Evaluating a New Venture Idea with Four C's

1. Company. Think of your idea in terms of its product/service features, the benefits to customers, the personality of your company, what key messages you'll be relaying and the core promises you'll be making to customers.
2. Customer. There are three different customers you'll need to think about in relation to your idea: purchasers (those who make the decision or write the check), influencers (the individual, organization or group of people who influence the purchasing decision), and the end users (the person or group of people who will directly interact with your product or service).
3. Competitor. Again, there are three different groups you'll need to keep in mind: primary, secondary and tertiary. Their placement within each level is based on how often your business would compete with them and how you would tailor your messages when competing with each of these groups.
4. Collaborators. Think of organizations and people who may have an interest in your success but aren't directly paid or rewarded for any success your business might realize, such as associations, the media and other organizations that sell to your customers.

[Thank you, Aaron Keller and Guy Kawasaki]

Technology Readiness Levels

Thanks to NASA and the European Commission for this succinct guide to the readiness of technology ideas and concepts for commercial application.

 

Technology Readiness Levels (TRL)

Most every new innovative idea has a fuzzy front-end. The idea may have potential, at least in someone's mind, but it also likely has "holes" in it.  Will it really work? What about this, what about that?
If we were to score this new idea, from 0 to 9, where would it be? Turns out, NASA and the European Commission created a well-vetted method for scoring new ideas based on the stage of technological progress ... 0 being conceptual, 9 meaning the idea is out there and doing well in the world.

Rules of Some for Innovators and Entrepreneurs

Here's a collection of more tips, tools, and rules of some for innovators and entrepreneurs: RulesOfSome.com

Are We Shooting Down Good Ideas?

1. You know whether or not an idea is good based who proposed it.
2. You observe from a distance rather than being lead down a path to the idea. (a.k.a. The Sniper)
3. You believe every idea is improved with your input.
4. Listing the top 10 ideas from your organization this year, half or more are your own.
5. Brainstorming means narrowing down to the best idea, instead of hearing all of them.
6. All ideas must be proven.
7. You only want BIG ideas.
8. You have no effective mechanisms to foster, collect, review, and implement ideas.
9. Your competition is your main source of ideas.
10. No matter how much you've talked about ideas, collected them, praised them, in the end you don't use them. (Like a maimed duck, you let them wander off and die.)

[Thank you, Dustin Staiger]