A Gathering Place for Entrepreneurial Engineers

Update 7/30/2006: I am terminating the EntEng.com web site, but preserving most of the content as a folder on my BaseTechnology.com web site. Occasional commentary will continue to be offered on our blog at http:/EntEngr.blogspot.com.

See our blog at http:/EntEngr.blogspot.com.

Entrepreneurial Connections 2008 Conference EntConnect 2008 March 27, 2008 through March 30, 2008

Whether you're a hardware engineer or a software developer, this is the place to come when you're trying to deal with all the issues related to running your own business.  This site is an outgrowth of the interest in the original Midnight Engineering magazine and the ME-Ski and ENTCON conferences.  Whether you are a freelance consultant, have a one-person technology business, actually have people working for you, or are simply a classic "Midnight Engineer" toiling away in your 'spare' time on "the next big thing", you're probably the kind of person we're catering to.

Disclaimer: This site is not associated with Midnight Engineering magazine or its publisher.  "Midnight Engineering" is a trademark of William E. Gates, publisher of the magazine.

If you have a great idea and just aren't sure where to start, check out our Advice section.

Update/What's New

• July 30, 2006

• Moved the EntEng.com web site content into a folder on the BaseTechnology.com web site: BaseTechnology.com/EntEng.
• Deleted the Jobs web page since that service is no longer offered.

• March 28, 2006

• Added page for EntConnect 2007.

• December 2, 2005

• Added "Beyond Code" to the "Books" section.

• November 3, 2005

• Added preliminary hotel info and pictures for EntConnect2006.
• Oh... I stopped blogging as of August 18, 2005. Sorry.

• June 5, 2005

• Added Joshua Eli's Quick Verbal Tactics Dot Com online "temperament" test for your people skills to the Resources section.

• April 23, 2005

• Added Bill Shaw and Articulation LLC in the Businesses section.

• March 27, 2005

• Added EntConnect 2006 announcement.

• February 19, 2005

• Added web log ("blog").

• February 14, 2005

• Added the "Books" section.

• June 22, 2004

• Added the "Jobs" page.

• April 13, 2004

• Added listing for Charles Ostman in the Business section.
• Added Entrepreneurial Connections/2005.
• Added a link to Dave Shaver's presentations and photos.

• March 20, 2004

• Added listing for Jan Axelson's Lakeview Research in the Resources section.

• March 19, 2004

• Added listing for Andrew Pargeter & Associates in the Business section.

• February 15, 2004

• Added the Some Concepts to Keep in Mind section

• February 13, 2004

• Updated EntConnect 2004 web page.

• August 14, 2003

• Added SchemeQuest to the businesses section.

• August 3, 2003

• Added EntConnect 2004 web page.
• Added listing for Brent Laminack.
• Added listing for Intrepid Research and Development.
• Added listing for Dale Mathurin's Qozi.com Engineering Resources.

• December 12, 2002

• Added some of the preliminary details for Entrepreneurial Connections 2003.
• Removed the discussion forum since it was not working very well and was mostly spam anyway.

• May 14, 2002

• Added some pictures from EntConnect/2002.  Click here!

• April 13, 2002

• Added placeholder for 2003 EntConnect.
• Updated ME magazine status to reflect possibility of an issue as early as May.

• April 1, 2002

• Added Zack Urlocker's Valley of the Geeks to the new Satire and Humor section.

• February 23, 2002

• ENTCON is now Entrepreneurial Connections.

• February 8, 2002

• Posted info for ENTCON/2002 to be held April 4-7, 2002

• September 4, 2001

• Added link to Don Lancaster's latest issue of "The Blatant Opportunist", Issue #65, Don's eBay Secrets  to the "Articles" section.

• August 18, 2001

• Added link to Don Lancaster's latest issue of "The Blatant Opportunist" (Issue #64 for September/October) to the "Articles" section.

• August 17, 2001

• Updated Midnight Engineering Magazine section to reflect the possibility of the next issue coming out.
• Changed "Discussion Board" to "Discussion Forum" and actually implemented it using WWWboard.  Try it out!
• Added links for Don Lancaster's site to the Businesses section.

• August 16, 2001

• Added the "Project Status" section.
• Added the Help Wanted section.
• Added link to my "adventures" page.
• Added my old Midnight Engineering web page.  Needs to be updated, but at least the historical description is/was accurate.
• Put forwarding links from all the pages of www.BaseTechnology.com which referred to ME-related stuff.

• August 13, 2001

• Added this "Update" section.  The intent is that this is where people start out.  The hope is that this section will be updated on a very frequent basis.  Also added the "Update Archive" so you can see what you've missed.
• Got an email from someone looking for a tool to convert Smalltalk code to C++.
• Added page for ENTCON/2002.
• Fleshed out the "Businesses" section.
• Added "Advice" section.
• Added "Funding" section.

Update Archive - Older updates (none yet).

Some Concepts to Keep in Mind

1. The three most important things for an entrepreneur:  networking, more networking, and even more networking!  And if you're having difficulty networking, then network about networking.
2. Luck.  Serendipity is one of the best friends of entrepreneurs.  Just happening to be in the right place at the right time with the right idea and the right attitude does take some skill, but mostly it's luck and keeping your ears open to opportunities when they pop up.
3. Always have your elevator pitch ready, along with your business card.  Brevity is more valuable than detail.
4. Be careful with assumptions.  Bad assumptions can destroy the best ideas.  Assumptions can be valuable, assuming that you validate them before depending on them.
5. Ask for Advice, even if what you want is money/work.
6. Corollary: Seek investors for the advice and networking they can offer rather than merely their money.  If they can help you make a few decisions better, that can be worth a lot of money in lost revenue or needless expenses.
7. Buzz is everything.  If you don't have "buzz", you've got nothing.  Word of mouth is cheap and effective.  It helps people get excited about your products or services.  Excitement equals exposure.  And that's what marketing is for. Traditional marketing is great for scaling up your business, but buzz gives you a bigger base to scale from.  Spend less time agonizing over specific "important" features of your product or service and focus on enhancing its buzz factor.
8. Great products and services are born out of trial and error. Only with iteration will a company get the feedback it needs to inch closer and closer to a product that best meets customer needs.
9. Forget the technology.  Well, not literally, but the technology is not the point of a business.  Neat, cool, great technology is neat, cool, and great, but focus on solving real-world problems for real customers in a way that really does entice people into wanting to pay you for your effort.

See our more detailed list of Entrepreneurial Skills.

Submissions Needed

Please submit any material you would like to see on the site:  free "advertising" of your business/service, summary of your business/interests, "stories" of your successes or failures, your status, questions that you hope others can answer, etc.

Tech Satire and Humor

• Check out Zack Urlocker's Valley of the Geeks ("High Tech Humor Served Fresh Occasionally"), a satirical site of all-original material focused on Silicon Valley.  If you're in the high-tech industry, this is the place to see your favorite companies and executives get skewered.  You can also order exclusive Valley of the Geeks RTFM logo ware.

Project Status

• (Let us all know how your project, your new product or business, is going.)

Help Wanted

• Check out our Jobs page whether you are looking for a job, looking for a consulting gig, or have a position to fill.

Advice

The following people are available for advice of various forms:

• Jack Krupansky (Base Technology) - Advice for people wanting to start up or fund a new technology business, especially in the field of Software Agents, but really in any area.

Midnight Engineering Magazine

Disclaimer: This site is not associated with Midnight Engineering magazine or its publisher.  "Midnight Engineering" is a trademark of William E. Gates, publisher of the magazine.

As far as I can tell, the magazine has not been published for a while, but there's a rumor that the next issue is in progress.  Stay tuned.

For an old description of the magazine, click here.

Entrepreneurial Connections (nee ME-Ski/ENTCON)

Every year, in early April, a diehard group of entrepreneurial engineers get together out in Denver Colorado for an extended weekend of discussions on every imaginable topic related to engineers trying to run their own businesses.  Some go skiing as well, but that is not mandatory. [Somebody submit some photos!!]

• Entrepreneurial Connections/2005 - last weekend of March in 2005 in Colorado.
• Entrepreneurial Connections/2004 - last weekend of March in 2004 in Colorado.
• Entrepreneurial Connections/2003 - first weekend of April 2003 in Colorado.
• Entrepreneurial Connections/2002 - April 4-7, 2002 in Colorado.

Businesses

Please submit a listing for your business.  Include your name,  URL or email, and a one-line description or whatever you think is appropriate to display here.  Once this section gets too long it will move to a separate page, BUT the first listings will always remain on this page.

• Bill Shaw and Articulation LLC - offers the TempTell temperature monitor and data logger, the TempTell Reflower Prototype SMT Reflow Oven Controller, with other products under development.  Bill has also written a paper on surface mount prototype assembly.
• Charles Ostman - Historian of the future, offers Strategic Research, Technical Due Diligence, Industry Analysis & Forecasting, Technology Development Services, Presentations and Public Speaking, Technical Editing and Authoring, and Instructional Services, with special emphasis on nanotechnology, bioconvergence, and synthetic sentience.
• Andrew Pargeter & Associates - provides USB hardware design, firmware development, host software development, debugging, and training services. Are you having problems with your USB device?  They have helped many companies, who have been struggling with reliability and usability of their USB devices in the field, quickly resolve problems that they have already spent months working on.  Need a USB analyzer?  They can diagnose your problem using their analyzers and tell you what needs to be fixed.  Also, check out the Ellisys USB Tracker in their store.  They can help your team develop a device which is compatible with HID or any USB device class.
• Intrepid Research and Development, Inc. - Provides product development services to technology companies.  We also partner with other small companies and contractors to take on a project that may require more than our available
  resources.  Also pays a fee for referrals that lead to contracts.
• Jack Krupansky DBA Base Technology  - Primary interest is Software Agents.  Read his Daily Stock Market "Perspective" column.  You can also keep up on Jack's "adventures".
• Brent Laminack - CISSP security consulting, database-driven web sites, cost-effective open-source software solutions.
• Don Lancaster's The Guru's Lair and Don Lancaster's Blatant Opportunist Library.
• Dale Mathurin's Qozi.com Engineering Resources - Engineering related news, books and web resources.
• http://opixia.com/adventur.htm
• SchemeQuest - offers an inexpensive Excel add-in, SCEplus,  that provides a complete COCOMO II cost modeling capability.  A free fully functional 30-day demo version is available for download.
• [Your FREE "ad" here]

Articles

Submit SOMETHING, ANYTHING for your fellow entrepreneurs to read and comment on!

• Check out Don Lancaster's "The Blatant Opportunist".  The latest is #65, Don's eBay Secrets.  Also see #64 for September/October on debugging.

Resources

• Joshua Eli's Quick Verbal Tactics Dot Com is an interesting online evaluation or "temperament" test for your people skills.  It evaluates the four factors in your temperament: dominance, influence, steadiness, and compliance.  I came out as a "DCsi".  You'll have to figure out what that means on your own by reading the material on his web site.
• Jan Axelson's Lakeview Research - developer's resource for computer interfacing, especially Ethernet and Internet communications for embedded systems, USB, parallel port, and RS-232 and RS-485 serial communications. Plus info about 8052-Basic microcontrollers and making printed-circuit boards.
• VentureBlog - random commentary about the business venturing process, from the perspective of the venture capital elite (Sand Hill Road).  Has a nice set of links to other venture and technology web logs.
• Dale Mathurin's Qozi.com Engineering Resources - Engineering related news, books and web resources.

See our detailed list of Entrepreneurial Skills.

Books

• Pursuit of Passionate Purpose: Success Strategies for a Rewarding Personal and Business Life by Theresa M. Szczurek, one of the founders of Radish Communications.
• Beyond Code: Learn to Distinguish Yourself in 9 Simple Steps! by Rajesh Setty. He realized that the top performers in the IT services industry definitely had a different set of standard practices for distinguishing themselves. He explains how technology professionals can supercharge their careers by winning what he calls the Inner Game and Outer Game. Complete with exercises, examples, and insights, Beyond Code provides a recipe for technology professionals to raise above the commodity crowd and become remarkable. Check out his blog as well.

Stock Market and Economic Outlook

Jack Krupansky writes a daily stock market "perspective" column that gives his views on tech stocks, the overall stock market, and the economy.  Click here.  Anybody else who wants to add there two-cents here, feel free.

Funding

• Midnight engineering with a "day" job (just your "spare" time, what you already own, free samples, scrounging, "borrowing", badgering)
• Consulting to pay the bills.
• Credit cards.  But this really should be treated as more of a last resort.  It's a slippery slope, and once you start it's difficult to pullback.  The advantage is that it's unsecured debt.
• Friends and relatives.
• Angel investors.
• Corporate sponsors.
• Corporate contracts (implement a capability as a contract for one client, but then package it as a more general product or service).
• Venture capital.
• Government SBIR (Small Business Innovative Research) grants.

Venture Venn Diagram

A successful business venture can exist at the intersection of Your Passion, Your Ability, and A Market:

	Web BaseTechnology.com

Please contact us with any questions or comments.

Updated: March 17, 2008 06:38:55 PM -0500

Copyright © 2008 John W. Krupansky d/b/a Base Technology