{"id":1774,"date":"2013-08-02T09:23:52","date_gmt":"2013-08-02T13:23:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/umaine.edu\/amc\/?p=1774"},"modified":"2013-08-02T09:23:52","modified_gmt":"2013-08-02T13:23:52","slug":"is-your-idea-good","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/amc\/2013\/08\/02\/is-your-idea-good\/","title":{"rendered":"Is your idea GOOD?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>Is Your Idea Good?<\/h3>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">It can be hard to know if an idea is good enough to invest in. \u00a0There are many steps along the way from a Eureka! moment to a product on the shelves or a service ready for hire. \u00a0You may not know if you should even pursue the idea, let alone start spending time and money on it. \u00a0There are some things you can do up front to learn. \u00a0These steps can be done with little to no money. \u00a0They will take time, but what you learn by taking them will help you learn about the value of your ideas.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Do an internet search for similar ideas. \u00a0Find out if your idea is already out there. \u00a0See if other people or companies are already offering something similar.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Quantify with numbers what makes your idea better than any competition. \u00a0Qualify with words what features of your idea make it better.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Talk to friends, coworkers, and family. \u00a0See if they have a need for your idea. \u00a0Find out how much they would be willing to pay for it as a product or service.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Ask about it on an internet forum. \u00a0People on the internet can be brutally honest. \u00a0That honesty can help you improve your idea as long as you don\u2019t take it personally.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Hit the streets. \u00a0Go to places you imagine your idea would be sold. \u00a0See what\u2019s on the shelves around it. \u00a0Take a chance and ask a stranger if they would buy your idea over other products.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Build a Business Plan around your idea. \u00a0There are many free business plan templates on the internet such as this one from the Small Business Administarion: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sba.gov\/business-plan\/1\">http:\/\/www.sba.gov\/business-plan\/1<\/a>. \u00a0Use these to evaluate the finances of your idea; both the up front investment and potential short and long term paybacks.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Write down your ideas, define them. \u00a0Give them life on paper. \u00a0You may find that as you write about them you learn things about them. \u00a0As you write about them they will change. \u00a0Your perspective on them may change. \u00a0Things to write about are:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>What IS your idea?\n<ol>\n<li>What is it called?<\/li>\n<li>Describe what is does in one sentence.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<li>What makes your idea special?\n<ol>\n<li>Why will other people care?<\/li>\n<li>What convention does it break?<\/li>\n<li>What will it do better than anything else?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<li>Who will want your idea?\n<ol>\n<li>Who would buy your product?<\/li>\n<li>Who will pay for your services?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<li>What problem will your idea solve for them?\n<ol>\n<li>Does your customer know they have a problem?<\/li>\n<li>Will they be eager for this solution?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<li>How does your idea solve their problem?\n<ol>\n<li>What proof do you have that your idea can deliver that solution?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<li>What are the largests risks about your idea?<\/li>\n<li>How do the numbers look?\n<ol>\n<li>How much will it cost to develop your idea?<\/li>\n<li>How many will you sell?<\/li>\n<li>How much will it save your customer?<\/li>\n<li>How much will it make you?<\/li>\n<li>What will your customer pay?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<li>Why do you love this idea?\n<ol>\n<li>Are you passionate about it?<\/li>\n<li>Why is it important to you?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>The things you write become the first real incarnation of your idea, a prototype if you will. \u00a0In this state you have nothing invested and you\u2019ll learn a lot about both the things you didn\u2019t know and the things you thought you knew.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Sometimes we learn an idea is simply near and dear to our hearts, and maybe we are the only ones who see value in it. \u00a0That\u2019s OK! \u00a0Because ideas are free. \u00a0If you\u2019re passionate about them then keep thinking. \u00a0Keep learning. \u00a0Write down more ideas. \u00a0The more ideas you write down, define and refine the more likely you are to succeed. \u00a0Don\u2019t be discouraged if you have 100 ideas that don\u2019t work on paper. \u00a0Save them for a rainy day when something may have changed in your assumptions: \u00a0a new technology, a new customer, a new method. \u00a0With ideas More is More.<\/p>\n<p>Email us at <a href=\"mailto:amc@maine.edu\">amc@maine.edu<\/a>. \u00a0We\u2019ll answer your questions via email or in another post so you plan out your next steps.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Is Your Idea Good? It can be hard to know if an idea is good enough to invest in. \u00a0There are many steps along the way from a Eureka! moment to a product on the shelves or a service ready for hire. \u00a0You may not know if you should even pursue the idea, let alone [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":267,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","spc_primary_category":0},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-questions-and-answers-from-the-amc"],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":3,"label":"Ask the AMC"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":{"display_name":"","author_link":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/amc\/author\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":3,"name":"Ask the AMC","slug":"questions-and-answers-from-the-amc","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":3,"taxonomy":"category","description":"The AMC answers questions about all things relating to inventing, prototyping, manufacturing, product development, and process development.","parent":0,"count":6,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":3,"category_count":6,"category_description":"The AMC answers questions about all things relating to inventing, prototyping, manufacturing, product development, and process development.","cat_name":"Ask the AMC","category_nicename":"questions-and-answers-from-the-amc","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/amc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/amc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/amc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/amc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/267"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/amc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1774"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/amc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1774\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/amc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/amc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/amc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}