Electroninks Inc – S Brett Walker

The Circuit Scribe looks like a fun little product. However, I can’t see it being very successful as a venture. It seems that the business has some great academics associated with it but I worry about their lack of business experience. Academics aren’t always the best people to run startups but they can create some amazing stuff. Hopefully Walker is able to make Electroninks Inc. a successful venture.

This is a very innovative product. The process of creating a real circuit board includes designing a circuit, printing it to a copper plated circuit board (or transferring the printed ink to the surface of the circuit board) then using acid to etch away the exposed copper leaving behind the copper protected by the printed ink. Its a bit dangerous using acid like this and requires a vented fume hood like you would find in a science lab. This product would make it a lot safer but I'm afraid that I don't think it will attract much attention outside of the novelty, DIY, education market. I'm not sure how well this circuit would hold up in a "real world" situation compared to an actual dipped circuit board.

S. Brett Walker is clearly a smart inventor and engineer, as shown by his recognition and awards. It is interesting to note that the patent on the ink itself acts as a lost leader into future potential earnings through the sales of kits and applicators. Although the patent exists, its "secrete sauce" is so simple, anyone can make it; therefor, the patent is unenforceable. This shows thought in executing his business model. He has recruited other engineers and researchers to help him explore the potential of this medium in hopes of increasing his intellectual property and expanding on both his earnings potential and brand. I get the impression that S. Brett Walker is capable of making sound business decisions and, overall, his entrepreneurship skills may even allow him to continue to lead the company beyond the initial invention and start-up, as he and the company both grow and expand.

I think this is an extremely innovative product and approach to launching it. According to your venture review, I felt it was quite smart to patent the "conductive silver ink composition" while remaining open source. As a startup or kickstarter, support is often limited if the product lacks substance, validity, real demand, or is unknown. By protecting the ink composition and making the hardware open source I felt he could attract a larger audience of investors that could eventually source him out for his ink composition. The product in my opinion addresses a real learning need/area, has other practical industry applications, and is just plain cool. I believe there is sufficient demand for this product and I would invest.

I am also impressed by the openness of the information from this company. I think this shows that the culture of the company is directed towards sharing information, which is useful for both education and innovation. The founder clearly has created a team of innovators so I think that they are likely going to continue developing new products. The video indicates that Circuit Scribe is an improvement on the products which were available, again it is likely that he will continue to develop ideas for new products. Having looked through some of the other biographies, most others include at least one person from a different background, education, business, or marketing, whereas this team appears to be all engineers. I think this would be good for innovating, but perhaps they might have more difficulties in other areas? However, in terms of creating a successful company based on an innovation their approach is a success.

It appears that Mr. Walker has surrounded himself with an impressive team of experts for his venture which is the best strategy to enhance his venture. It is unclear from the review who exactly has invested in the venture but they have been successful raising the required capital, and more. Mr. Walker appears to be interested in trying out new ideas and improving existing situations which is one quality of an entrepreneur. By making his product open source he is also building 'brand' which will help enhance his products sales. As Mr. Walker's is still a young company, acting as founder and CEO appears to be working at this time and he seems to be managing both roles competently.