What's PR got to do with it? Posts Tagged ‘Lee Public Relations’The Semiconductor Supply Chain TomorrowMonday, August 12th, 2013Before the summer ends and the summer blockbuster movies and DAC become a distant memory (still shaking my head over The Lone Ranger’s flop), let me just share Mike Gianfagna’s vision for next summer’s blockbuster. It’s a tad more like Terminator 2 than the masked man and Tonto. And it may not be too far from reality – that’s what’s exciting…..and scary. Of course it’s about the semiconductor supply chain and how it might affect our lives in the future.
~ Liz Reinvigorating semiconductor startup fundingMonday, July 22nd, 2013For those in fabless semiconductor or IP startup mode (or even thinking about how to start up and get funding), take a look at Paul McLellan’s report on a couple of panel sessions at the annual GSA Entrepreneurship Conference, held last Thursday, July 18 at the Computer History Museum. Of note is that the first session’s panelists brought a variety of funding models to the table – from a traditional VC to Intel Capital to a brand new incubator on the scene – SKTA Innopartners. In fact, any of you fabless guys really should talk to Angel Orrantia at SKTA. They are focused on fabless semiconductors and enterprise software. Below is an excerpt from Paul’s write-up: GSA Entrepreneurship: Getting Money In and Out Paul McLellan by Paul McLellan Published on 07-18-2013 11:32 PM This afternoon and evening I was at GSA’s entrepreneurship conference at the Computer History Museum. The first two panel sessions were essentially on getting money into companies to get them started (or growing them), and getting money out when you have built the business. Warren Savage interviews Mike Gianfagna on the importance of collaborationSunday, June 2nd, 2013KNTV talks to EDA firm re startups in Silicon ValleyMonday, May 27th, 2013
KNTV, the Bay Area NBC affiliate, covered a story this past Friday on how Silicon Valley is the nation’s mecca for startups. KNTV reporter Scott Budman contends that Silicon Valley is stretching its borders north to Oakland. Really? According to a survey conducted by the National Venture Capital Association, San Francisco is the nation’s hottest city for tech startups, with San Jose coming in second. Oakland is ranked at No. 11. As part of this story, Budman interviews San Jose EDA firm, Atrenta, pointing to Atrenta as a typical Silicon Valley startup. Check it out:
http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Oakland-a-Hot-Tech-Startup-Hub-208709051.html The Last Word on DAC ThemesThursday, May 16th, 2013The final word on the BIG theme(s) for DAC comes from Brian Bailey, Editor of EE Times EDA Designline……
For many people, the attendance numbers seem to be the number one issue on their minds this year. DAC has never been to Austin in its 50 year history and only once been to Texas. Yet there is, and has always been, a very large design community in that area, a group of people that have perhaps been overlooked. A head count seems to be a very unimportant number, even though it is an easy metric. But we are an intelligent industry that should know a lot about metrics and I think there are more useful metrics in this case, such as the number of first time attendees. More new gen thoughts on the passing of printTuesday, April 30th, 2013Today we will hear from McKenzie Mortensen, of IPextreme, on print vs. digital.  McKenzie Mortensen I’m far more on the fence about this topic than I ever thought I would be. In all honesty, I’m not completely sure where I stand. I’ll try to replicate my thought process below: Pro Print
Pro Digital
New gen view on the passing of printMonday, April 29th, 2013
We old gen folks bemoan the passing of print, even though we (in truth) haven’t cared about print for a number of years – finding the true value being on the web. I think it’s more symbolic for us old folks than anything else. In the wake of the closing of the print editions by UBM, we decided to follow up with the new gen EDA folks we interviewed last week to get their take on this turn of events. First up is Hannah Watanabe, of Synopsys, with her thoughts on the news…..  Hannah Watanabe My mind goes back and forth when it comes to the whole print versus digital media. Personally, when it comes to books, I prefer to have the print version. There is something about turning a page and being able to physically see and feel how many pages I have read and how many I have left. When I’m done with the book, I can put it on a shelf with all of the other books that I have read and feel a sense of accomplishment. However, when it comes to magazines or monthly or quarterly publications, I much prefer to have access to a digital copy. Unlike books, which I tend to read at home with a cup of tea and a blanket, I find myself looking at magazines and other publications when I’m on the go. When I’m on the go (say waiting for a dentist appointment), I only have bits and pieces of time to read, so it is much nicer to have a digital version or a magazine or publication on my phone than the whole printed version shoved in my purse. So, in short, I think that it is a good and positive move on EE Time’s part to go completely digital. With the age of smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices, I’m sure that the electronic version has a much larger audience and reach. Of course, I do feel for those who are losing their jobs due to a complete migration to digital. How to value IPTuesday, January 8th, 2013
In 2012, the industry discussed the qualities that reliable and reusable IP needs and the metric to measure those qualities. We think 2013 will be the year that the value of IP becomes tangible. We tapped Warren Savage, CEO of IPextreme, to give us his thoughts on how to value IP. Ed: So Warren, how do we figure out IP’s value? Warren: In the most tangible sense, I think the question ought to be “how do we monetize IP?” IPextreme has been at the forefront of this since we founded the company back in 2004, and it really was “extreme” back in those days to discuss licensing those “crown jewels.” But now it is increasingly mainstream and certainly the topic for industry discussion. So one consideration revolves around the ton of licensing done in the industry today that is hidden. Primarily around patents and process technology. The transactional IP licensing that we specialize in, is really something that IPextreme invented. What hiding from the competition will get youTuesday, October 11th, 2011I’m sometimes mystified when we meet a prospect or new client. We’re supposed to handle the public introduction of the company: i.e., tell its differentiating story, nail down the supporting messages through every written or spoken effort we and the client make. That’s not the mystifying part. We can find something to tout, always. (Look! This car has FOUR, count ’em, FOUR tires AND a steering wheel!) Seriously, I’m speechless when, during the course of digging into the company’s value proposition, we hear, “but we don’t want to tip off the competition.” Um…we’d never get into the family jewels. But at the story and supporting message set level, we do need to give a level of detail that shows there’s something different, new, noteworthy, NEWSworthy to the company’s editorial, blogging, analyst customer community. It’d be like asking your lawyer to represent you in court, but not telling that lawyer everything that’s relevant to the case. So the question I’d like to ask is: do you want to launch your company into the public domain, tell potential customers why you’ve got a different approach and technology that’s worth buying (and make money doing so)? Or do you want to hide from the competition and everyone else, including potential customers?
So why comment on blogs?Thursday, September 16th, 2010A couple of weeks ago, a client asked, in essence, “why comment on articles or blogs?” OK, so he didn’t say it exactly like that. But he did say that he’s …struggling to figure out what really makes sense regarding the growing amount of posting by anybody and everybody….Is all this writing and blogging serving a real purpose? I’m not sure. Some blogs get recognition and response….I think most don’t. He’s got a point. I think bloggers (indie, company and editorial) all feel, in our gut, that there’s value. But how do we measure that value? What do comments add to a blog or article? Tough one. So I asked some of the bloggers what they thought. First off, I went to one of the longest running bloggers in EDA – Karen Bartleson. (Is it really three years, Karen? She’s at http://www.synopsys.com/blogs/thestandardsgame). She shed really insightful light on why EDA blogs get so few comments, if we compare them to consumer blogs like Yelp. And, she has her blog up on what she’s seen in the three years since she started her blog. So do take a look at Karen’s analysis of EDA blogging. I bet she’s got a take on the state of EDA blog comments. Karen’s, along with a bunch of other bloggers’ comments on EDA blog comments gave me some trends to ponder. Some recurring points: __the honeymoon infatuation period for EDA blogging has come…and is going. Now there needs to be some sense of longterm value. My take…just what is “value” in terms of EDA blogs? Different from perspectives of the client, journalist and PR person. __some indie bloggers say they see their blogs as diaries, written for themselves and interested people. My take…everyone is aware of a larger cast of potential viewers, however. (By and large, they value comments but don’t use it as a metric of their blog’s value.) __there are more eyeballs on the blogs than we can ascertain. My take… however, these numbers are impossible to get for viewers and bloggers hosted by other sites. There’s no SRDS* in the EDA & IP social media world. *SRDS was (is?) an organization that certified reader numbers for print publications so that they could charge advertising rates based on readership. __engineers by and large are pretty quiet, shy types who rarely will comment or extend a discussion, even if they do read the blog, article and their accompanying comments. My take…this came up a lot. I’m not sure…would their shyness prevent them from commenting? Probably. Would the relatively anonymous filter of the comment field encourage them to speak out? Potentially. __by and large, the number of comments aren’t an accurate measure of eyeballs. My take…lots of agreement that some sort of metric on value is reasonable, understandable. Less agreement on whether it’s needed now. (One person compared the dilemma to the old attempt to measure column inches to value, which measures volume but doesn’t take into account perceptual, qualitative value.) __commenting is a lot like getting a quote into an editorially-written article insofar as creating an authoritative voice that gets recognized, over time, as an industry voice to listen to…or not, depending on the content of the comment). My take…one especially insightful editorial blogger felt that comments are a dynamic part of a living, breathing article that encompasses new perspectives with new comments and discussion. One difference that I see is that the editor or author of the article hasn’t vetted the comment or incorporated it into his or her article. The comment is a response to the vetted article, which is the insightful editorial blogger’s point, I now see. __the blog (and blogger) or article (and author) and its comments, to some degree, form a community onto each of themselves. My take…this discussion got a bit abstract for me but I hear the notion. Help! __this is a good time to talk about the expectations of each community (indie bloggers, editorial bloggers, company bloggers) and how to sync up each community so that there is value for everyone. My take…but it’ll require the different goals and expectations of each community to somehow sync up so that each community’s efforts bring value to one another. How does that sync up with goals and expectations of customers, clients? Of course, there’s no answer (yet) to the question about value here. The bloggers (indie, company and editorial) feel that there is value in commenting. Many of them agree that no one can measure value right now but that there ought to be some way to do so. Most everyone thinks that there is an existing, intangible value of being a voice of authority, an industry citizen. And everyone thought we ought to keep talking about this issue. Comments anyone?
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