Tim Choi

Tim Choi, Voltage Security

What to Say in a Pitch to VCs?

Raising VC funds is a circular process of presenting a plan, receiving criticism, refining the plan and then presenting it again. In general, VCs look ...

Video 2 minutes

Tim Choi, Voltage Security

Rule 1: Now is a Great Time to Start a Company

Though the market is depressed making funding is harder to raise, there are some real advantages to starting a company in the current climate. Good ...

Video 3 minutes

Tim Choi, Voltage Security

Rule 2: Strong Technology is Important

Technology provides real value to any startup. Not only does strong technology give a company a unique advantage over, and help differentiate the company from, ...

Video 4 minutes

Tim Choi, Voltage Security

Rule 3: You CAN Learn About Entrepreneurship in College!

Take advantage of the opportunities offered at Stanford! There are a variety of classes and events offered by the STVP and others that provide valuable ...

Video 2 minutes

Tim Choi, Voltage Security

Rule 4: Universities are Great Resources. Use Them.

A university is a nurturing place to start a business. Stanford is one of the few places where your PhD advisor can also be the ...

Video 3 minutes

Tim Choi, Voltage Security

Rule 5: Work with People You Trust

The people involved in the company early on should be people you like and trust. Conflict within a team is one of the main sources ...

Video 3 minutes

Tim Choi, Voltage Security

Rule 6: Cheap is Beautiful

Cash may be king, but cheap is beautiful. Instilling a culture of cheapness by leading by example and demonstrating your commitment to frugality helps a ...

Video 3 minutes

Tim Choi, Voltage Security

Rule 7: Mix of Skills, Common Culture

In building teams, it is important to have a mix of skills and backgrounds with both the young and the experienced. Still, the most important ...

Video 3 minutes

Tim Choi, Voltage Security

Rule 8: Customer Focus: Easy in Theory, but Not in Practice

When absorbed in product development, it is easy to forget about thinking about the product from the customers' point of view. A lot can be ...

Video 2 minutes

Tim Choi, Voltage Security

Voltage’s Value Proposition in The Security Software Market

Currently, only point solutions exist for establishing secure systems, necessitating multiple systems administrators and making creating a unified system difficult. The Voltage technology provides a ...

Video 5 minutes

Tim Choi, Voltage Security

Who is Voltage Today?

Voltage currently has 30 employees and is growing quickly. They had a great launch last July and had a very successful second round of financing last ...

Video 2 minutes

Tim Choi, Voltage Security

Naming the Company

Voltage was originally named Identi-Crypt. After receiving feedback that this named conjured up thoughts of graveyards and morgues, they made the decision to change it. ...

Video 3 minutes

Tim Choi, Voltage Security

Voltage vs. Competition: Why RSA Failed

RSA was a great example of how not to use patent protection; by preventing anyone else to use their technology, they stabbed themselves in the ...

Video 3 minutes

Tim Choi, Voltage Security

Voltage Business Model

Voltage is an enterprise software company and sells their software to customers. They are also looking for managed service providers and partners.

Video 1 minutes

Tim Choi, Voltage Security

Voltage’s Platform Strategy

The platform strategy is to secure all kinds of communication with a common key management infrastructure. Typically, a company has a database of employee information ...

Video 2 minutes

Tim Choi, Voltage Security

Voltage’s Market Size

Government regulations requiring the protection of sensitive information have led to an expansion of the security industry into a multi-billion dollar market. New legislation requiring ...

Video 2 minutes

Tim Choi, Voltage Security

From Idea to Opportunity?

What came first: the idea or the opportunity? The founders of Voltage answer that they developed the technology first and then analyzed it to determine ...

Video 2 minutes

Tim Choi, Voltage Security

Voltage’s Customer/Market Segments

Voltage targets large sectors affected by privacy legislation: financial services, health care, and the government, for example. Their sales message is our system is the ...

Video 3 minutes

Tim Choi, Voltage Security

Differentiating Voltage from Competition

There are two other companies in the early stage of identity-based encryption. But Voltage hopes to keep their competitive advantage over them with their combination ...

Video 1 minutes

Tim Choi, Voltage Security

Competition from Database Vendors

The Voltage technology is not affected by other encryption provided by storage or database companies. The message is encrypted when you send it, travels to ...

Video 3 minutes

Tim Choi, Voltage Security

Raising Funds from VCs

Voltage's experience was that it was very hard getting VCs interested in the company initially, but once they got over a certain hump, everyone became ...

Video 2 minutes

Tim Choi, Voltage Security

Timeline for the Venture (From Idea to Opportunity?)

The founders started looking for funding in the summer of 2002, got funded fall 2002, and then started hiring. They launched the product in July 2003 and are ...

Video 4 minutes