Entrepreneurialist Culture-
"Elevator" Pitches for Proprietary Business Plans or Case Studies
Personal Data Brain*
* Copyright. Robin Chahal, Ottawa, Canada, January 2001.
Elevator Speech
Never forget a name or face again! We all forget names and faces. "Namenesia" can be embarrassing, especially in business situations. We want to build a Personal Digital Brain (PDB) that would recognize people for you and tell you their names and any other important information about them. With the PDB you would discretely recognize everyone, learn names instantly, and remember them for life - all without anybody else knowing.
Initial Concept
Imagine that you are an employee of Nortel and Nortel's CEO walks by you in the hall and remembers your name. Imagine that you are in the supermarket and you bump into the salesman that sold you a car eight years ago; he recognizes you, he remembers your name, and he remembers the car he sold you. Imagine you are a recently appointed head of a large department and you automatically know the name of every person working for you and have their employee records memorized.
The PDB would consist of a Walkman-sized computer and a pair of glasses with a built in digital camera and display. The glasses would appear to be normal eyeglasses and could be fitted with corrective lenses. When you look at someone the PDB would recognize the face and discretely display name and other information on the glasses.
Technical Feasibility
In terms of hardware, the glasses are made by MicroOptical Corp. Several existing computer products would be suitable. For software, Visionics produces face recognition software for security applications and is open to a partnership. For the first stage of product development these components could simply be put together and integrated with an employee database or contact management system. Later stages, which would include the ability to learn new names and faces automatically, would require a fair amount of development.
Marketing and Product Stages
The first generation PDB would be designed for government directors and high-ranking executives and would only recognize employees. This product would be constructed primarily from off the shelf components.
The second generation PBD would also be for high-level management positions and would include a rudimentary means of learning new names and faces. The device would automatically record the first few minutes of a conversation with a person it does not know with a microphone. A secretary would then play the conversation back and the information would be manually entered into the device. This could be sold as a service and done electronically as well.
The third generation PDB would be for everyone and would automatically learn new names and faces using voice recognition technology.
Excerpt from: Snow Crash, a novel by Neal Stephenson, about the near term future of technology. Bantam, New York, 1992, pp. 268-9.
Scott Lagerquist is standing on the edge of Mark Norman's 24/7 Motorcycle Mall, waiting, when the man with the swords comes into view, striding down the sidewalk. A pedestrian is a peculiar sight in L.A., considerably more peculiar than a man with swords. But a welcome one. Anyone who drives to a motorcycle dealership already has a car, by definition, so it's hard to give them a really hard sell. A pedestrian should be cake.
"Scott Wilson Lagerquist!" the guy yells from fifty feet away and closing. "How you doing?"
"Fabulous!" Scott says. A little off guard, maybe. Can't remember this guy's name, which is a problem. Where has he seen this guy before?
"It's great to see you!" Scott says, running forward and pumping this guy's hand. "I haven't seen you since, uh-"
"Is Pinky here today?" the guy says.
"Pinky?"
"Yeah. Mark. Mark Norman. Pinky was his nickname back in college. I guess he probably doesn't like to be called that now that he's running, what, half a dozen dealerships, three McDonaldses, and a Holiday Inn, huh?"
"I didn't know that Mr. Norman was into fast food also."
"Yeah. He's got three franchises down around Long Beach. Owns them through a limited partnership, actually. Is he here today?"
"No, he's on vacation."
"Oh, yeah. In Corsica. The Ajaccio Hyatt. Room 543. That's right, I completely forgot about that."
"Well, were you just stopping by to say hi, or -"
"Nah. I was going to buy a motorcycle."
"Oh. What kind of a motorcycle were you looking for?"
"One of the new Yamahas? With the new generation smartwheels?"
Scott grins manfully, trying to put the best face on the awful fact that he is about to reveal. "I know exactly the one you mean. But I'm sorry to tell you that we don't actually have one in stock today."
"You don't?"
"We don't. It's a brand-new model. Nobody has them."
"You sure? Because you ordered one."
"We did?"
"Yeah. A month ago." Suddenly the guy cranes his neck, looks over Scott's shoulder down the boulevard. "Well, speak of the devil. Here it comes."
A Yamaha semi is pulling into the truck entrance with a new shipment of motorcycles in the back.
"It's on that truck," the guy says. "If you can give me one of your cards, I'll jot down the vehicle identification number on the back so you can pull it off the truck for me."
"This was a special order made by Mr. Norman?"
"He claimed he was just ordering it as a display model, you know. But it sort of has my name on it."
"Yes, sir. I understand totally."
Question: Can you tell which character was wearing a PDB and can you spot the key deal making sentence in this exchange? How did the character set the stage for this comment to be believable and what role did the PDB play?
For students interested in the near term future of the web, Snow Crash is a must read. When you read it, rememeber that Stephenson wrote this in 1992 (actually that is the date of publication, so before that). Over 30 of the top 50 tech CEOs have read Snow Crash by the way. For a longer term view of tech, read Stephenson's next novel, The Diamond Age.
Entrepreneurialist Culture