Brian Blau

Reserach Director

I want to invent something cool.

You have all the power in the world to create and invent, but its so hard to focus, build products, and then sell them.

Underestimate the amount of work it will take to turn your idea into a sustainable business.

1. Timing is everything
2. Great startups build technologies that fill a need in ways that others haven't
3. Take the money; you will always have more ideas and desire to build companies

Brian Blau is a research director in Gartner's Consumer Technology and Markets group. He covers consumer technologies and markets as they relate to social media, mobile devices and technology, the connected consumer, and consumer applications and services. He also covers areas such as user interfaces, computer graphics, video games, and software and application development. He has held diverse technical and leadership positions in the computer graphics and games industry. He has made significant contributions in the areas of technology-driven in-game advertising, developer-supported social networks, and visual simulation and animation tools. He also has extensive software development experience as a software development manager and developer advocate, as well as a startup founder and business manager. Brian was an early VRML pioneer and helped establish early network-based 3D tools and technologies. In addition, he has produced trade and technical conferences, including the Electronic Theater, and other major venues at the annual SIGGRAPH conferences. He also has judged art shows and film festivals, has been published, and likes to give industry talks.