By: Saadia Muzaffar

You’re an entrepreneur–inventor who’s come up with a good idea. Chances are, you’re not going to be very objective when evaluating whether or not your idea’s going to be a success once it hits the market. Sure, you’ll think it’s a great idea—the best you’ve ever had. But how do you get beyond your excitement and ask the really important questions:

• Would someone actually pay money for it?

• Is there a cost to implement the idea, and if so, would potential customers believe it’s worth it?

• How is the idea going to improve someone’s life (or at least, their bottom line?)

And then there’s the question of how you describe the new idea, besides being “great”, and “the best”, and of course, “innovative.” You have to position a new product, service or process in a way that a potential customer immediately understands the value to them. Hassan Nojoumi, president of Shimi Frez, an advanced manufacturing company in Ontario, encountered this very problem. His company provides photo chemical etching services so unique that few outside of the company really understand what it means.

“We had a hard time explaining what we do,” says Nojoumi, “So we came up with the idea of metal business cards that could show the precision we can do.”

Nojoumi’s etched, metal business card may seem like a simple solution, but it turned out to be a brilliant way of communicating to prospects. They immediately see for themselves the value provided and begin to think of how they might apply the service.

The greatest ideas can be wasted if they’re not evaluated properly. Find out from how you can take an idea from great to “I’ll buy it” at Innovate>Forward’s How to Evaluate New Ideas.

Join advanced manufacturing peers like Hassan Nojourmi, RIC centre’s internal business analyst, Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Tim Scott and guest speaker, Paul Smith, Vice President and Centre Manager, Xerox Research Centre of Canada.

Thursday, March 22, 7.00-9.30 AM. Register today.

Saadia joins the RIC team as the Operations Coordinator responsible for building and execution of activities that fulfill RIC’s mandate. She brings several years of relationship management, corporate communications and operations experience mainly from the financial services industry.

The RIC blog is designed as a showcase for entrepreneurs and innovation. Our guest bloggers provide a wealth of information based on their personal experiences. Visit Altitude Accelerator for more information on how RIC can accelerate your ideas to market.