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The Resource Center has all the info you'll need From content to user feedback, the resource center has the information you need for every level of the entrepreneurial process.
A business plan isn't as useful for raising financing as the prevailing entrepreneurial wisdom holds, argues the founder of an Internet marketing concern. Instead, focus on building the business and the money will follow.
Paul G. Yock, M.D. is the Martha Meier Weiland Professor of Medicine and Professor of Mechanical Engineering, by courtesy. Dr. Yock is Co-Chair of Stanford's new Department of Bioengineering and Director of the Stanford Program in Biodesign. Dr. Yock is a Stanford cardiologist internationally known for his work in inventing, developing and testing new devices, including the Rapid Exchange balloon angioplasty system, which is the dominant angioplasty system in use worldwide. Yock also invented a Doppler-guided hypodermic needle system, the Smart Needle and P-D Access. Dr. Yock is Director of the Center for Research in Cardiovascular Interventions, a Stanford facility that develops and tests new technologies in cardiovascular medicine. The focus of Dr. Yock's research program is the field of intravascular ultrasound. He authored the fundamental patents for intravascular ultrasound imaging and founded Cardiovascular Imaging Systems, now a division of Boston Scientific resulting from a 1994 acquisition for over $100M. In 1998 Dr. Yock developed a new interdepartmental and inter-school program at Stanford, the Medical Device Network (MDN). MDN helps stimulate and guide the process of biomedical technology innovation within the University. Recently MDN has been expanded under Dr. Yock's leadership into a broader research and educational initiative, the Stanford Program in Biodesign. MDN is now BDN, the Biodesign Network. The primary mission of Biodesign is to promote the invention and implementation of new health technologies through interdisciplinary research and education at the frontiers of engineering and the biomedical sciences.
Thomas J. Fogarty is a specialist whose creative talents have impacted many diverse professional and entrepreneurial arenas. In addition to his teaching responsibilities as Professor of Surgery at Stanford University, Dr. Fogarty performs numerous cardiac and peripheral vascular surgeries, manages several medical device companies founded upon his product designs, is founder and active Senior Partner in the venture capital firm of Three Arch Partners, and also finds time to pursue his interest in oenology at the family owned and operated Thomas Fogarty Winery and Vineyards. During the past 40 years he has acquired over 70 surgical patents, including the "industry standard" Fogarty balloon embolectomy catheter. Patented in 1969, this first balloon catheter for the vascular system was a sophisticated version of the original crude instrument that young Tom Fogarty, then an OR scrub technician, designed in the late 1950's using a surgical glove finger tied to a ureteral catheter. Other commercially successful medical products designed by the Fogarty engineering group include a minimally invasive device for breast cancer diagnosis and therapy, and also a self-expanding stent-graft used to treat critical aortic aneurysms via a minimally invasive technique. Dr. Fogarty is a past recipient of the Inventor of the Year award given by the San Francisco Patent and Trademark Association, a four-time recipient of the Distinguished Scientific Presentation award presented by the American College of Surgeons, and was the first recipient to receive the award for "Achievement in Medicine" bestowed by the Santa Clara County Medical Association. Selected recent awards include the 2000 Lemelson-MIT $500,000 Prize for Invention and Innovation as well as the Association for Advancement of Medical Instrumentation Foundation's Annual Laufman-Greatbatch Prize for inventing breakthrough medical devices. Later in 200
Jen-Hsun Huang co-founded NVIDIA Corporation in April 1993 and has served as President, Chief Executive Officer, and a member of the Board of Directors since its inception. Under his leadership, NVIDIA has become one of the largest fabless semiconductor companies in the world. NVIDIA has received numerous business and technology awards during Mr. Huang's tenure, including Fortune's Fastest Growing Companies, Wired Magazine's Top 40, and Stanford Business School's Entrepreneurial Company of the Year. Mr. Huang has served as on the Board of Trustees of the RAND Corporation since 1999 and is often invited to speak on technology and business trends at industry events. Prior to founding NVIDIA, Mr. Huang was Director of Coreware at LSI Logic and a microprocessor designer at Advanced Micro Devices. Mr. Huang holds a B.S.E.E. degree from Oregon State University and an M.S.E.E. degree from Stanford University.
Here are five big issues you should consider if you want your company to be able to evolve and grow to the next stage of development.
Julio C. Palmaz, M.D., is the inventor of the first commercially successful stent and has developed numerous other procedures and devices, including the stent graft. Millions of patients worldwide, including stent recipient Mother Teresa, have benefited from the inventions of Dr. Palmaz, some of which have been donated to the Smithsonian Institute. Dr. Palmaz is the Stewart R. Reuter Distinguished Professor and chief of cardiovascular and interventional radiology at the University of Texas Health Science Center. Dr. Palmaz received his M.D. in 1971 at the National University of La Plata, Argentina, with radiologic specialty training at the University of California at Davis, Martinez Veteran's Administration Medical Center. Dr. Palmaz began his professional career in 1974 at San Martin University Hospital in Argentina, where he attained the position of chief of angiography. In 1983, Dr. Palmaz joined the University of Texas Health Sciences Department of Radiology as Chief of Angiography and Special Procedures. Dr. Palmaz has 17 issued patents and is the author of over 26 books or book chapters and has authored more than 75 peer-reviewed publications. He is Member of the Editorial Board for Circulation and is a Scientific Reviewer for several journals including the Journal of Vascular Surgery and the Journal of Vascular, Interventional Radiology. Palmaz is the recipient of numerous awards, and was honored January 2003 with the Presidential Distinguished Scholar Award by the University of Texas San Antonio. In 2002, the International Society of Endovascular Surgery bestowed upon Dr. Palmaz the Honor Award for Excellence.
An entrepreneurial company in its second year confronts challenges more
Guy Kawasaki is a founder and Managing Director of Garage Technology Ventures. Prior to this position, he was an Apple Fellow at Apple Computer, Inc. and sits on the board of BitPass Inc. A noted speaker and the founder of various personal computer companies, Guy was one of the individuals responsible for the success of the Macintosh computer. He is also the author of eight books including Rules for Revolutionaries, How to Drive Your Competition Crazy, Selling the Dream, and The Macintosh Way. Guy holds a B.A. from Stanford University and a M.B.A. from UCLA, as well as an honorary doctorate from Babson College.
Dr. Ringold was most recently CEO of the Glaxo-Wellcome Group's Affymax Research Institute, where he managed the development of novel technologies to accelerate the pace of drug discovery. He is a co-founder and director of Maxygen Corporation, a Managing Partner of Technogen Associates, L.P., a private investment firm, and has over fifteen years of experience managing the discovery and development of pharmaceuticals and novel, enabling life science technologies. Prior to Affymax, Dr. Ringold served as Director and Vice President of the Institute for Cancer and Developmental Biology at Syntex, now a division of Hoffman La-Roche. Dr. Ringold received his B.A. in Biology from UC Santa Cruz, and his Ph.D. in Microbiology from UC San Francisco. He was on the faculty of the Department of Pharmacology at the Stanford University School of Medicine, and is currently a consulting professor there.
A mature business facing altered circumstances might need to bring in a partner rather than just an employee, writes the author, who poses a series of questions for founders to address prior to making what could be a difficult leap.
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