Christopher S. Rollyson

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Technology Investing 2001

The honeymoon of early stage technology investing is over. Creating sustainable wealth through investments in technology and Internet companies will require unprecedented, rigorous analysis. 

Most early stage technology companies (ESTCs) will be selling to B2B companies for the foreseeable future, and many of their customers will be bricks and mortar (BAM) firms. Investors will be well served by understanding the drivers of BAM e-business efforts and the dynamics that govern the ESTCs. The transformation of BAMs via e-business is the ultimate context for creating value with all kinds of technology. 

BAM executives will benefit from ESTCs in two ways: as life cycles shrink, more of products' value will be information about using them to create customer value, and technology facilitates information exchange. Second, they can learn to commercialize products and technology because the ESTC life cycle is a robust model for bringing ideas to market. 

ESTC executives will profit from partnering with BAMs, which hold the lion's share of market power. BAM-ESTC relationships have enormous strategic value if each party knows how to exploit it. 

Beyond 2001: A Framework for Investing in Internet and Early Stage Technology Companies was published in The Virtual Strategist, a new journal dedicated to strategy and business transformation. Read: The white paper (online) or The Executive Summary (pdf, 280K)