1/10 watt of power, through the patient’s skin – thus there’s no need to operate every time the battery needs changing.”

Essentially, the implant will, as the researchers point out, “allow a much more personalized level of care than traditional blood tests can provide,” facilitating a superior grade of individualized medicine for patients through monitoring.

Michael D. Dyal, M.D., a cardiology fellow at the University of Miami explains, “Technological innovations, especially in terms of medical hardware miniaturization and mobility, have the potential to be significantly impactful in terms of preventative health care. This is particularly applicable in high risk cardiac patients for diagnosis, early detection, and monitoring disease progression for a myriad of cardiovascular conditions.”

Concluding, Dyal notes, “The capability to provide around the clock, real-time monitoring for early warning and detection, using cardiac biomarkers for ischemic heart disease and heart failure, would be of substantial clinical utility. Combine this with future discoveries of newer, smaller, and more sensitive biomarkers makes for an exciting future in cardiovascular medicine and could prove to be a powerful tool to save lives.”

The outlook for mobile medical technologies looks strong, but the industry is still waiting for that seminal moment or watershed breakthrough. If one boils it down and compares it to the consumer technologies market – mobile medical technologies is still eagerly awaiting its ‘iPhone’ moment to truly become transformational. While there is a tremendous amount of dynamism and potentiality, the disruptive change on the horizon remains as elusive as the goal, but its inching closer.

As medicine continues to embrace cutting edge life saving technologies, the prospect of profound societal impact and even economic cost factor improvement seems genuinely poised to capitalize on leveraging the embedded benefits of medical mobility.

The production of medical diagnostic device implants, as well as more forward-looking noninvasive techniques, for monitoring and early detection was once considered an aspirational ambition. Today, with the concerted efforts of researchers, industry leaders, and practitioners alike, it would appear the half-life of innovation, time to market, and impact on humanity are superseding what was once regarded as the status quo or ignored as the underpinnings of a popular science fiction television show.

Fraught with challenges and hurdles that run the gamut, innovation in mobile medical health continues to push forward. Inching closer to warp speed, mHealth just may be the defining achievement in our next-generation’s greatest technological leap forward.

Please visit the Washington Times Communities to read more.

Screen shot 2013-04-19 at 4.44.29 PM

 

Forbes Magazine – Kevin Mitnick: The Hacking Hamburglar

Posted on by
2

forbes

Kevin David Mitnick (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Kevin David Mitnick (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Kevin Mitnick was once known as the ‘World’s Most Wanted’ social engineer and computer hacker. One doesn’t acquire a title like that – nor an accompanying prison sentence – for vanilla exploits. While in Federal custody, authorities even placed Mitnick in solitary confinement; reportedly, he was deemed so dangerous that if allowed access to a telephone he could start a nuclear war by just whistling into it.

From the 1970s up until his last arrest in 1995 Kevin Mitnick skillfully eluded and bypassed corporate security safeguards, penetrating some of the most well-guarded systems, including, amongst countless others, the likes of Sun Microsystems, Digital Equipment Corporation, Motorola, Netcom, and Nokia. He has even had to go on record and deny hacking into the Department of Defense’s North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and wiretapping the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

At a recent app-enabled cloud network performance and security briefing hosted by Citrix and Palo Alto Networks in Washington, DC, Mitnick opened up about his former life and introduced himself to the Washington crowd accordingly.

“I assume there are a lot of Federal agencies here so we may know each other from a past life,” Mitnick said in a devious yet still tempered tone.

With the bylines of “Most Wanted” and “Infamous” and a laundry list of corporate names etched onto his belt of exploits, it’d be fair to assume that Mitnick’s hacking masterpiece evolved from one of his more high profile penetrations. That assumption, however, couldn’t be further from the truth.

Actually, the seminal stunt of his hacking career is much more puerile but nonetheless humorous. As Mitnick explained, “My favorite hack was actually when I was a kid.”

Mitnick hacked the frequency of a local McDonald’s drive-through ordering system and took control over the drive-through speaker, relishing the consequential bewilderment of unsuspecting McDonald’s employees.

“I would sit across the street from McDonald’s and I would take their order and tell them they were the 50th customer so your order is free. Please drive through your order is free,” Mitnick reminisced. “People would drive up to the window and I would say, ‘Our weight detection system detected your car is a little heavy so we recommend the salad instead of the Big Mac’.”

“It got to the point that the manager of the McDonald’s was wondering what the heck was going on and he walked outside and looked in the cars and around the parking lot, but he could not see anything because I was across the street. He even walked up to the drive-through speaker and looked at it and then stuck his head inside to see if there was actually someone inside and I yelled ‘what are you looking at!’”

Mitnick didn’t only revel in the joy of trolling individual customer orders, though. He went on to explain, “But my favorite was when the police drove up and I would say, ‘hide the cocaine, hide the cocaine!’” Alas, the theater of the ensuing build-up and moment when the unsuspecting employee met the suspicious glances of the police would befit any comedic late night show.

McDonald’s, when reached for comment, was less than amused by Mitnick’s claims. As all Fortune 500 Company’s take hacking very seriously, Danya Proud, Director of Media Relations, McDonald’s USA stated, “We are not aware of this matter however, security of our business, information and systems remains a top priority.”

No word yet if McDonald’s plans to hire Mitnick to consult on the protection of the integrity of their drive-through ordering process. One can only hope that measures to counter such nefarious hacks have been implemented.

At any length, look across the street if you ever encounter a problem during a wee-hours drive-thru run to Mickey D’s. The world’s once most wanted and infamous Mitnick may be enjoying a little bit of reflective levity at your expense, especially if you’re the 50th customer.

Please go to Forbes for this and other articles.

By Timothy W. Coleman, a DC-based writer and security analyst who has co-founded two technology startup firms. He attended Singularity University’s Graduate Studies Program at NASA Ames Research Center and has a Masters of Public and International Affairs in Security and Intelligence Studies and a Masters of Business Administration in Finance.

Mitnick retweets article

Mitnick retweets article