From concept to revenue

For the last few years I have been trying to create a simple model that allows individuals to assess the commercial viability of business opportunities and innovative ideas – irrespective of where this idea is created (university lab, industrial R&D department, current employer or our bedroom) I think there are three primary drivers that need to be assessed and considered when evaluating new ideas. Here are my thoughts:

Commercial drivers  (CD) –

who is going to buy the idea/service/product and how do you get it to market?

Human factors (HF) –

who is going to make it their job to get it out there – and is there a team that can make it happen?

Resource Issues (RI) –

have we got the finance, IT, plant and equipment along within physical resources needed to make it happen?

I score each idea on a 1-10 scale in each area. (I have some more detailed sub questions to each area and I have over simplified the above).

I work on the basis of successful mind to market – creating a sustainable revenue stream is down to CD x HF x RI – top score is 1,000 (10 x 10 x 10). In a very crude way it gives me a feel for whether I want to pursue an idea or not. If any score is zero then its back to the drawing board.

So much emphasis is on CD……however, HF needs to be given the attention it deserves!!