Our first blog
I had been thinking about starting a blog on the website for some time now. The main reasons it took me so long to do it were because I was concerned about three things:
- Sticking with it. I didn’t want to start it only to have it die from non-use, so I wanted to make sure the writer(s) of the blog (probably mostly me) are committed to it. It’s disappointing to see things like this begin in a promising way, only to have the activity drop off over time.
- Making business sense. I was uncertain about the business reasons for the blog; there are many blogs run by Fortune 500 companies and -- although we’re closer to a Fortune 5,000,000 company -- that certainly lends some business credibility to the idea. Still, I felt there needed to be some compelling business reasons to do it. “Experts” apparently seem to identify four general reasons for businesses to set up blogs:
1. To sell or promote something (or someone)
2. To discuss business topics
3. To put out information, or
4. Some combination of the previous three items.
I don’t want to sell anything on the blog, but I like the ideas of promoting the company, putting out information about the company and discussing things . . . which leads me to another concern: - Keeping on-topic. We all have opinions about potentially divisive issues and I fear that some of us (including myself) are passionate enough about controversial topics to where we might pontificate on some of those issues. This is probably not appropriate in a company blog.
So, with the understanding that (1) the blog will strive to not end up stating some personal opinions on divisive issues, (2) that its purpose is to inform and familiarize people with us as individuals and the company as a whole, including its management and direction, and (3) with the commitment that something will be posted on a regular basis, I will undertake to get started regaling you with the wonders and insights of the people that comprise Enable IPC. I hope you enjoy the blog and I hope you post your comments, good and bad.
We are striving to obtain perfection and secure the entire wealth of knowledge the universe has to offer – but we’re not quite there yet. So, your wisdom will be a welcome addition to this endeavor.
11 Comments:
Dave congrats on jumping in the company blogging waters! I just wrote a couple of posts hitting the high and low points for the company blogs from Kodak and HomeGoods, here's the links:
http://moblogsmoproblems.blogspot.com/2007/05/company-blog-checkup-kodak.html
http://moblogsmoproblems.blogspot.com/2007/06/company-blog-checkup-homegoods.html
More than anything else, position the blog from the reader's point of view. Good luck!
Congratulations on the blog. Here goes my first question: Can you describe exactly what the structure of the company is and what your vision is. Clearly, you don't come up with your products. You only license them. So do you just work like a technology incubator? If so, do you intend to acquire more technologies in the future? How do you go about choosing new technologies? What is your selection criteria? Finally, if you work like a technology transfer office, in what way are you different than what current universities already offer?
Landry -- thanks for your questions. They are very good ones and I think we need to elaborate more on these in our website and communications as a whole.
We have two technologies; we came up with one of them and the other is being licensed. The nanowire microbattery concept is the brain-child of one of our founding shareholders. We have been assigned the patent application for that. The ultracapacitor is under a license option agreement with a university.
The vision of the company is to create success for the shareholders while contributing to the community -- admittedly a broad statement. We plan to do this by turning these technologies into commercial value, one way or the other. We're not limited to whether we will license them or manufacture them; that will depend on the outcome of the development work and where the resulting products are at technologically.
We may manufacture the products ourselves through the company or a subsidiary that we establish or co-establish; or we may choose to manufacture components of the technologies (again, either through the company or a subsidiary) that provide the technological competitive edge and sell those to established companies already in the market (and already have the distribution paths in place, etc.); or we may license the technologies to manufacturers, in which case the major difference would be that we will have already done the development work that universities and labs typically do not complete (in our experience).
Now that I've written all that I'm thinking these questions might be better addressed in separate blog postings -- and/or on the website -- where we can provide some additional detail.
Hi David
Congratulations on your new corporate blog. We were flattered by your calling us out as leaders. Thank you.
However, we still feel like we are just beginners. We learn every day from our customers in the blogosphere. Sure, we sometimes have a point of view, even often...but its the listening and learning that is so exciting....and the conversations that are rewarding.
By the way, according to the wiki on Fortune 500 blogs, they have only "46 Fortune 500 companies with at least one public-facing corporate blog".
You can find out more over at the blogbusinesssummitt wiki here: http://www.blogbusinesssummit.com/fortune500/index.php?title=Project
Good to see you in the blogosphere and in the conversation....and thanks again for the positive feedback
Dave, thanks for your very elaborate answer. My next question is with regards to your ultracapacior. What is your vision for that technology in terms of its future applications on the market? To be more specific, do you think you would have the possibility in the future to build a series/parallel array configuration of those nanocapacitors with an energy density high enough to power an electric vehicle for instance.
I'm asking this because I have been very fascinated by EVs since the buzz about the GM EV1. Lately Martin Eberhard has been doing an incredible with his Tesla Motors venture. Yet, the key technology to make EVs commercially and financially viable is the battery pack. Lithium-ion cells has been the only alternative so far, but I strongly believe that ultracapacitors can shift the energy storage paradigm for EVs and bring it to a whole new level? Would you agree with me? If so, how would your technology enable that? I'm sorry to write so much but I get easily excited about green technologies. Thanks Dave.
Hi Landry -- I agree with you that ultracaps have the potential to replace batteries for EVs. As you probably know, BMW has shown off a concept hybrid that used ultracaps at the Detroit auto show. I remember seeing a video on it online, but I can't find it. Here's a link to a story about it: http://www.caranddriver.com/autoshows/10540/2006-detroit-auto-show-number3.html
We just don't know if stacking our devices and wiring them in some kind of array would actually improve the energy density to a point to where they could be used in such an application. It's possible on paper, but in reality, we've not tried it yet.
well EEStor is trying to do just that. Check out this link:
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/03/eestor_capacito_1.php
Hi Landry -- thanks for the link and sorry about the response delay (been busy with SEC filings and such). Yes, I've heard of EEStor and it looks like exciting stuff. A few months ago I was speaking with a couple ultracapacitor people who seriously doubt the claims made regarding EEStor, but I hope it's true.
Dave, What EESTOR is talking about is a big shift in paradigms. that's what change is all about. Of course even experts in the field will tell you it's impossible, because they've been trained to believe so. That's the kind of challenge entrepreneurs have to face when they bring about revolutionary products. EEStor's first prototype may not promise everything they talked about but as long as they stay committed, I have no doubt they will accomplish their goals. Remember, kpcb invested in them, the same people who invested in Google. Furthermore, Ian clifford from ZENN cars strongly believes that his next generation of affordable EVs will carry EEStor battery packs.
Can anyone say why the company stock has had no volume over the days since the annual meeting?
From the outside it would appear that something transpired at that meeting which has had a profound effect on stock transactions, though not price.
Will minutes of the meeting be available?
S. Fiorella
Hi S Fiorella,
The lack of trading deeply concerns us. However, I don't think there's a connection with the shareholder meeting -- that meeting won't happen until July 26th.
I have shown your comment to Rich Kaiser, our Investor Relations person and you should hear from him soon. His email address is ir@enableipc.com
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