Lessons learned from the launch of Segway

I have a book shelf in my house with about 8 books on it. This is my "to read" shelf, and with all the free time I have had on my hands lately I finally got around to starting on these books. The first one I decided to read was Code Name Ginger. The book is a behind the scenes look at the development of the Segway Human Transporter (code named Ginger before launch) from its very conception to just before launch. The book is absolutely fascinating and I would recommend it to anyone interested in start-ups, product development, venture capital, or even project management. Rather than jump into a prolonged book review (which you can get from those much more qualified than I) I will just pass along some of my "take aways" from the book.

1) Founders can be visionary and a pain in the ass - Dean Kamen, the man behind Ginger, is clearly a visionary who can change the world. The book also shows the ugly side of what happens when a technical visionary can't let go of a product and becomes the prototypical founder getting in the way of success.

2) Engineers may hate marketing, but marketing really matters - Millions of dollars had been thrown at developing Ginger before anyone asked the question of "who is the customer for this product?". Kamen just assumed that just about everyone in the world would want one. It wasn't until a board of directors got together and started asking hard questions did Kamen allow a small number of people to test Ginger. The investors in the company often talked about getting to a Billion in sales quicker than any other company ever, but they also never talked about how much the product would cost. I read almost 200 pages before the book even mentioned the price of Ginger, and then they only did so in vague terms.

3) Watch your back when VCs come on board - The minute Dean Kamen brought VCs on board they were looking to kick out the CEO, Marketing Director, and Ginger Project Manager. The VCs hadn't worked with these individuals, they just knew that these people weren't "their people." VCs invest a lot of money in risky projects expecting a huge return... and once they have poured millions into a company they want "their people" to run the company.