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Hardware Congress 3.0: how it was, part 2. Analysis of the presentations from Business cases of hardware companies

We continue to review the presentations of Hardware Congress 3.0 - a large conference for heads of Belarusian companies and ambitious engineers who are working to develop their expertise and the industry as a whole.

Let us remind you that the congress was held on November 2 in the Minsk Gallery "Ў". The organizers are AIMA and Pro Business. The program included three sections: Instrument-Making Strategy Development, Business Cases, Investments & future.

We share with you our best ideas & photos from the event. Today we are focusing on the second section.

1. Experience in the development of innovative technologies at STANDA and the development of the laser industry in Lithuania

Mikhail Berba, Doctor of Technical Sciences and President of the Lithuanian company STANDA, described how after 1991 his company entered a large global market. All their activities were related to laser physics, mechanics were of the micron level. The understanding came that a more individual product needed to be made, ambitions appeared.

It was also difficult at the start: no one knew where Lithuania was. Today STANDA employs 200 people. About 4,000 of our own designs have been completed. The company participates in world exhibitions 12 times a year. Their success is based on thorough market research (good marketing).

The Lithuanian market accounts for only 5% of STANDA's turnover, the remaining 95% of products go to customers around the world. Their products fly on satellites. Consumers are NASA and Apple Metrology Lab.

Mikhail Berba noted that companies in Lithuania at one time also decided to create an association to lobby for their interests. The association convinced the Lithuanian authorities to spend more money on education. Each year, the members of the association announced how many specialists they lacked. As a result, such work helped to get better quality personnel.

To date, more than 30 companies have appeared in Lithuania that are part of the laser industry (some of them are startups).

The STANDA president admits: he never took out loans from a bank, he was never interested in investors. Mikhail Berba believes: those who do not have a good idea, they apply for other people's money, and when the idea is good, you can use your money, starting small. You can live by intelligence. If you have an idea, money will appear.

2. How to build product management in a company

Dmitry Chernomorets, Development Director at Humathèq, told how to manage the product:

Humathèq helps customers create products. But sometimes these products "die". Why does the product "die"? We ask the customer. We hear: "we didn’t have time to develop it." Then we check what the problem is. And the problem is that there are no people to develop this product, to move it. The product may die before taking off. Out of four to six products, only one can take off.

A product manager is the person without whom the products die on the runway: they have not yet taken off, they have already died. This is the person who is responsible for the success of the product and for the failure as well. It is a great art to bury a product in time.

A product manager is an entrepreneur who finds it more profitable to work for a corporation than on his own. What is he doing? Researches customers and users, learns their problems and pains, creates new products.

The problem is pseudo product managers. Usually this is such a full-time PM at the office who does not actually deal with the product. And who are the judges? The judges are clients.

The best motivation for a sales manager is a strong product. How do you know if a product is strong? This product sells well.

There are very few PMs who are ready to invest in their product. Product managers whose products are not profitable often leave. The victorious ones will never leave. Those who do not succeed leave and, as a rule, never return.

We need to create a system of product managers. Where we can find them? You need to grow them inside the company, with proven competencies.

A PM is a top-ranked profession for the next 10-15 years. They can have the biggest money after the business owners.

3. Marketing a product in the B2C market: online segmentation and micro-targeting - cases from Yukon


Rytis Burachas, Marketing Director of Yukon, spoke about online segmentation and micro-targeting using the example of his company's products - Pulsar night vision optics.

Yukon places great emphasis on marketing and thoroughly researches the market. There are several groups of their customers:

1. Specialists

2. Hobbyists

3. Pest Controllers

4. Weapon enthusiasts

Yukon conducted research on how customers in each group make decisions, what is the main motive for buying. For each customer group, Yukon chooses promotion methods, social networks and media, and also finds those words that convince and meet the needs of the buyer.

Rytis is a follower of the ZMOT theory, which was proposed by Jim Lecinski in his book ZMOT: Conquering the Zero Moment of Truth.

Ritis Burachas: "Today you are not behind the competition, you are not behind the technology, you are behind your consumer."

4. Opportunities and difficulties of developing a hardware startup in Belarus

Victor Khamenok, Founder and CEO of Rozum Robotics, became the best speaker at Hardware Congress 3.0 (according to the voting results). He spoke about the possibilities and difficulties of developing a hardware startup in Belarus.

At the beginning of his speech, Victor addressed the audience and asked to raise their hands to those who want to make their own HW startup. 15 people. After his speech, Victor addressed the audience again: "Who still wants to do this?" There were considerably more hands.

Maybe there were more people who wanted to make their own HW startup, because Victor had shared links to those accelerators and venture capital funds where the startup can get support.

Ideas from Victor's speech:

• The robot revolution is just beginning.

• How many people work for you, 5-10-100 - it is absolutely unimportant, you sleep for the same number of hours. And if there is no difference, then why not do something bigger (Now Rozum Robotics employs 60 people).

• Formally, a startup is when they spend more than they earn.

• HW-startup is insanity in Belarus, and insanity often borders on genius.

 

5. Human empowerment in the XR environment. TESLASUIT case



Dmitry Mikhalchuk, co-founder and Chief Revenue Officer of VRTek, spoke about the possibilities of expanding human capabilities in the XR environment using the example of the TESLASUIT product - a suit with tactile feedback for full immersion in virtual reality.

Dmitry said that for the first two years the team spent days and nights in the office, so they were burning with the idea! Now the team employs 150 people, 100 of them are in Minsk.

As a result, Teslasuit received the prestigious Red Dot Award 2019 for the best design in the Best of the best product category.

     


In the next article, we will continue our review of the discussion “The future of instrument making and hardware in Belarus”. Stay with us!