电子产业一向喜欢赞颂成功的创业故事，吹捧业界多家巨擘在草创时期如何艰困的环境──车库因此成为成立一家公司的最佳地点！
但这些成功故事的背后通常忽略了还有成千上百次的技术创新最后无疾而终，因为还有许多具有创意的创业家们由于无法吸引任何人的注意，要不就是得不到关键的资金援助。
我们从科技领域发生的事件中听到的种种故事，都是一些成功的企业，如Amazon、Apple、Facebook、Google、Hewlett-Packard与Yahoo。但业界还有更多由于产品无法进入主流市场而到不了华尔街的奋斗故事！那么，新创企业与创新者如何让他们的创意与产品也有机会跻身被歌颂的成功企业之列？
迈 向成功的道路上免不了横亘着无数的障碍与挑战。许多技术创新由于种种因素最后消声匿迹，主要的原因不外乎缺乏资金援助、没找对合作伙伴或无法引起市场共鸣、欠缺营销、经验不足导致管理失误、竞争力不足、产品上市时机不对、供应链问题，以及无法吸引供货商、合约制造商与第三方支持服务供货商，甚至是潜力产品的设计不佳等等。
在电子产业中，新产品要实现成功前可能面临的最棘手障碍之一──以组件为例──就是无法在现有产品中为该新组件找到一个最佳位置。业界常说的“design win”，就是指让组件被包括在工程师设计终端设备时所需使用的组件清单中的可能性。
对于新创公司而言，产品能够获得主要OEM平台、电路板、软件或封装中的选用，就象征着最高度的成功。例如，对于新创公司而言，能够从苹果公司(Apple Inc.)取得设计订单，就意味着取得千万美元的销售业务，同时也能让自家产品获得更高的知名度。
但是，在法国南部、英国中部或美国中西部的新创企业，如何实现这样的成功呢？在每年控制着数百亿美元采购支出的公司高阶采购与供应链主管之前，创新的企业如何抢占先机顺利推销自家产品？如果一家制造商过去从未供应组件给苹果公司，也无法直接与其销售主管联系，如何让苹果了解或检阅这家供货商的创新？
透过像J Lyons Marketing这样的技术营销公司，也有机会协助开发厂商弥合与业界主导企业之间的距离，建立双方的合作管道以及协助营销创新产品。J Lyons Marketing公司CEO John Lyons指出，该公司已经协助许多开发商与Fortune 500企业之间建立关系了。“如果一项技术符合制造商所要求的目标，我们就能为找到最佳位置，”Lyons说。
但这并不容易，赢得设计订单的第一步骤是得先说服像J Lyons这样的技术营销公司，证实这项创新值得投入。Lyons介绍其公司：“多年来，我们一直在为价值高达数十亿美元的技术交易进行媒合。我们持续与 Fortune 500大的公司首席技术官保持密切联系，因为我们知道他们正试图解决的问题何在。特别是对于欧洲的公司来说，确切掌握哪一家美国公司对其新技术感兴趣，这不容 易，但我们有这样的能力。”
不过，即使透过技术公司将产品推荐给Fortune 500企业采用，也并不表示就能成功。或者，如果营销公司无法成功推销产品，新创企业与技术开发者也还有其它道路可追寻。他们也还能利用资助伙伴的力量， 从通路伙伴取得专业知识与广大人脉关系；而如果这一切都失败了，也还有机会直接透过电话联络OEM先引起兴趣与注意力。无论如何，各种方式都值得一试── 毕竟，合作双方总是在寻找一些具差异化的产品、一些能够提高自家竞争力的创新。
本文授权编译自EBN Online，版权所有，谢绝转载
参考英文原文：The Matchmaker，by Bolaji Ojo, Editor in Chief)
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The Matchmaker
Bolaji Ojo
The electronics industry likes to celebrate success, touting the unusual circumstances under which many of its biggest companies were founded -- the garage is a favorite location.
It often fails to mention the hundreds, possibly thousands of other technological innovations that died unsung because the entrepreneurs either couldn't get anyone to pay attention to their ideas or failed to secure critical funding.
The stories many of us will ever get to know about events in the technology world are those of the successful companies, enterprises like Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, Hewlett-Packard, and Yahoo. But many others never get to Wall Street because their products failed to make it to Main Street. So, how can startups and innovators give their ideas and products the opportunity to get included in the narratives of successful companies?
The hurdles are certainly numerous. Many technological innovations die on the vine due to a variety of factors, the top reasons being lack of funding, failure to attract the right type or any sort of viable partnerships, insufficient marketing, management missteps resulting from inexperience, insurmountable competitive opposition, poor product timing, supply chain challenges such as inability to attract the patronage of suppliers, contract manufacturers and other third-party support services providers, and simply poor design of a potentially great product.
In the electronics industry, one of the toughest obstacles to the success of a new product -- in the case of components -- is failure to find a home for the parts in existing products. The industry jargon for this is "design win," which refers to the possibility of getting the component included in the list of components used by the engineer when designing the end-equipment.
A "win" on a major OEM's platform, printed-circuit board, software, or enclosure is a highly coveted victory for a startup. Scoring a "design-win," for example, on products from Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL), could translate literally into tens of millions in sales for a startup and give its products greater visibility with other manufacturers.
But how can a startup in southern France, central UK, or the Midwest of the United States score such a win? How can an innovative enterprise even get its products before the top procurement and supply chain executives at companies that control tens of billions in purchasing expenses per year? What will it take for Apple to review a component vendor's latest innovation when the manufacturer does not have a history of supplying components to the world's biggest consumer electronics company and has no direct links with its supply chain boss?
That's where folks like John Lyons come in. A veteran of the electronics industry, Lyons is CEO of J Lyons Marketing, a technology matchmaking firm that assists developers in bridging the wide gulf separating them from the companies that can benefit from and help market their products.
Lyons told me in an interview that his company's specialty is hooking developers up with Fortune 500 enterprises. "If the technology can do what the manufacturer wants, we'll help you find a home for it," Lyons said. It's not quite that simple, though. The first step to scoring that design win is convincing technology matchmakers like Lyons that the innovation is worth hawking around. Matchmakers are valued by OEMs especially because they would have already done much of the vetting that the enterprise would have to do if the middleman wasn't involved. Lyons said in a statement he emailed to me:
Over the years, we have been responsible for matchmaking hundreds of technology deals worth over a billion dollars. On one hand, we keep in constant contact with the CTOs of Fortune 500 companies so that we know the problems that they are trying to solve. It would be extremely hard for companies in Europe to know exactly which person in any number of vast US companies might be interested in their new technology but we do. Not only that but these guys will take our call because they know we deliver solutions time after time.
The products introduced to equipment manufacturers for consideration by technology marketers like Lyon must have already passed muster with the middleman who require have a deep knowledge of the customer's products and may even be aware of its product roadmap. In order to sustain the relationship on both sides, Lyons and his team are constantly in touch with CTOs at equipment vendors and spend a great deal of time hunting for valuable innovations.
An introduction by Lyons to a Fortune 500 company is not a guarantee of success, though. He admits to scoring wins regularly but added that many of the innovations he considers may not get past the front door at the equipment vendor. Lyons counts amongst "his successes a camera chip design win of 50 million units and counting, a battery design win for a Set Top Box worth $400 million, and a new disposable sample gathering device used in diagnostic testing with the potential to sell millions of units a year."
Of course, if matchmakers like Lyons cannot deliver the goods, there are other avenues technology innovators and startups can pursue. They can leverage the strength of funding partners, tap the vast knowledge and contacts available at distributors, and if all else fails, there's always the chance cold calling the OEMs might elicit some interest. It's a long shot but it may just be worth trying -- after all, both parties are always on the lookout for something different, something that improves their competitiveness.
责编：Quentin
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