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Technology Start-ups and Value Creation

www.chipsensors.com

Ray Speer

CTO, ChipSensors, Limerick

copyright © 2010 Ray Speer

Ray Speer

• CTO and Director, ChipSensors, Limerick, Dublin.

Fabless Semi company making embedded silicon sensors,

Temp and RH, Gases, and Pathogen Detectors. Acquired by

Silicon Labs, Austin, USA, 8th Oct 2010

• Manager EpiCenter (Electronics, Production & Innovation)

LyIT, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal.

• Director of start-up Silansys Technologies, Dublin, ‘02 - ’04

Winner of TI Service Award. Acquired by Frontier Silicon, UK

• VP Analog Technology, Parthus, Dublin, ‘93 - ’03. Joined Parthus as

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• VP Analog Technology, Parthus, Dublin, ‘93 - ’03. Joined Parthus as

part of the start-up team with responsibility for building a world class

design consultancy specialising in mixed-signal ICs. Customers STM, TI,

Motorola, HP, Delco and ESA. Applications included Storage, Display,

Automotive, Wireless and Consumer. Parthus had a successful IPO on

London and Nasdaq in May 2001. Merged with a division of the DSP

Group in ‘03 to form Ceva Inc.

• Project Manager, S3, Phillips Group, Dublin, ‘91 - ’93

• Senior Design Engineer, Analog Devices, ‘84 - ’91

Responsible for several product families, AD7537/47 DACs, AD787x

ADCs and AD7002 GSM baseband codec.

• Holder of US patents, 5,528,241, 5,289,113 and 5,075,667

Contents

• Semi Industry Review

• Case Study Parthus Technologies

• Case Study ChipSensors

• Technology Start-ups

• Lessons Learned

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Semi Industry A Review

First Transistor, Bell Labs, 1947

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First point contact transistor (germanium), 1947Shockley, Brattain and Bardeen discover the transistor

Bell LaboratoriesSource, Paulo Moreira,CERN - Geneva, Switzerland

Semi Industry A ReviewMoore’s Law

• Gordon Moore, co-founder of Intel

• Made his now famous

‘observation’ in 1965.

• Predicted that the number of

transistors per chip would grow

exponentially (double every 18

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exponentially (double every 18

months)

• His observation has remained

valid for over 4 decades.

• Rapid growth in capability has

fuelled rapid innovation led

technology adoption

Semi Industry A ReviewIntel 4004 Microprocessor

• Clock speed 108kHz

• 2300 transistors

• 4 bit data

• 8 bit instruction word

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• 8 bit instruction word

• 45 instructions

• 1Kb ext program memory

• 4Kb ext data memory

• 8 x 8 bit registers

Source: www.intel4004.com

Semi Industry A ReviewMoore’s Law

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Source: www.intel.com/technology/mooreslaw/index.htm

“The first microprocessor only had 22 hundred transistors. We are looking at

something a million times more complex in the next generations—a billion

transistors. What that gives us in the way of flexibility to design products is

phenomenal.” —Gordon E. Moore

Semi Industry A ReviewPace of Technology Change

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Years to Years to

25% U.S. 25% U.S.

AdoptionAdoption

Source: D

Ferrell, SIASource: Computer Systems Policy Project (CSPP.org) Bruce

Mehlman 3/04

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Contents





• Lessons Learned

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ChipSensors Introduction

• Founded 2006, Ireland & Boston

• Fabless Semiconductor Sensor company

• Single-chip Digital Sensors

• Temperature, Humidity, Carbon-Dioxide

Booth Number 722

Thinking Outside the Chip – Energy-Efficient Building:

System Level

Module %RH

0C

Board

Module

Sensor

Package

Test

Calibration

Interface

Intelligent HVAC

Ventilation on Demand

%RH

ppm

CO2

Thinking Outside the Chip – Active Tag Logger

Crate-Level Item-Level

Units

Crate-Level

tagging

Item-Level

tagging

�Single-chip wireless sensors needed

Sensors in future need to be:

�Low Cost

�Low Power

�Wireless

Sensors

(RH, T, CO2)

MCU

+ NVM

Industry-standard IP blocks now

0.18µµµµm/ 0.13µµµµm RF CMOS

Chipsensors Sensors today

0.18um/0.13um CMOS

The Ideal Single-Chip Wireless Sensor

8051 ARM

EEPROM I2C

SPI

Sensors

(RH, T, CO2)

A-to-D

+cal RF

802.15.4

18-Bit ADC,

Differential Vin,

Wafer Level CalibrationRFID

Zigbee

A-to-D

+cal

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Contents





• Lessons Learned

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Technology Start-upIngredients for Success

• A new product or service idea which

addresses the customers ‘pain’

• An experienced team with an

orthogonal mix of skills

• A growing global market in its

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• A growing global market in its

infancy

• Partnerships to develop proof of

concept and early stage product

• Strong product validation from

marketplace leaders

• Technology protected by patent

Technology Start-upDeveloping the Idea

• Know the Customer

• Conceiving the idea

– The ’tip of the Iceberg’

– Rarely happens in isolation

– The best ideas are conceived when ‘orthogonal’ experiences interact, actively seek out such opportunities, push out beyond your comfort zone, networking

– End user input is invaluable

• Partnerships

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• Partnerships

– A team approach, including externals, ‘teacher customers’

– Be careful to ensure a good contractual framework

• Proof of Concept

– Show something early

– Build a demonstration model, software and hardware

– Interact with potential end users

• Product Design

– Detailed product development plan (top down, bottom up)

– Use external contract services to accelerate time to revenue

Technology Start-up Parallel Processing of Tasks

IdeaProof of

ConceptPrototype

Beta

TestRevenue

Ramp

Up

IP Issues

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Business Plan

Business Formation

Growth

Funding

Technology Start-up Value Creation Timeline

Valuation

Value Can Grow steeply and often

out of proportional to effort

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Bright

Idea

F&F Seed,

Grants

Team

Formed

Proof of

Concept

Customer

Validation

Business

Plan 1.x

EI/VC

A Round

2007

Q4

2008

Q1

2008

Q2

2008

Q3

2008

Q4

2009

Q1

2009

Q2

Value

Creation

Valuation

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Contents





• Lessons Learned

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Lessons Learned

• Build the Right Team– Internal and External, Emphasise Orthogonal Skill Set

– CEO Lead by Example

– Keep the Team (ESOP, etc)

• Networking– Encourage communication beyond immediate peer group

– Engage with academic partners (but remember Mars and Venus!)

– Engage with ‘thought leaders’, ‘teacher customers’, usually smaller companies.

– Develop Partnerships and Collaborations to fill in gaps.

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– Develop Partnerships and Collaborations to fill in gaps.

• Build Proofs of Concept Early– Have a ‘show and tell’, Computer Models and Hardware, Trade Shows

• Appropriate Finance– Many start-up CEOs spend all their time fundraising!

• IT Infrastructure– Use the available tools to facilitate communication across teams, common

calendars, Net Meeting, Video Conferencing, but there is no substitute for Face to Face

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