The Big Idea

While flipping through TV channels the other evening, I watched a program called "The Big Idea," yet another media vehicle propagating the idea that someone can make millions off of an idea alone. (Billy Bob Teeth and Worm Poop Spray Fertilizer come to mind as examples.) The behind the scenes work of raising money to develop, test, refine, pilot produce and test market a product to make it into something an investor will financially support was ignored altogether. The show also failed to point out the trade-off of equity in the company for that investment.

The reality is that investment in an idea is extraordinarily rare. Investors, licensees and big business are unlikely to throw millions at a thought (or even a patent) that has not been developed into a product or service, much less a viable business. Even if products "work" in a laboratory, this is no promise of commercial success. After all, if an inventor won't create a commercial product from his idea, who would?

For an idea or patent to truly have value, it must be developed, proven and introduced to the market. It can take millions in development and market testing before an idea is worth investing in. The media generally glosses over the outside funding process, where inventors often must pitch their product, give up part of their company and subject themselves to stringent benchmarking schedules to secure funding from investors expecting high returns through the sale of the company within five years of investment.

Realistically, a big idea needs to be a bit more comprehensive, a bit more complete, a bit well … bigger than a fleeting notion on a piece of paper. Big ideas must have as components plans for commercialization of products, business creation and securing funding. Entrepreneurs pursuing big ideas should work through a plan with milestones to focus their efforts, as well as the realistic understanding that they might need lots of their own money to get an idea off the ground.

Tune in next week. We'll be gunning for Oprah. I hear she's giving big.