On November 12th of this year we posted an audio version of a keynote speech I gave at the Mid-Atlantic ACB Conference on our Serotalk blog and podcast. While many folks heard it and gave some great feedback, it was still about an hour long and who wants to hear me talk for that long? For those of you that would rather read the speech without my trips down memory lane, I have posted it here.I hope that it will inspire you as much as meeting and interacting with many of you readers, customers, and friends has inspired me.MikeLack of Sight Doesn’t Mean Lack of VisionBy Mike CalvoI’m going to tell you some of the highlights and lowlights of my life story, tonight. Not all of them – just a few to give you a sense of how it’s possible for a blind kid, a trouble-maker, pretty much written off by his teachers, can be standing here as CEO of a company that is changing the adaptive technology paradigm. It’s a story that didn’t start well and which isn’t over yet, I hope. But it’s a story of how blindness has very little to do with vision. And while this is my story, it’s also a story that any blind person can live if they can dream.School was not a great experience for me. Every day … [Read more...] about Lack of Sight Doesn’t Mean Lack of Vision Text Version
Mike Calvo
The Serotek Ultimatum
Serotek declares war on the traditional adaptive technology industry and their blind ghetto products. With this announcement we are sending out a call to arms to every blind person and every advocate for the blind to rise up and throw off the tyranny that has shaped our lives for the past two decades. It is a tyranny of good intentions – or at least what began as good intentions. But as the proverb says, “the road to hell is paved with good intentions.” And for the past two decades the technologies originally conceived to give us freedom have been our shackles. They have kept us tied down to underperforming, obscenely expensive approaches that only a small percentage of blind people can afford or master. They have shackled us to government largess and the charity of strangers to pay for what few among us could afford on our own. And we have been sheep, lead down the path, bleating from time to time, but without the vision or the resources to stand up and demand our due.That time is past.We stand today on the very edge of universal accessibility. Mainstream products like the iPod, iPhone, and newly announced iPad are fully accessible out of the box. And they bring with them … [Read more...] about The Serotek Ultimatum
From Street Kid to CEO: An Interview with Mike Calvo – AccessWorld® – September 2007
We invite all of you to check out this interview of Mike Calvo, Serotek's CEO, in the September 2007 issue of AccessWorld, the assistive technology newsletter published by the American Foundation for the Blind. … [Read more...] about From Street Kid to CEO: An Interview with Mike Calvo – AccessWorld® – September 2007
Replay of Mike Calvo’s Appearance on the Computer America Technology Show
If you missed Mike Calvo on Computer America, you may listen to this recording of his segment on the show. Great job, Mike! … [Read more...] about Replay of Mike Calvo’s Appearance on the Computer America Technology Show
On the Shoulders of Giants
System Access to Go represents a major step forward, not just in accessibility software, but in the fundamental way software is delivered. It is feature-rich, easy to use, and amazingly inexpensive. But it is in no way the end-all and be-all of what accessibility software can be. Nor was it created from whole cloth. It rests on the shoulders of accessibility giants like Ted Henter, Doug Geoffray and Dan Weirich, Jim Fruchterman, and others who broke down the barriers to the digital world and created a structure and process by which those without sight can use the computer and Internet with nearly the same ease as those with sight. Serotek gladly acknowledges its debt to those who went before. Without them there would be no adaptive technology industry. They gave us standards and a framework that makes innovation possible. At the same time, we must point out that we are standing on their shoulders, which means we are reaching higher and accomplishing new accessibility goals that are beyond the capability of traditional tools. We can do that, in part, because we joined the party after lots of the hard work was already accomplished. We didn't have to invent what was already there; nor … [Read more...] about On the Shoulders of Giants
Serotek And It’s Disruptive Technologies
Harvard Business School professor Clayton M. Christiansen recently wrote an article for Technology Review outlining the Rules for Innovation. Mr. Christiansen contends that bringing innovation to market is far less of a crap-shoot than venture capitalists pretend. In fact, he outlines a handful of conditions which almost guarantee success. His rules are: Take root in disruptionHave the necessary scope to succeedLeverage the right capabilitiesAnd disrupt competitors, not customers. We looked at Serotek’s products in the light of Mr. Christiansen’s rules and by any measure we are on track for success. I would like to give you a brief tour of Serotek’s products and compare them to the factors Mr. Christiansen has identified in his research as absolute characteristics of innovation success. Taking Root in Disruption What does this mean? The premise is relatively simple. Companies that are leaders in their markets are almost never the innovators of the next technological revolution. This happens because they are well managed and listen to their customers who always tell them that they want better and less expensive versions of what they are currently selling. Thus these market leaders … [Read more...] about Serotek And It’s Disruptive Technologies
