Critical components of a winning second stage company
1111_ 11/23/11 - Talk about an important, wonderful organization that is Colorado Companies to Watch and Stephanie Steffens, the program director, COCTW is part of a national program, the National Company Select Program was founded and hosted by the Edward Lowe Foundation out of Michigan. The first State to do a company select program was Michigan, eight years ago. Colorado was the fourth state in the nation to create a statewide program. Local economic developers came to Stephanie who was at the time the business retention coordinator for the Office of Economic Development and International Trade, and said we need a program like this, let's create it. So Colorado Companies to Watch was created in partnership with the Edward Lowe Foundation, local economic development groups - cities, counties, trade associations and businesses to recognize second stage companies across Colorado. And, to bring attention to the fact that these companies that are beyond startup but not yet mature, are creating a larger percentage of jobs for the percentage of companies than any other segment of our economy. Typically they fly under the radar, people don't even know they're there - but they are creating jobs and fueling the economic fire of Colorado... which is why we made that the tag line for the program. They need to be acknowledged and thanked but more importantly we need to give them the visibility that will help their businesses grow, and help them to continue to be successful and create jobs in Colorado. Being statewide makes this program unique and they work hard to make sure they get companies from all over the state, and every industry. Truly unique about COCTW is the focus on second stage companies. A second stage company is beyond startup but they don't have everything figured out yet. They obviously know what they're doing or they wouldn't have gotten beyond startup. They have between $750K and $50 Million in annual revenue; At least six employees including the owners, but no more than 100 ; and Demonstrate they are not only surviving but growing and dealing with challenges that make them more innovative and standout above companies like them...Listen for more...
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LISTEN to Stephanie Steffens, Program Director, Colorado Companies to Watch

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Another point of concern is that connectivity leads to many other requirements and these are often underappreciated. As soon as you connect an embedded device, a string of requirements come into play. How will the device be managed? The devices may be deployed far from the IT department or in hard to reach locations, so don’t plan on a truck roll to plug in and troubleshoot. What protocols will be used? Some M2M protocols are more common, but others are just emerging. Sourcing components and then developing and integrating the software can be interesting. Security is a must have. What about the cloud, upgrades, etc.? Will there be some mission-critical aspects which require additional reliability or performance? Don’t forget about the second “M” as that’s important too. You can’t have M2M without it!