We Fixed It, You're Welcome - Can Companies Predict the Future?

Episode Date: September 8, 2026

Can companies predict the future? Allen Nejah, founder and CEO of Sunman Engineering, joins Aaron Wolpoff and Melissa Eaton on We Fixed It, You're Welcome to explain why he built a connected, voice controlled car dashboard in 2005 and then watched the rest of the industry sell it fifteen years later. This is a conversation about corporate innovation strategy and the distance between a good idea and a good idea at the right time. We get into why only 12% of advanced manufacturing companies ever commercialize an innovation at scale, why 95% of filed patents never earn a dollar, how quarterly earnings pressure quietly shrinks R&D ambition, why a corporate innovation lab has to be funded and measured differently from the rest of the business, and how large companies use patent litigation to push small inventors out of a market. In 2005, Allen Nejah built a touchscreen tablet that lived in a car dashboard, connected to the internet, and answered when you spoke to it. He called the voice assistant Genie. The iPhone did not exist yet. Tablets did not exist yet. The carriers he pitched asked him whether he was trying to get people killed. Twenty years later every car on the lot ships a version of what he built, and he is not the one selling it. Aaron Wolpoff and Melissa Eaton use his story to work through the question sitting underneath every innovation budget: how do you tell an idea that is wrong from an idea that is only early? The conversation runs from Ernst and Young's finding that just 12% of advanced manufacturing companies ever commercialize at scale, through the legal machinery large companies use to squeeze small patent holders out of a market, and lands on a practical playbook for funding, measuring and killing innovation projects without punishing the people who ran them. It is for founders, R&D leads, product people and anyone who has been asked to justify a project that will not pay off this quarter. About the guest Allen Nejah is the founder and CEO of Sunman Engineering, where he has spent more than 35 years doing product development and prototyping across automotive, aerospace, robotics and telecom. His team has delivered over 1,670 projects for clients including IBM, Sony, Samsung and Apple. He is a serial entrepreneur and a professor at San Jose State University, and he holds patents on the connected car technology he started building in 2005. He is currently developing what he describes as the smallest transmission in the world, a robotic transmission his research suggests could increase EV range by 40%. What you will learn Why Allen's 2005 connected car system was allowed only a seven inch screen, and what that reveals about how organisations decide what is possible The two numbers Melissa opens with: 12% of advanced manufacturers commercialize at scale, and 95% of filed patents never earn a dollar How a nonprofit law firm funded by the largest players in an industry can invalidate a small holder's patent, and why Allen was told he could go to jail for owning one Why Allen says engineers build from product to customer, and why reversing that order is the mistake that has cost him millions The case for funding an innovation lab out of the cash cow rather than the operating budget, and giving it milestones instead of company OKRs Why "fail fast" is mostly a slogan when pilots run for eleven years, and what rewarding the kill instead of only the win looks like in practice How Sunman builds its own technology in the idle gaps between client projects, and what that funding model makes possible In this episode: - The driverless car project Allen started in 2005, and the tablet he had to build himself because none existed yet - Why carriers and automakers told him internet in the car would get people killed - The Ernst and Young numbers sitting underneath most failed innovation programs - Why engineers build from product to customer, and why that order has cost him millions - Funding an innovation lab out of the cash cow instead of the operating budget - Rewarding the kill and not just the win, and why "fail fast" usually is not fast - The robotic transmission that could add 40% to EV range, seven years in and still waiting for a window Connect with Allen Nejah LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allen-nejah/ Connect with We Fixed It, You're Welcome Website: https://www.wefixeditpod.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wefixeditpod LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wefixeditpod YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WeFixedItPod If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to Like, Subscribe, and leave a review. Share it with someone who loves business strategy, branding, or marketing. Disclaimer A quick disclaimer. We are going into this somewhat cold, and nothing we say should be construed as legal advice, financial advice, or anything that would get us in trouble. These are simply our views and opinions. We're here to ask the kinds of questions everyone is thinking, have engaging conversations, and explore ideas worth discussing. If, by the end, we fixed it... you're welcome. All trademarks, intellectual property, and brand elements discussed remain the property of their respective owners.

Welcome to We Fixed It. You're welcome. The show where we take over companies, you come along for the ride, and we try to put them back better than we found them. Hey everyone, this is Aaron. I am super excited for today's episode. Let's start with a quick story. A long time ago, I was brought in to work on an automotive dashboard where, get this, you could access the internet in your car from a touchscreen infotainment system. Today, we all have those. Back then, it was a proof of concept, but the car company liked, what they saw. They invested heavily in and ultimately, it worked out pretty well. That's what we're talking about today. Companies that aren't limited by what's possible. They're working toward future outcomes that may take years, if not decades, to prove out. Of course, there are winners

a loser. Some companies spend millions, if not billions, chasing something that never had a chance. So how do companies predict the future? What's the secret to staying grounded in reality, while also taking big swings that pay off eventually? Because the wrong move could be catastrophic. That's what we're here to fix. And you know we're going to need some help. Joining Melissa and me today is Alan Nidja. Alan is the founder and CEO of Sunman Engineering, where he's been for over 35 years. He's done a ton of product development and prototyping across automotive, aerospace, robotics, telecom, and more.

He's also a serial entrepreneur and a professor at San Jose State University. And I think he might understand the future better than any of us. Alan, welcome to our show and tell us a little bit more about. Hi, Aaron. Hi, Melissa. Thank you for having me in your show. I appreciate that. Yes, my name is Alan Naja. My background is aerospace mechanical engineering. We have worked with small companies, many startups. We have worked with mid-sized companies. We have worked with a lot of larger companies like IBM, Sony, Samsung, Apple. We've been doing over to date, I think we have 1,670-some projects. Wow. Wow. It's a lot of work. That's a lot of work. That's a lot of work. That's a lot. I've been here today last 35 years, trust me. And even when I'm on vacation, I'm still working. Well, thanks, Alan. We're really happy to have you here. You're going to be instrumental to our conversation. Melissa, companies are profit-driven. They want sales this quarter, not eventually. So why invest so heavily in the future?

So here's the thing about the future. The future, everybody wants to bet on it, but almost nobody wants to to actually pay for it. So there's a stat that really stopped me cold while I was prepping for this. A 2024 study from Ernst & Young looked at advanced manufacturing companies, the ones building genuinely new stuff, and found that only 12% of them

successfully commercialized their innovations at scale. 12%. And here's the kicker. 95% of the patents these companies filed never generate a single dollar of revenue ever. So picture you're in a boardroom, you're at a company and someone pitches a technology that might be viable in five years or 10 or 20, the math is not exactly in your favor. As we like to say, the math is not mapping. And yet,

some of the biggest companies on the planet keep doing it anyway. Amazon spent almost $80 billion on capital expenditures last year, most of it on AI infrastructure that isn't paying for itself yet. But Navidia keeps plowing money back into R&D while it's already winning. So there's There's research out this year published in management science showing something kind of wild. The more pressure a public company feels from quarterly earning calls, the less ambitious its innovation gets. Less bold, less wild, less future forward. So which is such an interesting tension, right? Because companies willing to look a little out there for a few years, the Amazon's, the Navidias, the early Teslas, those are often the

ones that end up owning the future. But for every one of those, there's a graveyard of companies that bet big waited and it never came to fruition. So here's the question I think every leader quietly wrestles with. How do you know if you're building the next iPhone or the next segue? Is there actually a way to predict where the puck is going or is it just conviction, timing, luck, and being willing to be wrong in public a few times before you're, actually, right? And honestly, I can't think of a better person to help us answer that than someone like Alan who spent his entire career building these types of things before the world was ready for him. So let's get into it. Yeah, Alan, you've, I'd say, you've looked into the future several

times. And, you know, you've probably seen your share of, I'd say, a bunch of winners, but there's got to be some cautionary tales in there, too. Can you tell us just a story, what one of your favorite things that you've been involved with? I have this place here. So we built this back in 2005. And I mean, today they said, okay, it's a tablet. There were no tablet. There were no iPhone.

They were no nothing. You know, for big companies, you know, that's part of their growth. It's true. Yeah, I said at the beginning, some companies have the wrong idea and they chase the wrong idea, but some companies have the right idea. And maybe their years or decades. too early and it's just not feasible. So their instincts are all right.

But someone else will come along later and pick up the pieces and then own that market. As a large company, you have a responsibility to your shareholders and to your customers. And so growth at 10% is a lot to your point on. That's a lot. And so to be able to take monies and actual monies and time and resources and invest those in innovation just sometimes doesn't seem like the right rhythm to go for. Like that doesn't seem like the right, you know, Aaron, you know this more than I do, but the right go to market strategy to actually get something, you know, get growth in revenue. So I do think that like as you get larger

and more successful as a company, even though you might have more means, you also have more pressures on you. So then that makes it seem like, okay, gosh, how can we actually do this? And I know that I have been at some larger companies that have had what we would call innovation labs, where they would actually set aside a group of people, engineers, product people, U.X people, customer experience folks, to just work on those types of things, and they would be given kind of, you know, a room by themselves. They get to do whatever they would like to do and then be able to kind of present that. And to me, that's really great way to kind of also make sure that your company is always looking to the future because things are always changing. You don't want to discourage moonshot ideas. You don't want to discourage people from really trying something kind of outlandish, right?

And if you use KPIs that are for a more structured and conservative company environment, you're kind of limiting. You're self-limiting yourself, you know, you're self-limiting the team. You're right on. That's exactly what we had to do. You know, you always think about the coolest stuff, what you can do, what's the next and so on, right? But from business point of view, that's totally opposite way. You've got to see what's out there, what's needed, how to get there and all that, right? Just to push back.

But if you have, let's say you come from a company with a culture of innovation and that's internal and inherent to what your company does, then you're creating the right conditions for those moonshots or someone coming up with that bold idea. But what if your company is just a company, you know, and you have your profit-driven, you've got shareholders, you've got investors, everyone's kind of skittish. I'm not saying do no harm, but consumers were trained on appreciation for incremental innovation. So version three comes out, then version four comes out, and we buy version four, and, you know, we're all reasonably happy. You know, we know the deal and how it works.

Why would a company like that listen to someone that says, hey, boss, you know, I thought of this thing that is going to take years to pay off and it may cost the company a lot and it may fail. What's the motivation for that company to disrupt what's practically working? I don't think there is necessarily a huge motivation, Aaron. I think that like that would be to me, it would be maybe a conflict and, you know, purpose for whoever is introducing those types of innovations versus the company that they're at. And I've been at companies that are 100-year-old Fortune 50 companies that that's not their cup of tea. They've said that. And I think as long as you're self-aware enough to just say it and be it, I think that's okay. To me, I think it's really important that companies who want to be in that innovative space

have that bandwidth and have the wherewithal and knowledge of how to organizationally and build that culture around that and really read those operational signals, really understand what future consumers might be in looking for. But we still need the basic foundations of, you know, a lot of thousands. of companies that are out there and businesses that are out there. I think that what I've also seen, which has worked, is there's a company I used to work for that actually built out their innovation in a separate company. If you've ever worked for any company anywhere, you know there's the process that's supposed

to happen, and then there's what everyone actually does. The problem is most leaders can't see that gap, which makes it pretty hard to know it's actually worth fixing. That's why I like Scribe Optimize, which automatically discovers workflows across your approved business applications. No interviews, no workshops, just how work actually happens. Its live dashboard gives you a clear view of how work gets done across all your teams, so you can see which tools are being used, where time is being spent, and where the biggest inefficiencies are hiding. And it doesn't just point those out.

It explains why they're happening and recommends ways to fix them with estimated time savings built in. That's way more useful than just knowing where the problems are. are. What I also like is that this is about leadership visibility, not employee monitoring. In fact, user level data is anonymized by default and sensitive information is automatically redacted, and none of it ever leaves your firewall. So you're getting true operational insights without compromising anyone's privacy. To see Scribe Optimize an action like I did, had described. dot how slash fixed it and mentioned fixed it for a 30-day risk-free trial. That's S-C-R-I-B-E-D-H-H-S-E-D-I-T. Support for today's episode comes from Square, the business platform that helps sellers become the best in the

neighborhood. Whether you're growing your business or just trying to keep up with it, Square knows what you need. You can take payments, online orders, manage your inventory, staff, and more all in one place. That means that when you're with a customer, you're actually with that customer. and they can tell you've got things under control. For one, you're focused and not running around like crazy. That's because the whole thing's designed to be easy to use. The last time I stopped by a cafe where I saw the Square logo, I was like, yeah, they get it. I knew my experience would be a great one, and it was. It was good coffee, too. And Square now offers three plans so you can pick the tools you need. So what are you doing about your business? Well, let's help you out. Square's offering our listeners

up to $200 off Square hardware when you sign up at Square.com slash go slash we fixed it. Again, SQU-A-R-E dot com slash go-slash we fixed it and set up your business the way it works for you. No, we, you know, like SunMine engineering has two arms, right? One arm is that we provide engineering

and product development engineering services to other companies or government agencies or whatever. and the other arm, we develop technologies in-house. And we utilize those technologies for future clients, right? So we have to do this. Otherwise, you know, in five years from now, we don't have much to offer as far as how we can help the other companies. Because now we already build some technology upfront

that we can utilize it, you know, for next few years. So, yeah, that's fairly normal for most of companies. But it's, as you said, for us, we use the cash flow here and we invested into these technologies. And then eventually we utilize this technology for more business. What about a case like NBC and Peacock, where the streaming services had already proved out, the model was working elsewhere, but they launched six years ago. and they just hit their first profitable quarter. So you could say, you know, yes, they saw trends were changing.

Consumer behavior was changing. They had a library of content that needed to go somewhere. But they, you know, there was an established template for it. Why, what was the price of entry there? What do you think that just, you know, they needed to play catch up? It's still innovation because we're still kind of doing that conversion to streaming first. But six years to profitability on a proven model, you know, do you see that happening across industries too

when there's already been a disruption? You know, when you look into something five years down the road, obviously you don't get the revenues for a few years, that's for sure. So that's not unusual. And again, for big companies, they can handle that. They can afford that. You know, they're big enough to take that loss up front. And then back end, they can make them, you know, make it back.

for smaller companies, you know, it's more difficult. You know, they don't have the type of cash flow to support all these other extra expenses. So it's really, you've got to see what type of company you have, what kind of cash flow, you know, what kind of investors you may have for that technology. And then I would go after it, you know. One of the things I see a lot of a startup making a mistake, you know, they have. a great, you know, great, great idea, great idea. That they have not been prepared for funding, they're not prepared for marketing, they're

the only thinking about the idea and the technology and prototyping part of it. So yeah, you got it sort of go backward, really, a lot of times, and that's what really, you know, big companies do. They go backward, you know, they go from customer side and backboard to the product. I always go from product to customer, you know, all the fancy, interesting and stuff, right? But that's wrong. That's very wrong.

And I made that mistakes many times. I have made multi-million dollars mistakes a number of times, you know, because of that, you know. Well, I think that we should talk about that because, to be honest, you know, we're talking about the 10% or 12% that was reported by Ernst & Young of positive. innovation projects and patents. And then there's a 90% that's not. What about the failures and how to recover from an investment and a failure that may have taken you 18 months to put together a prototype and you're like, wow, this is like not at all what we want. This has happened to my husband. He's a research scientist where they get scooped, right? Somebody else comes out with

the same idea, but faster, you know, does a paper gets published before he can get it published? So what are the, you know, what are the kinds of things that companies and leaders really need to think about and organizations need to think about in terms of setting up people for failure and those kind of flags and being able to kind of lift them and say, hey, this is what we were looking for. We were looking for you to take a risk.

Now we're going to keep moving on. Because I think that at the same time that we've talked about, like, rewarding people for successes and milestones and the steps that get there, what about the folks that are self-aware enough to say, oh, hell, this didn't work at all? There's so many obstacles that, you know, taking a, bringing a product to market, it's not easy. It's very, very challenging. Number one is that you have to understand that industry. You have to be part of that industry. If you're not part of that industry, don't even touch that. So you got to have a very good, you've got to have their language. You've got to have to understand, you know, everything that is important in that industry.

You've got to understand their needs and so on. And then kind of go back and get involved in trying to bring a technology or product to a company. honestly, most of failures I see, especially with startups, again, as I said, they have a great idea, they're great engineers, you know, or maybe, but you've got to have the multiple number of different hats, and you've got to be knowledgeable on all different hats. And the most important one is how to go to market, you know, that's the most important part of it. and how to go to market. Part of it is timing, right? Yeah, I worked with an automotive company years ago, and they have this brilliant, beautiful, future-looking vehicle.

It's got, they added solar panels to the roof, so it's got some self-charging capabilities, and it's just, you know, it just makes sense. And like I said, years ago, they're still around. They're still, I think they're crowd-raising. Like, we don't see them on the road. So are they a failure? They're still functional to some degree.

you call it a question mark or an asterisk. Are they a success? No, you can't call it that. But there's, you know, there's companies somewhere in the middle that are on to something. And they just haven't accelerated or kickstarted it. Well, and like, you know, I'm just taking the words, Alan, that you just shared, like go to market, having the right go to market, timing and strategy. And Aaron, you understand this. But it's not even just go to market.

It's like, do you know your market? Right. So, Aaron, you brought up a great. example. So the solar panels on the on a vehicle to really get it going, you know, they're still around. Maybe it's about what is that market? Because maybe it should be long haul truckers, right? Like you see what I'm saying. And so like, you know, it's about understanding. I really feel like you have a great idea, but you may not understand the industry, the ecosystem, the competitors, what's already in market, right? And

why certain things have gone a certain way. And so to be able to really be very objective and look at things and really do your research is really important. And I feel like the marketing teams usually do such a great job with that because you're always looking at competitors, right? You're looking at the entire ecosystem. And so really thinking about, you know, how are you going to actually get this product out to everybody? You know, needs to happen at the beginning, not after you have the pretty... If you've ever worked for any company anywhere, you know there's the process that's supposed to happen, and then there's what everyone actually does. The problem is, most leaders can't see

that gap, which makes it pretty hard to know it's actually worth fixing. That's why I like Scribe Optimize, which automatically discovers workflows across your approved business applications. No interviews, no workshops, just how work actually happens. Its live dashboard gives you a clear view of how work gets done across all your teams. So you can see which tools are being used, where time is being spent, and where the biggest inefficiencies are hiding. And it doesn't just point those out. It explains why they're happening and recommends ways to fix them with estimated time savings built in. That's way more useful than just knowing where the problems are. What I also like is that this is about leadership visibility, not employee monitoring. In fact, user level data

is anonymized by default and sensitive information is automatically redacted, and none of it ever leaves your firewall. So you're getting true operational insights without compromising anyone's privacy. To C-Scribe Optimize an action like I did, had described.com how slash fixed-it, and mentioned fixed-it for a 30-day risk-free trial. That's S-C-R-I-B-E-E-D-I-T. Support for today's episode comes from Square, the business platform that helps sellers become the best in the neighborhood. Whether you're growing your business or just trying to keep up with it, Square knows what you need. You can take payments, online orders, manage your inventory, staff, and more all in one place. That means that when you're with a customer, you're actually with that

customer, and they can tell you've got things under control. For one, you're focused and not running around like crazy. That's because the whole thing's designed to be easy to use. The last time I stopped by a cafe where I saw the Square logo, I was like, yeah, they get it. I knew my experience would be a great one and it was. It was good coffee too. And Square now offers three plans so you can pick the tools you need. So what are you doing about your business? Well, let's help you out. Square's offering our listeners up to $200 off Square hardware when you sign up at square.com slash go slash we fixed it. Again, SQU-A-R-E dot com slash go slash we fixed it and set up your business the way it works for you.

car. As a matter of fact, I'd seen them on TV, like maybe a couple of weeks ago, still trying, and they had a beautiful car now, you know, it's, you know, it only goes 50 miles, and it's very small, 70,000 or 80,000. And so the mat doesn't work, right? The mat does not work out at the end. For people to buy, you don't build it for, you know, like, that's what I'm saying. When you engineer, you build things for your own. A good CEO, a good business person, always focus on the customer first, always focus on the market first, always understand that industry in and out before comes to thinking about the ideas or incrementing idea. No, that's very true, Alan, because the company I was talking about was part of a wave that was labeled as the next, they're going ahead to head with Tesla, you know, and we're, Were they going to be the next Tesla?

All indicators said yes, but a lot of those companies that were the next Tesla are not, they're not around anymore. They're a casualty. And maybe they had a superior product or they had something within their technology that was better at the time. And they still didn't make it. They got squashed. Well, a lot of times, and this has happened to us, the big conference come and take you out right off. And there's nothing you can do. You know, they actually, I had situation.

Actually, on this car technology. They came after us because we had this patent on this technology, and they claim we are patent petrol. That means we cornered technology and don't read anybody. You have the patent on it. That says that. So they could go out and cancel your patent. They can go out and come up with a million different reasons

why your patent is not valid, they can drag you through court system for years and years, and they have it. As a matter of fact, the law firm that came after us is a nonprofit law firm that the members are all the big boys, and when they're looking for something, they come after you. And as a matter of fact, I've been threatened that they're going to put me in jail. I'm not kidding you, you know, because I have this patent. It's much easier for big boys than small companies. Small companies are, you know, it's fact, it's true. Well, you know, that's the thing. As a large company, a billion dollar company or, you know, a hundred billion dollar company, has the resources behind them. You're going to probably go, okay, thanks. And so I do agree that,

you know, when you think about the environment for innovation, it's hard. It's not, there are, a lot of risks involved personal risks, Alan, you just said you could end up in jail. I mean, I remember, you know, I've worked at companies too where chief compliance officers like, your job is to make sure that I'm not going to jail. And I'm like, no, your job is to help us not do stuff that's going to put us in jail. So, you know, like when you're, you know, faced with those kinds of decisions, it's really hard to stay on your passionate, purpose-driven mission, you know, to get something done. And so I love that, you know, you've done it and you've failed and you've succeeded. But, you know, I, again, I think that when push comes to shove, it's about revenue. It's about profitability. It's

about getting something out there usually. And I think that it's interesting because I feel like the people that I know that are kind of these inventor mindsets, like that is less in their mind than the actual thing they're creating and building. And so in the world of revenue and growth, how do you, you know, how do you reconcile that? Because that makes it very difficult, you know, because maybe Alan, I don't want to wait 20 years for that idea to come to fruition, right? That's true, Melissa. And sometimes, sometimes the little guy wins. Right. You know, sometimes you're fueled by Red Bull in a dream and, and, you know, and, you know, Yeah, you have no profit, but no one's told you what you're doing is impossible, and it turns out it's not.

And if you are protective of it and you're first to market and you have patent, the defendable IP and all those things. And then investors jump on it. You can have a win for the little guy. Absolutely. I don't want to make a wrong impression that no one should get into technology or startups. No, I'm not saying. As a matter of fact, you know, it's a challenge. It's a challenge.

And it's normal. You know, always the guy that's bigger is always winner, you know, no matter what. So that's part of the nature, part of the, you know, that's there, you know, nothing we can do. So, no, there's always a lot of opportunities for success and a lot of, you know, I guess all I was saying is that think about its customer side first and then back forward, you know. Right. Melissa, you mentioned the concept of having a spinoff company or a company dedicated to, to, to, innovation and I like that approach because it allows it to get out of the constraints and parameters of the big gray building next door where things just operate the way they operate.

You got people standing on desks and having picnics or, you know, getting, getting, dancing in the halls, getting out, shaking it off and then saying, all right, let's go do something different. And they're not being weighed down by the expectations of business as usual. Well, and I also think it's important, you know, when I think about like fixes for companies that are considering this, is that like to allocate the money from, I'm just going to be mean and say it this way, but the cash cow, which would be the big gray building company, right? Allocating that money not away from their operations that are the red and butter of what they do, right? So they're making widgets. They're selling those left and right. And they're step. steadily growing by 8% every year. Shareholders are happy, blah, blah, blah.

But like to be able to kind of allocate just money for like a high velocity innovation lab that is set separately so that there is not the same sort of, you know, really tension on that team to create something that's revenue generating in a set timeframe that's a corporate calendar. And so again, that gets back to having metrics that are maybe really based on milestones of and signals of that project, of that innovation project, as well as allowing them the opportunity to be that 90% of the time. Even if it doesn't go to market the way you thought it was going to go, you've learned

during that journey. I tell you how we do it generally. So I said we have two different arms, right? So one arm is that we provide our engineering services, product development to other companies and one that we develop our own technology. We take advantage of the time slots that the engineers are available. That's when we develop our own technology. And our primary goal cash flow here, but then as we have time, we have spent time on this technology

over years and we build it. We don't work on our technology. Unless we get to the point, we say, oh, wow, now we have work on some technology for automatic, for robotic transmission, for cars or for any other machinery. As a matter of fact, I have it here. This is smallest transmission in the world for a car. So two of these guys, they created a transmission for a car. And this is robotic, robotic transmission. Wow.

So what you're showing us is blue and it looks like a plus sign and it's got a gold accent on the front. What is the gold part in the front with the transition? It's kind of gears that goes up and on. Okay. It's all robotic. So as a matter of fact, based on our understanding and research we have done based on this technology that we developed, we could increase EV cars range by 40%. same, which is huge, it's huge. But unfortunately, taking this to market is for big boys,

it's not a small company. It's got a lot of, you know, yeah, like on this one, I've been working on this technology since 2017. Every time we have time, we spend more time on it. As a matter of fact, I'm developing the next version, which is going to go into the car. This is the kind of most version that we kind of modeling it and so on. This is the one that goes into the car as a robotic transmission. I like all these. So this is yellow. It's bigger.

It's like a looser plus sign for our audio listeners. Right. So if you've ever worked for any company anywhere, you know there's the process that's supposed to happen. And then there's what everyone actually does. The problem is most leaders can't see that gap, which makes it pretty hard to know it's actually worth fixing. That's why I like Scribe Optimize, which automatically discovers workflows across your approved business applications. No interviews, no workshops, just how work

actually happens. Its live dashboard gives you a clear view of how work gets done across all your teams, so you can see which tools are being used, where time is being spent, and where the biggest inefficiencies are hiding. And it doesn't just point those out. It explains why they're happening and recommends ways to fix them with estimated time savings built in. That's way more useful than just knowing where the problems are. What I also like is that this is about leadership visibility, not employee monitoring. In fact, user level data is anonymized by default and sensitive information is automatically redacted, and none of it ever leaves your firewall. So you're getting true operational insights without compromising anyone's privacy. To see Scribe optimize an action like I did,

had described. How slash Fixed It and mentioned Fixed It for a 30-day risk-free trial. That's S-C-R-I-B-E-D-I-T. Support for today's episode comes from Square, the business platform that helps sellers become the best in the neighborhood. Whether you're growing your business or just trying to keep up with it, Square knows what you need. You can take payments, online orders, manage your inventory, staff, and more all in one place. That means that when you're with a customer, you're actually with that customer,

and they can tell you've got things under control. For one, you're focused and not running around like crazy. That's because the whole thing's designed to be easy to use. The last time I stopped by a cafe where I saw the Square logo, I was like, yeah, they get it. I knew my experience would be a great one, and it was. It was good coffee, too. And Square now offers three plans so you can pick the tools you need. So what are you doing about your business?

Well, let's help you out. Square's offering our listeners up to $200 off Square hardware when you sign up at square.com slash go slash we fixed it. Again, S-Q-U-A-R-E dot com slash go-slash we fixed it and set up your business the way it works for you. With this technology, even though we've been working on it for seven years,

still we have challenged how to get it to the market. It's not easy. So, yeah, just we keep working on it until we find a window to jump into it. So that's what we're looking for. Yeah. But they're, even if, even if those never go to market, and I hope they do and, you know, I hope they're wildly successful. There's still value in passion projects and still value in exploration and experimentation as a side track to whatever you're commissioned to do, right? Absolutely. So, okay. But then at a certain point, you either call it a passion project and you say, this is what I do in my spare hours or my off time. Or, you know, there's a knock at the door and someone says, how's it going with that thing we talked about?

You know, when is it going to be ready? When can we commercialize? And if the answer's three weeks from now, maybe that's acceptable. If it's next December, maybe there's a little bit less appetite or patience for it. If it's four years from now, you know, you really have to set that expectation that, no, no, no, hold on. This one's going to be worth it. And then I figure you have to deliver on that. Otherwise, there's jobs on the line or other negative impact that happens because

Is that thing never materialized? Don't get me wrong, even on this guy that we developed. So far, it costs us a few million dollars for development. It's a lot of firmware, a lot of stuff in it. But anyhow, it's like a puzzle, really. It's like a puzzle. You know, when, you know, I see it as a puzzle. So you have to be able to see through the puzzle, see the end of it, you know, see,

and then try to solve the problem. Yeah. Yeah, and you work on enough of those, even passion projects just fueled by your own ambition. I think Google Maps came from that. I believe it was an employee just doing something on the weekend saying, hey, Google, my employer, you might want to see what I've been devoting my time to you. And they said, ooh, that looks like a Google product.

And here we are with Google Maps now. There you are. Yes. Let's see if we can fix this. I think we've created some of the right conditions for companies to avoid some of the landmines. and things that are associated with going the wrong way for far too long and burning too much capital and resources. All right.

So we'll call it a passion project is a passion project. Sometimes those can be commercialized and sometimes they do materialize. Sometimes they change an entire company and reverse fortunes and that becomes the company. But not always. Sometimes it's just an ancillary revenue or it just helps or comes and goes. But if you are an innovative-minded company, you have to, allow for innovation. You have to allow for experimentation. There's some understanding that the metrics are different. The accountability is different. Not necessarily going to be held to the same standards as

the big gray building next door. But if you are a profitable or profit-driven company, there's some expectation that there will be a payoff somewhere down the road. So it's important to communicate what that is and keep tabs on it. Again, there's that knock on the door for accountability. where I think maybe between, you know, the engineers and the innovators and those responsible for, for being, cracking down on the engineers and innovators, there has to be some kind of mutual understanding of like, give us breathing room and, you know, there's an expectation that you got to deliver. So I think that's probably the most critical part of this is having that aligned understanding that is nurtured and understood from an organizational perspective, that there are

going to be people that are dedicating their careers within the company, they're going to be heads down. Don't question them too much, but do question them because leave them too far along to their own devices, they could burn through endless amounts of time and capital, and maybe I'm not going to show for it. So there's got to be some checks and balances. If you do that, you might be on to something, you might be on to something worth protecting. Of course, take the legal protections. Hopefully no one throws me in jail for owning a patent. But that sounds like an extreme case. But, you know, if you really are onto something, find the right aligned partners that are going to help you take it to market, make sure what you have is defensible, make sure what you have

has an audience waiting for it. Because, you know, you never want to go to market with this beautiful, glorious technology. And then people say, no, it doesn't necessarily. It doesn't necessarily mean you're wrong, but you might be way too early. Or you might be wrong by a tenth of a degree. And another company comes along and he says, thanks for that. And they're much bigger. And they just wipe you out of existence. So those are some of the cautions, some of the, I think the roadmap we're building for companies to, we're not discouraging innovation. We're not discouraging new technology. We want everyone to have a fair crack at it. But if we give them this advice and say, here you go, Did we just save, I don't know, some billions of dollars and point them in the right direction?

Did we fix it? Melissa, what do you say? I think this is one of those things where it's more, just like you said, it's more a playbook for innovation. And I think that it's really important to understand that the cost of innovation to your company, especially if you're an established company, can be the entire company in of itself. Like a cautionary tale is Kodak, right? Like to not be, have Innovation Lab looking and saying, oh, we're going to be going from film to digital, you know, and what can we do? And how can we, you know, because we have like just a beloved brand. How can we make sure that we are keeping up with everything that's going on?

Because evolution happens and that's what happens in every marketplace. So to me, it's about funding it with the cash cow, which is the larger company and, source if you have that and not the general operations so that there is that ability to have just, you know, no fences, you know, just allow innovation to happen in its own time and in its own pace without the pressures of what's on the revenue calendar. I also think rewarding the kill, not just the win, is really important because I do think a lot of companies, especially bigger companies pilot the hell out of things and it doesn't, it just doesn't go anywhere. And it's just a waste. And it's because people are afraid to really kind of say what needs to be said. So I really want there to be

integrity and authenticity and purpose in this journey. And then have the team be involved from an organization perspective. And I think, Alan, you've brought up how this has really been something that you've done really well, which is let them create the miles. Let them create what operational signals or what kind of innovation signals they're going to use to say this is working for us or this is where we take a step back and pivot. So I think we've definitely set up some really good ideas for companies, founders, innovators, innovation teams to really think about how do they become the next big thing. Nice. Thank you, Melissa. Alan, did we encourage companies without discouraging them? Did we create the right advice for going forward?

And do you think we fixed it? I feel like I've been a little bit discouraging here, but I really did not mean it. You know, I'm a soccer player and, you know, I always utilize the soccer philosophy into the business. So I mean, I'm falling down. if I get triple, I've, you know,

the only other way back into the game when I get up, stand up, and run. Any other way, I'm not playing. Somebody else is playing. So that philosophy, it's always the stays with me.

And, you know, when I fall down, I clean myself, I get up, you know, get the dust off, get the dirt off, and start, like, running again. You know, that's the only way, you know. And being in business,

the first rule of being in any business, Doesn't have to be a technology business. You cannot give up. You can't, you know, you've got to be, you've got to have very strong personality. Strong personality is very important to run a company. I don't care who you are, Elon Musk. We all fail. Everybody keep failing.

There is nine failure, only one success. Don't be afraid of failure. It's inevitable. But then, you know, there's success. At the end of some of those roads, too. There has to be. We'll add that to our fix. Well, that's going to close out this episode.

If we fix it, you're welcome. Before we go, thank you, Melissa. A big thank you to our guest, Alan Neha, of Sunman Engineering. Alan, I've been in marketing for a long time. I've got some good product ideas. If I want something developed or prototyped, how do I find you? They can always refer to our websites, unmantechnology.com, or they can call us, call our office at 408, 441-1500.

and we'd be happy to help them out. We got the hotline. Thank you, Alan. To all of you, to our new listeners, our longtime fixaholics, I have looked into the future, and we have more great episodes ahead for you. We've lined up amazing guests for you and topics that I can't wait to jump into.

So if you love our show, you're in for a treat. Remember to subscribe so you never miss an episode. Give us a rating. Rave about us on social, all those good things. Thank you for having me, your show. Thank you, Alan. We hope you enjoyed this episode of We Fixed It, you're welcome. We go into every episode somewhat cold, and nothing we say should be construed as legal advice, financial advice, or anything that would get us in trouble.

All trademarks, IP, and brand elements remain property of their respective owners.