Acceleration Co-op

Following a mention in the press yesterday, I thought I would post about a different way of leveraging our collective expertise which I and some of the other Acceleration Co-op members have been exploring. It has the potential to make spinning novel technology out of Universities and National Labs a more effective process. It is a "work in progress" but if any of you are interested in more details, read on, and feel free to contact me to discuss.
 
In my last post, I described an interaction with our expert crowd in which the tech transfer group from Lawrence Livermore National Labs (LLNL) exposed one of their interesting technology portfolios to our expert crowd, and engaged with us in a virtual brainstorming session to tease out potential new "killer apps" for the technology. During the brainstorming sessions, spread over several months, three of the expert members of the Acceleration Co-op (including me) developed a particular interest in one of the potential applications. Although none of the three of us knew each other before, we got comfortable with each other's approach to things as a result of our on-line interactions. After some time, it occurred to me that we could potentially collaborate on doing deeper due diligence on the technology and the application, and perhaps collaborate to spin out the technology and create a new business.
 
We set up a private circle within the Acceleration Co-op, and for the last few months have been using it as a place to collaborate on some rather deep due diligence on market applications, IP strength, competition, market size, product feature set, and a range of other things we felt needed to be fleshed out prior to deciding whether or not to spin out the technology. This has proven to be a rather productive and enjoyable experience and I am hoping may prove a model for future similar interactions. We are still in the middle of this process, and have not yet decided definitively that this opportunity has all the ingredients that make it attractive as a spin out. However, regardless of whether or not we decide to proceed with this specific spinout, I am finding the process a far more effective way to evaluate this opportunity than more traditional approaches. 
 
Interestingly, so far only two of the three of us have actually met face to face, although we have had numerous online meetings, and have a number of "acquaintances in common" that serve to strengthen the relationships. The power of the collaboration has come from the fact that the three of us have very complementary skills, and have self selected as being interested in the opportunity, and are all willing to roll up our sleeves and invest some time and energy in this opportunity, in return for a share in it if we go forward. One of us has exceptionally deep senior management experience in the industry vertical we are attacking, and is well connected with leaders of some of the key potential "customers". The other two have complementary expertise in fields that collectively include technology development, market analysis, financing and running startups, and technology incubation. As it happens, the three of us are spread around the world: one in San Francisco, one on the East Coast of the US, and one in Australia.
 
If I had not got to know the other two through our interactions in the Acceleration Co-op, I think the transactional overhead of tackling this project in this way would have prevented me from attempting it.
 
In an interesting new development, the angel group of which I am a member (Keiretsu Forum) recently entered into a MoU with LLNL to collaborate on improving the process of converting technology from the labs into investable businesses. This was announced at a recent Keiretsu event, and I was asked to give a brief description of the spinout exercise described above. This was picked up briefly by the press, hence this post.
 
We see ourselves as the "guinea pigs" of this interesting experiment. I suspect there is great potential in marrying the deep well of novel technologies in the world's National Labs and Universities, with a global "expert crowd" like the Acceleration Co-op and a global "crowd" of angels, like the Keiretsu Forum. I am looking forward to helping figure out how to make it all work.