Coburn, Pip (Philip Coburn)

PERSONAL:

Married; wife's name Kelly; children: triplets. Education: Brown University, A.B.; Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, M.B.A. Hobbies and other interests: Marathons and golf.

ADDRESSES:

E-mail—pip@coburnventures.com.

CAREER:

Consultant and writer. Lynch & Mayer Inc., New York, NY, senior vice president; UBS, managing director and the global technology strategist in the technology group, 1999-c. 2005; Coburn Ventures (an investing consulting firm), cofounder, c. 2005—. Also cohosts the weekly Yi-Tan conference call that is dedicated to identifying and understanding change and technology; advisor to Taking IT Global at www.takingitglobal.org.

WRITINGS:

The Change Function: Why Some Technologies Take Off and Others Crash and Burn, Portfolio (New York, NY), 2006.

Also writes a weekly blog for the AlwaysOn Network.

SIDELIGHTS:

An expert in "change" and investing in technologies, Pip Coburn is also the author of The Change Function: Why Some Technologies Take Off and Others Crash and Burn. Focusing primarily on computing and technology companies, Coburn explores the most important factors that will decide whether a new technology is a success or a failure. For example, the full costs of understanding and eventually using a new technology within society is a critical factor as is the idea that a "Crisis" with an established technology is often needed to gain general acceptance for a new technology. The author also makes recommendations to technology companies to ensure that their products eventually will be accepted.

"The attractively simple thesis of The Change Function is that most technology ventures fail because technologists manage them," wrote Technology Review contributor Jason Pontin. Pontin went on to note: "Coburn's solution is that technology companies, and the technologists who work for them, must suppress their inner geek and become ‘user centered’ and ‘[figure] out what people want.’"

Although several reviewers noted that the book is at times technical and geared toward investment experts, most praised the author's efforts. James A. Buczynski, writing in the Library Journal, commented that "Coburn's book will challenge your beliefs about success and failure in today's technology landscape," Referring to the book as an "easy-to-read analysis of success and failure in the world of high technology," a contributor to Research-Technology Management went on to write: "[Coburn] backs up his theory with breezy accounts of such fiascos as the 1956 Picturephone, Interactive TV, Iridium and Globalstar, tablet PCs, DEC's Alpha chip, ISDN, and electronic exchanges."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, June 1, 2006, Gail Whitcomb, review of The Change Function: Why Some Technologies Take Off and Others Crash and Burn, p. 14.

CioInsight, August 3, 2006, "Expert Voices: Pip Coburn on the Great Tech Disconnect."

Environmental Design & Construction, Jerry Yudelson, September, 2006, "‘The Change Function’ and Green Buildings," p. 51.

Fortune, January 24, 2005, Adam Lashinsky, "A Different Take on Tech: Strategist Pip Coburn of UBS Finds Opportunities in the Sector Using His Offbeat Perspective," interview with author, p. 165.

Library Journal, July 1, 2006, James A. Buczynski, review of The Change Function, p. 105.

Research-Technology Management, September-October, 2006, review of The Change Function, p. 61.

Technology Review, May-June, 2006, Jason Pontin, "Who's Sorry Now? Pip Coburn Was a Star Research Analyst during the Internet Boom. Today, He Thinks the Entire Technology Industry Has to Change," p. 74.

ONLINE

Coburn Ventures Web site,http://www.coburnventures.com/ (June 13, 2007), profile of author.*