David Skinlo

The other day I had a great opportunity to pitch one of my latest ideas to a well respected VC.  It was a great opportunity but lets just say it did not go as well as I hoped.  If you are an entrepreneur your vision of these conversations may mirror mine, you make the pitch and everyone in the room is awe struck and they beat a path to invest in your idea!  As with many things it seems, these experiences are rarely so clear or so direct!  Maybe it is my own naivete and overly optimistic perspective, either way, it is clear that the path from conception to product/business is rarely linear.  Which I guess explains why so many people want to turn their ideas into MILLIONS, but often do not get off of first base.  Again, this is a very broad topic and certainly something we can discuss in more detail in the days and weeks ahead.  The thing that I am interested in today is a single statement that the VC made to me about my idea.  His statement was this, look at your idea from the costumer back towards the solution, do not look at your idea from solution out to the costumer.  At first I was almost offended by this comment (not really, but it may have just nicked my pride), because I feel like I always think about the costumer when I consider a new idea or product.  But as I contemplated his comment it the days following our conversation it was clear he was right.  What was interesting was that he was not only right about this idea, but he was right (without knowing it) about a number of the product ideas that I have been working on.  Can anyone say OUCH!  Now my pride was just not nicked but had taken a full body blow!!!

So as I try to work though my new idea I realized I better try and understand the two different development perspectives, customer-to-product or product-to-customer?  And more importantly, when do you use each type of perspective, is there a case where you use one or the other?

As an engineer I realized that I often come from the perspective that given a problem, I can find a solution.  And to a large degree this is a true statement, however I realize that just because we have a solution does not necessarily mean we have a product.  So, in a sense we have to go back to a bit of Business/Marketing 101.

Essentially, the purpose of marketing is to facilitate the exchange process, to assist with the buy and sell activity in such a way as to make selling almost unnecessary.  For this discussion it is more important to define how that applies down the chain, specifically to the activities surrounding innovation, invention and early stage development.

1) What problem are you solving?
Often this is a very simple definition to create, on that is at the genesis of your product.  Though the initial definition may be almost self explanatory, this is a point to pause and dig deeper.  Why, you ask,  I already have a definition, I have already solved the problem.  Well, the primary reason for digging deeper on all of these questions is to get to the real answer, instead of superficial answers which do not lie at the heart of the problem and as such do not truly address the solution.  The other important part of challenging the problem-solution statement is to challenge the assumptions that the relationship is founded on.

Albert Einstein
“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”

This is an important first step, as engineers, inventors and the like we all have a tenancy to become myopic when the solution comes into view.  Though this is inevitable, it is important to understand the range of these definitions and to challenge the limits of this assumptions and how broadly we can apply them to our target audience, also known as our costumer.

2)What is your competitive advantage? What is your angle?
Another important aspect of solving problems is how have other products ideas solved the problem.  Again, there will be obvious competitors, unless you are very lucky and have come up with a totally unique idea.  But again, here is an opportunity to exercise a bit of caution.  Though on the surface it appears that your solution may be unique, more than likely it is not completely unique and and you must work to understand where the distinction lie.

One way to start this process is to define what attributes your idea needs to be workable.  This is a list of characteristics which your idea require to make it effective at solving the problem.  As you make this list continue to refine your understanding of how the product or idea will be used and why this approach is better than those approaches that currently exist.

It is also important to get out and look in new places to find potential competitive products.  It is common to use the internet or just “Google it”.  That being said, there are other sources which are very fruitful research sources.

There is no single source to look for ideas or competitive products, in essence this is part of the process of “testing” your idea.  Taking this fresh, newly conceived idea and exposing it to the light of reality and the real competitive landscape  is all part of the process.  All ideas are perfect, in our minds, the key is to release them, slowly, methodically testing them against the real demands of the customer.

3) Who is your costumer?
This is where things get interesting, so often we convince ourselves our ideas are viable and interesting, with a single point test.  We ask ourselves simple questions like, “would I buy this widget, this machine or this service?” inevitably the answer comes back “Hell Yes!  Which does not sunrise anyone, does it? Of course not, but often times this is as far as many new inventors get before claiming their new idea a striking success.  Some brave souls, go as far as to consult a group of experts, also know as friends, family, etc.  Not that these people might occasionally provide some useful input or guidance, it is not realistic to consider these any form of market research.  So the question remains, how do you define your customer and how do you know that you have viable idea on your hands.

The key is to step outside of the mind frame you had when you created the idea and look at your idea with a fresh perspective.  This means casting off not only your personal biases, but also all of the other things that slant your perspective.  Try and be as unbiased as possible.  One way to try and better define this customer is to create your perfect customer, here are a few suggestions: Where do they buy your product?  How old is your perfect customer, marital status, kids?  Try to dig into the details of this persons life, if it is a household product, what else do they have in the cupboard right next to yours, etc.

4)What will they Actually pay?

In reality this is the final question and actually all the questions that we have answered previously support this question.  In essence if you have done your homework in the above areas this question will become simpler to answer.  There is another component which does enter into the equations however and that is the price.  Based on the previous work, we have found our niche, identified a usefulness that someone would be interested in, defined that person, which might also include some understanding of their spending habits but that does not give us a price.  The price is basically made up of two halves of an equations.  The first half is simple, what does your product cost?  You have your manufacturing costs, marketing cost, etc. that makes up the “cost” of your product.  But there is another variable, your margin, how much above that cost can you go.  Too high and people won’t purchase your product and too low you will run your new business into the ground.  There is basically a sweet spot which lie at the cross roads of those two paths, that is where you need to place your product.  If this crossroads matches the costumers perception of the actual value you have a winner, you have not found that point, there will be pressure to make adjustments to compensate.  Though these compensations are necessary, it is also time to be careful,  These adjustments can have profound impact on the customers perception and can have far reaching consequences.

5) Do you have the resources available to make this happen?

This is where the rubber hits the road, the point at which you push all of your chips to black and spin the wheel to see if your idea can make it.  I think one of the real keys for early stage inventors is to no go ‘all’ in too soon or with too much fervor.  If you have done your research, done the work up front, then it will be a much easier step to make.  But regardless of how much work, how many plans have been laid you have to push in at some point.  If you do not take that risk you will never know.
As one of my favorites sages so aptly stated,

“Do or Do Not, there is no Try!”, Yoda,

and in a sense his advice can be applied to invention and to innovation.  No amount of planning, or preparation guarantees success and too a certain degree, not knowing what is or is not possible can be a huge assistance in removing the mental barriers that others might possess.  The key is to ACT, to do your homework but not to become paralyzed by the process, you must keep moving forward.  If you have a unique idea, you will know you are on the right path.  If you find your self stuck in this step, you may be addicted to brain crack, if so jump over to 5 steps to kick brain crack additction.