The Slingshot Syndrome

About the Book

"One of the best descriptions and explanations I have read of the failure of large U.S. corporations to develop and exploit new products and services. I particularly liked the description of the failure of the development of the communications industry within the typical corporate structure and [the] analogy of the history of the U.S. product development to the movie industry. I also agree that distribution and management of services can probably only be efficiently performed through large corporations, a direction that appears to be in the process of being taken by companies originally noted for technological development as illustrated. The recommendation that new products can best be incubated in small independent entrepreneurial startups is intriguing."
— DeWitt Bowman, Chief Investment Officer (retired), California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS)

"This is excellent! I think Reid has it all figured out. The Slingshot Syndrome is easy to read—very clear and to-the-point. Revolutionary ideas presented clearly, strongly and simply. A Real winner in my opinion!"
— Terry McPherson, Intellectual Property and Technology Management Director (retired), Lucent Technologies.

"I'll be among the first purchasers for a dozen or more copies!"
— Susan Gauff, Senior Vice President, Sarnoff Corporation

About the Author

Reid McRae Watts has spent 25 years working in large corporate R&D environments, such as Bell Labs, AT&T, and NCR, with some of the key technologies of our era attempting to commercialize breakthrough innovations. Reid is the founder and Managing General Partner of Progeny Ventures, LLC. Reid has a Masters in Computer Science from the University of Kansas and is a graduate of executive management programs at Yale and INSEAD (France), and the Venture Capital Institute.

Please visit www.progenyvc.com/slingshot for more comments, quotes, and reviews.