Commercialization killers

Guy Kawasaki on commercialization of research.
In an economic boomlet, organizations like research labs want a piece of the action. Their logic will go like this:

“The technology we invented for satellite imaging can be used for amateur video, so we could have created YouTube and sold to it to Google for $1.6 billion. Let’s find an investor to fund this since our budget is set for the year. How hard could it be to create a better YouTube?”

I’ve been on the other side of the table as these organizations try to negotiate a deal to spin out, license, or sell their technology. I can tell you that it’s almost always Mission: Impossible to get a deal done because most organizations try to stipulate the following conditions.

These conditions rest on the assumption that research is difficult, and creating a commercial product and a thriving business is easy.
Don't miss the comments by Chris at Eclectic Tech and by Michael O.

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