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Contact us for
information on our proprietary Intellectual Property, New Product Screening
and Evaluation Tool. It is a simple but powerful due diligence intellectual
property model for continuous screening and quantitative evaluation of new
product ideas. It incorporates 154 market, technology, manufacturing,
distribution, legal and other related criteria.
What
screening criteria is your company using to separate ideas into good and
bad? Are you satisfied with their ability to predict product success? Most
likely, you are not satisfied because only few of the ideas which pass
these screening tests ever become market and profitability hits.
The purpose of
screening is to spot and drop poor ideas as early as possible. The cost of
product development rises substantially at each successive development
stage. When products reach later stages, management feels that it has
invested so much in development that the product should be launched to
recoup some of the investment. But this is letting good money chase bad
money. The practical solution is to prevent poor product ideas from getting
this far.
Even if a given idea
appears to have potential, a company has to decide whether it fits well
with its mission, objectives, strategies, core competencies and resources.
A product-idea rating device might include a checklist of specific factors
and their relative weight, the company's competence level in each of these
factors, and an overall rating for the company's ability to develop and
launch a new product successfully.
In the screening
stage, companies need to devise and implement effective methodologies for
avoiding two types of errors.
A DROP-error occurs
when the company dismisses an otherwise good idea. Too many DROP-errors
suggest that an organization is too conservative.
A GO-error occurs
when the company fails to catch a poor idea before it moves into
development and commercialization.
Our Idea Screening Criteria: A Key to Your Success
You
can screen and qualitiatively determine the technical and business merit of
your new product idea by providing answers to the following questions for
each of the products that you would like to develop and
commercialize.
1. What compelling
evidence do you have which clearly demonstrates that you are the sole
inventor of the subject new product idea? Please provide copies of the
recorded idea from your notebook and/or other document.
2. Which Unmet needs
is the product going to satisfy? Why should a customer buy this product and
not that of competition (if it exists)?
3. Is there
sufficient data to substantiate that these are truly Unmet needs for the
customer?
4. Are there any
barriers to entry for the new product, i.e. utility or design patents;
trademarks, etc., etc.? If not, how easy it might be for someone to reverse
engineer and copy the new product?
Note: Please provide
us with complete copies of any patents or Provisional Patent Applications
(PPA) you might have.
5. Which product
features will satisfy these unmet needs? How?
6. What product
claims will be made? Can these claims be substantiated through scientific
and other compelling evidence?
7. Are design
criteria established for the product?
8. Have preliminary
product, component and packaging specifications been developed? Do you have
any product models or prototypes made?
9. What type of
testing will be done in order to evaluate the soundness of the product
design?
10. How long should
the product be expected to last?
11. Does the new
product have sales potential in the targeted market? If so, provide
numbers, etc.
12. Who is the
competition?
13. How can they
affect the new product's sales?
14. What are the most
effective channels of distribution?
15. What are the
prices of own and competitive, similar products? What is the expect net
profit (after taxes) per each product sold?
16. Which are the
major factors that influence potential users? Price, quality, brand name,
service, etc.?
17. What is the best
way to gain exposure in this market?
18. Are there any
drawbacks to selling in this market?
19. Who are the best
potential buyers and representatives for the new product?
20. Are there any
potential licensing or joint venture partners in this market?
21. Do you have the
required experience, know-how and resources for effectively marketing
/selling and distributing the new product?
22. What level of
funding do you need? Do you have a business / marketing plan which could
justify how these funds would be allocated?
23. Why would a
potential investor be willing to fund your new product efforts? What should
he /she expect in return?
24. What are your
underlined assumptions concerning the viability of this business?
25. What are your
"What if" scenario concerning your projected estimates for market
size, penetration potential, profit margin, etc.?
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