Private blog post 6 - Are you ready?

Hello all,

As we approach the end of the semester and our project, this week's blog post will cover one question: "Are we ready?" Simply put, I believe we are.

Our team has put a lot of time and thinking into every part of this project - even including the selection of the patent(s). We bounced around CRISPR and then 1-2 other options before we selected these 2 patents. After we selected the patent, we didn't immediately start designing a product - we first ensured that we understood it. This process actually set us back a few weeks, in terms of keeping up with the class, but I believe it was invaluable. Collectively, we reached out to the Berkeley & Davis teams that built and designed these technologies, read several scientific articles, and watched YouTube videos that demonstrated live demos of the technology. Afterwards, we shared our findings with one another, and this ensured one important thing - each member of our team knew our patents like the back of their hand.

As our understanding of the technology matured, we carried out several customer interviews. Not only did we carry out our own customer surveys, we actually reached out to the Davis team to ask if they had any data here. This proved to be a huge boon, as their team sent us a customer survey report that assuaged some of our concerns - they showed, overwhelmingly, that surveyed people would be willing to buy a product based on this technology. Given that, we were able to design a product with a thorough understanding of how it works, and then provide justifiable financials to make it a reality.

I firmly believe it is impossible to pitch an idea to someone else unless you understand that idea yourself. It's the same thing with pitching a product - and we understand and know this product incredibly well, and I think that's going to allow us to succeed in our pitch and in our Q&A. Our journey was a bit rocky at times, but now, as we finish up the deck and shore up the final holes in our presentation, I can say with confidence that we are ready.