Known Element Enterprises - Year end wrap up

First let's start with the mission of Known Element Enterprises. I created the company to serve as an incubation firm to take ideas that various people in my social network had and (with the proper analysis/planning/connections/funding) turn them into cash for the members of that social network, based on the amount of effort put into developing the idea.

Let's start off by taking a look at the various ideas that have been tossed around by members of my social network in the past year (Q3/Q4 2007 and Q1/Q2/Q3/Q4 2008).

SiliconValleySouth - Cyber Cafe

The first idea was for a brick and mortar business called SiliconValleySouth, which would have been a cyber cafe. (Patti and I came up with this idea). After a detailed analysis it was determined the idea wasn't feasible and has been abandoned.

More info can be found at the below blog posts:
http://siliconvs.blogspot.com/2007/09/bit-about-svs.html
http://siliconvs.blogspot.com/2007/09/brainstorming.html
http://siliconvs.blogspot.com/2007/09/things-you-can-do-with-small-space.html
http://siliconvs.blogspot.com/2007/09/some-thoughts-on-printing.html
http://siliconvs.blogspot.com/2007/09/free-wifi.html
http://siliconvs.blogspot.com/2007/10/pay-at-pump.html
http://siliconvs.blogspot.com/2007/10/another-photo-idea.html

ClickItNoTicket - Web 2.0 project

The next idea that got put out there was ClickItNoTicket (this was co developed at MobileCampLA and won the Entrepreneurial Improv contest. ). After a detailed analysis
it was concluded that the idea had significant issues but could most likely be overcome with funding and a dedicated product team. We didn't pursue turning this idea into a formal business plan, but anyone is welcome to do so.

More info can be found at the below blog posts:
http://siliconvs.blogspot.com/2007/11/clickitnoticketcom.html
http://siliconvs.blogspot.com/2007/11/brain-dump-on-clickitnoticket.html
http://siliconvs.blogspot.com/2007/11/license-plates.html
http://siliconvs.blogspot.com/2007/11/another-thought-on-stickers-and.html

OpenSrcLearn.org/OpenSrcLearn.com and OpenSourceDelivery Systems - Educational and professional services

The next idea was OpenSrcLearn.org and OpenSrcLearn.com. After a detailed analysis and various false starts (venue not being available even though it was promised to us, certain people with the project falling through and promising us things that were not quite true) as well as a very competitive market with some large established players, we didn't proceed with the educational idea. The educational idea was tied pretty heavily to the SiliconValleySouth idea as well. A blended revenue stream if you will.

More info can be found at the below blog posts:
http://siliconvs.blogspot.com/2007/11/opensrclearnorg.html
http://siliconvs.blogspot.com/2007/11/opensrclearncom.html
http://siliconvs.blogspot.com/2007/11/opensrclearncom-coming-together.html

Infrasbox - IT Automation

The next idea was an IT automation product. After a detailed analysis we discovered a very powerful product called ControlTier which did everything our analysis / product plan wanted.

More info can be found at the below blog posts:

http://siliconvs.blogspot.com/2008/02/infrasboxcom-swot.html
http://siliconvs.blogspot.com/2008/03/infrasbox-is-hiring.html

Whew. Late Q3/Q4 2007 and Q1/Q2 2008 was a whirlwind of ideas which on the surface seemed good but after analysis turned out to:

1)Not be feasible (due to problems with the business model or not being able to differentiate from the existing players (SiliconValleySouth, OpenSrcLearn, OpenSourceDeliverySystems,InfrasBox)

2)Not be feasible without VC funding and a product team (ClickItNoTicket)

The staff of Known Element Enterprises has certainly learned a lot about the beginning of the product development lifecycle and how to write really good business/operations/product plans :)

BizzPlat

We have abandoned this idea as well, as it requires substantial development and sales/marketing resources.