Meet Innovator of the Week
Ned Hill
CEO at Position Imaging
Please provide your 30-second pitch about your company.
Position Imaging is the creator of the world’s most advanced radio-based position tracking technologies. The accuracy levels of these technologies improve many existing tracking applications like indoor asset and personnel tracking, and enable entirely new applications like truly immersive augmented and virtual reality (www.3dwifi.com). The company’s focus is to improve the efficiency of the logistics market by providing a new means to track packages and assets without the need for RFID tags. This new approach promises to change how companies monitor and manage important assets, from within the factory to the consumer during last mile delivery.
Who or what was your best resource for starting your company?
When Position Imaging was formed, I was lucky enough to have a very dedicated and supportive founding group of investors. These investors were patient and allowed me to make mistakes, miss schedules, and even completely pivot the company twice. Without their support, we would never have been able to advance the technology to its current state or pursue the new logistics opportunity we are focused on today.
What was your biggest obstacle in starting your company and how did you overcome it?
There are so many obstacles facing entrepreneurs and startups that listing just one is difficult. The obvious and most pressing hurdle would have to be cash. Finding not only money but the right money from patient investors who will support you is difficult, and crucial when starting a new venture filled with risk. To raise money, you’ll need a compelling story and plan to entice investors, a plan that needs to be well thought out, organized, focused and executable. If you are lucky enough to raise money to get your venture started, then you’ll need to manage it, spending only on essentials, and hit milestones to entice investors to give you more money (you’ll always need more money!).
What’s the best advice you have received?
I have been lucky enough to have incredible mentors and advisors in my career. Many of these people have given me critical advice that helped me either start or advance Position Imaging. If I had to settle on just one bit of good advice I have received over the years, it would have to be to learn and truly understand what you are selling or creating. That might sound obvious but when I was starting my first company, I felt like my job was to be the entrepreneur and leave the tech stuff to others. During a meeting with the venture capital firm that invested in that company, I was called out for not knowing the details and told that even if it isn’t my background, I better learn it! That advice not only helped me be a better manager of our development process but also enabled me to contribute to the innovations of our core technology, adding value to our IP portfolio but also to the end product. You need to be completely invested in all the things your company does, even if that means learning things you never thought you’d need to know.
What about the NH lifestyle appeals to you?
The truth about why I chose NH for Position Imaging is the absence of state income tax. As we needed to hire engineers from around the world, I felt that having a simpler and less painful tax burden on the employees was important, especially as these engineers, coming from different countries, wouldn’t want to get hit with a double tax (fed and state). I also love the area being close to Boston but away from the madness of Cambridge in a beautiful city like Portsmouth. Also, if I can squeeze in one more reason, I love being able to say that our advanced technology was created in NH, not silicon valley!!
What does the future look like for your company?
Our company future looks very bright today. We have created a technology platform that is not only advanced but also protected and are now ready to start introducing it to the market. To effectively pursue this market, we have partnered with a very large hardware partner that can help build and install our systems, allowing us to stay focused on software. With our partner, team, and tech now together, we believe that our little company will make an impact on the logistics market and despite our size, that impact can be huge.
Connect with Position Imaging on LinkedIn