Channeling Your Inner Entrepreneur
Spring 2019
Have an idea for a game-changing product? Expert DCE instructors can help guide you to success.
Is the spark of creativity a
gift possessed by a lucky
few?
Or is it a skill set that can be
taught to anyone with the drive to
succeed? David Winikoff, instructor
with DCE's Innovation & Product
Development specialized studies
program, firmly believes that we all
possess that spark — we just need
to learn how to bring it out.
A successful inventor and entrepreneur,
Winikoff holds a half dozen
patents on innovative communication
technology and has mentored myriad
companies, entrepreneurs and startups
that have gone on to thrive and
flourish. He also was an early investor
in Tesla, SpaceX and Facebook.
Clearly, Winikoff knows how to
recognize a winning concept that
can be developed into a game-changing
reality. And that's precisely
what his DCE course is all about.
“I firmly believe that everyone is
creative,” said Winikoff, an MIT-trained
engineer and managing director of
Inside Track Partners consulting firm.
“The problem is that most of us have
these creative ideas and don't do
anything with them. The teaching part
of creativity and innovation is to help
people realize that ideas need to be
nurtured, just like turning seeds and
land into a bountiful harvest.”
There are skills that can be taught
to boost the creative process, spark
innovation and bring a product
concept all the way to market. The
trick is learning how to share your ideas
in a collaborative way with others —
tap into the creative power of a group
whose judgement you trust — to fine-tune
the concept and the approach.
That's when the innovation kicks in.
“That's when you learn to sell your
story to others, whether prospective
investors, employees or customers,”
Winikoff said. “On the innovation side
there's a reality that the great idea
is the starting point, but how you
execute building the idea is at least
as important.”
Mentoring teams of aspiring inventors
and entrepreneurs is a passion that
Winikoff brings to his introductory DCE
course, Creativity and Innovation,
offering a hands-on workshop based
on the real world of product development.
And many of the students end
up creating products ready to be
tested in the real world.
A track record of success
Winikoff has been involved in communication
technology for more than
20 years, first with a startup creating
customized phones for hotels, then
becoming founder of a company
that developed “social TV.” It was a
revolutionary concept at the time,
far-flung viewers interacting while
watching the same program — and
today Facebook is working on the
same type of tech.
Along the way he has managed
businesses with up to $3 billion in sales
and mentored dozens of early-stage
companies, including website-optimization
company Optimizely and a big
data company acquired by Amazon.
“What these very different companies
all had in common were founders that
were building products that they felt
passionate about,” Winikoff said. “Their
focus was much more on achieving a
dream rather than making money.”
You might call Winikoff a visionary.
He clearly recognizes potential when
he sees it, having been a very early
investor in Tesla Motors. It was the first
pre-IPO company he bought into,
and it has paid off spectacularly.
“Where I lived I used to drive by Tesla's
manufacturing location, actually a
converted car dealership site, which
made me curious to learn more about
the company,” he said. “The more
I learned, the more exciting it was.
I invested because of how much I
wanted to support Tesla's success.”
He feels just as passionately about
Elon Musk's SpaceX enterprise.
“It's less of an investment and
more about feeling like I'm a part
of creating a permanent human
presence in space.”
Winikoff also was an early investor
in Facebook, and his belief in the
company's potential didn't wane
when the stock initially tanked. Many
investors got cold feet, but Winikoff felt
the company was on strong footing
and poised to rebound in a big way.
“Interesting story about Facebook,”
Winikoff said. “I was interviewed by
the Wall Street Journal about my
reaction to having a ‘losing investment,’
complete with a photo shoot
with my family. That stock decline
was very short-lived and the value of
Facebook shares has risen 500% since
then.”
Today he holds six patents, all in the
area of unified communications, the
intersection of phone calling, voicemail,
email and calendar joined with
location tracking. Remarkably, all
of them were invented long before
the iPhone era and widespread
availability of apps.
Winikoff's patents include technology
that makes your phone ring louder
when you're in a noisy environment
and automatically mutes it at night,
when you're in a library or in an
important meeting, sending most
of your calls to voicemail except for
essential contacts that you define.
“Back when I developed these,
cellphones were mostly just used for
phone calls,” he said. “I was in the
minority back then, believing that
there should be one combined
device that people would carry for all
their digital needs. And I anticipated
location services being available,
which is now common.”
An inventive process
Think you might have a seed of an
idea that could be developed into a
game-changer? Winikoff believes the
most important step in the process is
the first one — deciding that you
want to take action.
“Having the idea is the start but you
need to be motivated to turn it into
reality,” he added. “Find a receptive
audience, people who share your
interest and are willing to help you
achieve your goals.”
The Division of Continuing Education's
online Innovation & Product
Development specialized studies
offers an excellent opportunity to take
the leap and get hands-on experience
participating in the creative
process. From the initial concept to
the realization of a market-ready
product, participants are led each
step of the way by successful, expert
instructors.
“Innovation & Product Development is
a lot like an individualized incubator
program,” Winikoff said. “We teach
about the process of entrepreneurship.
This includes exercises and projects to
help people brainstorm, collaborate
with others to improve an idea, make
difficult business decisions like product
pivots, and pitch their ideas to others.
My course covers all of these topics.”
When David teaches the course,
students work in teams to brainstorm
initial ideas and develop a final
product goal into an actual business.
It culminates in a mock pitch session,
where each team presents their
product and ideas in a way that's
oriented to investors and stakeholders,
Winikoff said.
Participants follow the same process
as startups, from creating a product to
seeking initial seed funding — and
many of them leave with a solid blueprint
for real success.
“Some of the product and business
ideas that have emerged have been
good enough that they could be
viable,” Winikoff said. “And some
of my students have left the course
aiming to turn their ideas into real
businesses.”
Learn more at
ce.uci.edu/ipd