How Will the New Business Idea or Invention Be Produced and Distributed?
The first thought many innovators have is to take their ideas to a big national company. Provide the dazzling idea, they think, and let the giant work out the details. After all, the national company has the money, the production capability, and the marketing know-how to make this surefire profit maker go. Unfortunately, the big companies are almost never interested in ideas from outsiders. Whether that’s because, as one innovation broker has suggested, that outside technology is “a risk, a threat,” or simply because large corporations need potential sales of an item to be in the tens of millions of dollars, doesn’t matter. The cold fact is that selling a big firm on your idea is in the 100,00 to 1 shot range. On the other end of the scale, you may be able to produce some items yourself, working out of your home and selling by mail order. This method can be a good way to get started, but after a while you may find yourself getting tired of having 200,000 better mouse traps stashed in y
