Transforming the front end (“FEI”) of the venture process means increasing the acceleration of the venture conception process and increasing the accuracy of decision making during the venture conception process. Here are the 2 laws that confirm “where” in the venture process one should look to for solutions, like ours.

The 90/10 Process Law Process pros, since the days of Dr. Edwards Deming, have long recognized that 90% of the success or failure of any process hinges on how the first 10% of the process is managed. And since chaotic systems, such as business and most of its disciplines can be highly sensitive to initial starting conditions, a tiny difference at the outset may lead to an entirely different outcome than expected. Listen to Jim Sims, CEO of Cambridge Technology Partners, describe this 90/10 law: “The first thing to understand is that 90 percent of the problem in software development happens before you write the first line of code.” Naturally, the corollary of Mr. Sims’ observation would read like this:

Ninety percent of the solution in software happens before you write the first line of code.

Figure 2 depicts an application of this 90/10 process law. Do you see something odd here? Why are companies allocating their resources inverse to the 90/10 process law? For starters, everyone believes the concept design stage is a process devoid of predictive power. This mind-set sets everyone heading in the wrong direction real fast. They try to mitigate the long odds by marshaling the best creative talent in the world for concept design, and most of it is outsourced talent. As tidy as this sounds, the reality is neither time, talent, nor cash are deployed at the concept design stage in amounts that correlate with the 90/10 law. On top of this, many experts believe the concept design stage shouldn’t be outsourced at all.