Innovation and Technopreneurship 

LUIS SISON, PH.D. 

 
Guess the startup! 
 
Hint #1 
​ “All the best things that I did 
at <my startup> came from (a) 
not having money and (b) not 
having done it before, ever. 
Every single thing that we came 
out with that was really great, 
I'd never once done that thing in 
my life.” 
 
Hint #2 
​ Cofounder A 
single-handedly designed all the 
hardware and software for their 
personal computer while 
working at his day job at HP. 
Cofounder B's mesmerizing 
charisma and vision has been 
described as a "reality distortion 
field“. 
 
 
Hint #1 
​ A fresh college grad and a 
hedge fund 
manager started this company 
that initially developed 
cryptography software 
 
Hint #2 
​ Their next product was a 
service for transmitting money 
via the Palm PDA 
 
PayPal 
 
Hint #1 
​ This startup tried 
unsuccessfully to sell 
computer hardware that allowed 
people to visualize complex 
images clearly, such as CAT 
scans and MRIs. ​ The parent 
company of this startup 
tried to sell the startup and only 
got one interested buyer, who 
paid only $5M. 
 
Hint #2 
​ To survive, they made short 
digitally 
animated films for TV 
advertisements to demonstrate 
the company’s imaging 
hardware. 
 
 
Hint #1 
​ He graduated from Ateneo 
de 
Manila in 1998 but had a tough 
time looking for a job because 
of the Asian currency crisis. 
He was eventually hired as an 
assistant manager at KFC SM 
North Edsa outlet 
 
Hint #2 
​ He founded a company to 
develop 
digital products for the mobile 
consumer with P62.5K in seed 
capital which he grew into a 
company that debuted in the 
PSE in 2014 with a market cap 
of P6.8B 
 
xurpas 
MER MG MPI MRC MWC MWIDE 

on its Initial Public Offering Listing 

NIKL NOW OM 
OV PAL PBB PCOR 
PGOLD 
 
Hint #1 
​ This husband and wife team, 
Isosceles 
and Leonora from UP 
Chemistry sold their first 
product called Calda which was 
based on Isosceles' thesis 
 
Hint #2 
​ Eventually their company 
became one 
of the leading pharmaceutical 
companies in RP, and 
manufactures, among many 
other drugs, Ascof (from 
Lagundi leaves) under license 
from UP 
 
Pascual 
 
Insights? 
 
Current UP technology 
 
TECH101 
 
 “Begin with the end in mind” 
–Stephen Covey 
 
Why do startups fail? 
“... failing to involve customers 
and their feedback from literally 
the first day of a startup’s life 
...” 
-Steve Blank, technopreneur and author 
of “The Startup Owners Manual” 
 
“get out of the building” and 
talk to the only folks who 
matter—your customers. 
-Steve Blank, technopreneur and author 
of “The Startup Owners Manual” 
 
Main goal: 
market validation (customers, 
investors, or sponsors) with 
technical validation (specs, test, 
production) 
 
Customer Development Model 
ON 

Customer Discovery 
Customer Validation 
Customer Creation 
Company Building 
State your Hypotheses 
Product Customer & Problem Distribution & Pricing Demand Creation Market Type 
Competitive 
Get Ready to Sell 
Articulate a Value Proposition 
Prelim. Sales & Collateral Material Prelim Sales Roadmap Hire a "Sales Closer" Align Execs 

Get Ready 
Market Type Questionnaire Choose Market Type 
Existing/Re-segmented/New Choose Ist Year Objectives 

Mainstream Customers 
Early Vangelists to Mainstream Manage Sales by Market Type 
Management/Culture 
Review Management Develop Mission Centric Culture 
Test "ProblemHypothesis 
Friendly First Contacts "Problem" Presentation Customer Understanding Market 
Knowledge 
Sell to "EarlyVangelists" 
Contact Early Vangelists Sell to Early Vangelists Refine Sales Roadmap Sell to 
Channel Partners Refine Channel Roadmap 
Position 

Select PR Agency Positioning Audits Match Positioning to Market Type 

Management/Culture 
Review Management Develop Mission Centric Culture 
Test Product" Hypothesis 

First Reality Check "Product" Presentation More Customer Visits Second Reality 
Check Ist Advisory Board 
Develop Positioning 
Product Positioning Company Positioning Present to Analysts & Influencers 
Launch 
Select Launch Type Select Customer Audiences Select the Messengers Craft the Messages 
Understand Message Context Understand the Media Measure success 
Functional Departments Set Dept. Mission Statement Set Dept. Roles by Market Type 
Verify 
Verify the Problem Verify the Product Verify the Business Model Iterate or Exit 
Verify 
Verify the Product Verify the Sales Roadmap Verify the Channel Roadmap Verify the Business 
Model Iterate or Exit 
Create Demand 

Select Demand Creation Strategy Agree on Measurements Iterate or Exit 

Fast Response Dept's 
Implement Mission-centric Mgmt Create an "Information Culture" Build a "Leadership Culture" 
 
Lab course for startups 
Oslo Startup Lab 
 
Class Workflow for 1S17 
Opportunity identification One-day validation Team formation First 
pitch 
Problem/User story Validation Design sprint LoFi MVP Validation 
IP, tech transfer Channels, sales Production, costs HiFi MVP 
Validation Implementation proposal Demo day 
 
 “Is the venture a good investment?” 
Demo day scores (max 20) 
17.6 
17.4 
17.2 
17 
16.8 
16.6 
16.4 
16.2 
16 
15.8 
15.6 
2S14 1S15 2S15 
 
 Notable class ventures (total <PhP170M 
public-private funding as of 2S16) 
​ Tanglaw: school pilots, DOST funded ​ SmartSurface: DOST 
Technicom funded, customer 
pilots ​ AgrowGel: for UPLB pilot testing, customer pilot 
requests ​ RetailGate: pilot requests from multinational 
companies, DTI nominated Tech in Asia (Singapore) ​ FishEye: 
customer pilot requests ​ EyeScreen: clinical pilot request, 
preproduction ​ StepGear: pre-clinical evaluation with PGH, 
preproduction ​ FarmWatch: pilots w/ industry customers, pilot 
investment ​ Amihan: distribution/integrator partner, pilots 
ongoing ​ HeLe: Phil Natl Ear Inst as clinical collabs, PCARI- 
funded ​ HeartSmart: DOST – UK Newton Fund Leaders in 
Innovation fellowship, IdeaSpace ​ Jolt: DOST Technicom, 
DOST – UK Newton Fund 
Leaders in Innovation fellowship 
 
21 Universities 
11 existing TBIs 
56 people 
 
Program recognition 
! 2015 2016 
 
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https://www.facebook.com/techtogo/ 
 
Truth Inside Of You 

The best way to have a good idea 

i is to have a lot of ideas. 
 
Value Creation with Innovation 
Innova on Technology Process   
Customer Needs Product Service   
ITRI 

Technical Capabili es   

There is no value un l customer needs 
and technical capabili es intersect   
 
Technology Push vs. Market Pull 
Star Point 
ng   
Development Focus 

  
Selling Point 

  
Value Hit 

  
Technology Push   
Technology Features   
Market Pull   
Performance/ Price   
Costs Down   
Customer Needs   
“We sell what we can make”   
Integrated Solu on   
Differen a on   
Benefits Up   
“We make what we can sell”   
Adapted from ITRI slides   

and 
 
29 Venture teams (2S14) 
127 Venture Ideas 
22+ One- day validations 
112+94 KnowHow +KnowWho 
 
Agileachievement.com 
 
Activity: KnowWho* 
Market Pull   
“We make what we can sell”   
​ Identify a contact in an industry related to your field of 
study 
○ 

Customer Needs   
Integrated Solu on   
Differen a on   
Benefits Up   
Someone alumni orgmates you can for contact referrals. 
easily and frequently. You can ask your professors or older/ 

​ Problem ​ What’s the hardest part about <problem>? 

​ happen? 
Can you tell us about the last time it happened? How 
often does it 
​ Why was that hard? ​ What, if anything, have you 
done to solve the problem? ​ What don’t you love about 
the solutions you’ve tried? ​ Post your entry online in 
the KnowWho database ​ Do customer interview, post 
results in KnowWho database 
 
Sample KnowWho entry 
​ Corporation 
Contact: xxx, Pollution Control Officer, xxx 
Construction 
○ 

technical buyer, end user ​ generated Problem: 

Large in precast volume plant 
of expanded polystyrene (EPS) waste 
​ How often: xx tons generated every month ​ 
plant Current to be solution: used as Polystyrene 
refuse-derived waste fuel 
is delivered to a cement 
​ polystyrene higher-valued Issues with current 
waste purposes 
as solution: refuse-derived Instead fuel, of 
utilizing it may be the 
used for 
​ cement be Possible used to for solution: 
produce thermal Mixing expanded insulation 
recycled polystyrene or structural ground 
concrete, polystyrene concrete 
which with 
can 
 
Activity: KnowHow* 
​ their tech aligned Talk R&D, to recent one with ask or or a 
more validated your ongoing friends, professors R&D customer 
classmates, projects. in your problem (If lab/department. or your 
me in the department to refer KnowWho you.) Pick doesn’t 
Preferably 
board one of 
do 
​ Who is the (assumed) customer/user? ​ What is the 
(assumed) value proposition? ​ Technology Readiness Level 
(TRL 3 to TRL 7 only) ​ Possible industry partner (buyer or 
distributor) 
○ Technology Push   
Technology Features   
Performance/ Price   
Costs Down   
“We sell what we can make”   
Prefably from personal network or KnowWho board 
○ 

If none of the above, identify possible philippine companies via online search ​ Post 
your entry online in the KnowHow database 
 
MAN 
ANNON 
Епторгал Commission 

Technology Readiness Levels 

TRL O: Idea. Unproven concept, no testing has been 
performed. TRL 1: Basic research. Principles postulated and 
observed but no experimental proof available. TRL 2: 
Technology formulation. Concept and application have been 
formulated. TRL 3: Applied research. First laboratory tests 
completed; proof of concept. TRL 4: Small scale prototype 
built in a laboratory environment ("ugly" prototype). TRL 5: 
Large scale prototype tested in intended environment. TRL 
6: Prototype system tested in intended environment close to 
expected performance. TRL 7: Demonstration system 
operating in operational environment at pre-commercial 
scale. TRL 8: First of a kind commercial system. 
Manufacturing issues solved. TRL 9: Full commercial 
application, technology available for consumers. 
 
Sample KnowHow entry 
​ Possible customer: PCB Industries, 
Semicon 
Industries ​ Value proposition: A 
reactor that treats the 
wastewater containing copper and nickel 
without sludge. Also recovers high purity 
of new copper and nickel compounds ​ 
TRL: 4 ​ Possible industry partner: 
Daeduck Phils 
 
Activity: Customer story 
​ Enumerate the diff’t users/customers 
of your 
system ​ Describe the day in the life 
of each user/customer 
○ 

Before your product (existing solutions) 

○ 

After your product 

 
ÀƙĚƑ¬ƥūƑNj 
ÄÍçôÄ 
RF ENGINEER 
Time consuming Costly 
Can be stuck in traffic 
Restricted to accessible roads 
 
ÀƙĚƑ¬ƥūƑNj 
ÍüÄô 
Route Plan and Area from NTC 
Data Download and Height Correction 
*process results immediately* 

HAPPY RF ENGINEER 
UAV Data Acquisition 
Sample Signal Strength Color Map 

Drone SigMa Operator 

no time wasted on traffic! 
3 – 5 meters 
 
Customer ROI 
​ Return of investment for the customer ​ How will 
your product increase your customer’s revenues? 
○ 

Examples 
○ 

Fertilizers increase the yield of a farm 

÷ 

Quantitative: P10K/hectare If revenue yield is increase 

currently P100K/hectare, a 10% yield increase results in 
○ 

Online classified ads bring customers to a seller 

÷ 

Quantitative: P800/customer, If ads then bring revenue 2000 increase 

new customers is P1.6M/month 
per month with average purchase of 

​ How will your product decrease your customer’s 

costs? 
○ 

Examples 
○ 

Instrumentation equipment downtime 

for preventive maintenance reduce losses due to unscheduled 
÷ 

Quantitative: 7 system, unscheduled then the If downtime each annual 

unscheduled cost per savings year on downtime is average P560K 
costs that can the company be eliminated P80K with and the 
there are 
○ 

Analytics for tracking and improving HR performance reduce losses 

due to staff turnover and reduce expenses for training new staff 
÷ 

Quantitative: expenses as well If each as reduced staff turnover 

productivity, costs the and company the system P100K can reduce in 
hiring the and turnover 
training 
from 12 to 4 per year, then the customer can save P800K per year 
 
luis.sison@up.edu.ph