Some key points on what Start-up companies need to think about when it comes to KM

1. Knowledge Management
in Start-Up Organizations
Mr. Cory L. Cannon
CEO, Knoco Austin

2. Agenda
◦ What is Knowledge Management (KM)
◦ Start-Ups without KM
◦ How KM Can Help Start-Up Organizations

3. What is Knowledge Management
◦ A discipline focused on integrating people and processes enabled by
tools throughout the information lifecycle in order to create shared
understanding and increase organizational performance and decision-
making.
KM ≠ SP

4. Start-Ups without KM
◦ Little or no market for the product
◦ The business model fails
◦ Poor start-up management team
◦ Running out of cash
◦ Product problems

5. Start-Ups without KM:
Little or no market for the product
◦ Lack of market analysis prior to release of product
◦ Questioning the value proposition for all stakeholder
◦ Not identifying the gap in the market
◦ Not able to find the unique selling point in the
market
◦ Not able to identify the cost of loss knowledge
within the organization

6. Start-Ups without KM:
The business model fails
◦ The business model for a start-up fails if the cost of acquiring new customers
exceeds the value each customer brings. If this happens, the start-up will lose
more and more money until the investors remove their support
◦ People assume that because they will build an interesting web site, product, or
service, that customers will beat a path to their door. That may happen with the
first few customers, but after that, it rapidly becomes an expensive task to attract
and win customers, and in many cases the cost of acquiring the customer (CAC)
is actually higher than the lifetime value of that customer (LTV)".

7. Start-Ups without KM:
Poor start-up management team
◦ If the management team is exhibiting these factors you may need to
look at Knowledge Management to assist in correct the course.
◦ Not having a change agent within the organization
◦ Someone on the team who is not charismatic, engaging or influential
◦ Afraid to take risks
◦ Not very familiar with the organizational structure, vision and strategy

8. Start-Ups without KM:
Running out of cash
◦ Capital is the life-blood of the business (especially in the start-up phase)
◦ 1. The initial funding milestone is a decision to fund a temporary task force to determine whether KM is of sufficient potential interest that a KM team should be formed.
2. The second milestone is a decision to fund a KM team to conduct the Assessment phase. The team will investigate the potential value to be gained through KM, the market for
KM within the organization, the needs of the stakeholders, the size of the potential prize, the current state of KM in the organization, and how much investment is required. They
will output a KM business case, strategy and implementation plan, and will make the case that the potential value in KM merits further funding.
3. If the KM team has made the case for investment in KM implementation, they will request a budget to fund the piloting stage. This decision allows the team to start testing and
piloting initial KM approaches and prototype versions of the Framework within the organization, focusing on solving business problems. Part of the purpose of the piloting stage
is to gather data to show that KM delivers more value than it costs, and to justify the next decision.
4. The fourth decision comes at the end of the piloting stage, in order to fund the roll-out stage. If the pilots were successful, the value of KM to the business and to the
employees has been proven, and the integrated KM framework has been tested in the business and shown to be robust. Now the organization needs to fund roll-out of the
Framework to the whole organization.
5. Once KM is embedded, the fifth milestone involves standing down the implementation team and handing KM over to a management team. At this stage funding will be
operational funding rather than project funding. This phased approach, where investment for each phase is justified by the work of the previous phase, allows for an escalating set
of evidence-based financing decisions and should ensure the KM budget does not run dry

9. Start-Ups without KM:
Product problems
◦ Not having a system or a platform in place where employees and others can identify issues or
potential solutions can cost millions of much needed capital as well as thousands of manhours
to look at issues prior to release of the product.
◦ An example of this was the explosion of the space shuttle challenger and the rubber seal
failure. This was the catalyst of NASA to start up Knowledge Management within their
organization.

10. How KM Can Help Start-Up Organizations
◦ KM can assist with the following areas when starting-up your
organization
◦ Onboarding new employees
◦ Provide ways to develop your organizational culture
◦ Create Community’s of Practice to foster internal innovation
◦ Develop decision-making methodologies
◦ Look at collaboration platforms
◦ Lessons Identified/Lessons Learned
◦ Develop a learning organization from within your company

11. Cory L. Cannon, CKM
CEO, Knoco Austin
Knowledge and Innovation Management Consulting
◦ Services:
◦ Strategic Planning
◦ Knowledge Implementation
◦ Knowledge Assessments
◦ Knowledge Management Strategy
◦ Community of Practice
◦ Lessons Identified/ Lessons Learned
◦ Process Facilitation
◦ Innovation Processes
◦ Learning Culture
◦ Contact Information
◦ Phone: 620-719-6004
◦ Email: cannonco@cannonco.net
◦ Website: http://blog.cannonco.net
◦ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cannonco/