Don Gauvreau: Co-CEO, PharmaFreak and LBRX Sciences Inc.
There are four key aspects to bringing any good product or invention to life:
•Believe in your product or invention:This is pretty straightforward, but some people think they can launch any old product into the market and quickly count their profits all the way to the bank. There is no fast and easy way to make a quick buck. If you don’t believe in the success of your product or idea, how will you ever convince anyone else to buy into it?
•Get legal protection: Although an idea may seem small in its infancy, if your goal is to make it big, then you must protect it and your potential business with solid legal advice. If you have a proprietary invention, then you must ensure that you have intellectual property [IP] protection, too. When entering into distribution or licensing agreements, again, legal advice and protection are essential.
•Funding is essential: The most important thing is ensuring you have the financial resources to get things started and that you plan ahead and provide yourself with multiple backup options in case more cash flow is needed. This doesn’t necessarily mean you have to get a bank loan or investors. When we started our business the banks wouldn’t give us a dime. We leveraged an open line of credit that we had from another business, maxed out credit cards and pulled equity from mortgages. It might not have been the best way, but we always had the “next” backup plan.
•Set up manufacturing and distribution partnerships: The fastest way to penetrate a market is by arranging solid manufacturing and distribution partnerships. A good manufacturer can help you in areas in which you have no expertise and save you money in the long run. A good distributor can help you quickly penetrate the market with the channels it has already established. You can’t do it all on your own, so align yourself with the best. It will save you a lot of time and headaches.
Joel Solomon: Chairman, Renewal Funds
Getting your invention or product off the ground requires more than passion. It takes business acumen, persistence and discernment to turn your idea into a financially viable reality.
You need to learn your field and research your market potential. Ensure you know who the competitors in your category are and why your invention is different and better. Be clear about your product’s unique features, and practise communicating those features to others.
Master your numbers. Know exactly how much it costs to design, manufacture and ship your product. If you aren’t a “numbers person,” find a business partner who is.
Get the best advice you can assemble. Incentivize your advice-givers by offering them slivers of ownership or lots of fun, food and good listening. Attend networking events that will expose you to successful people in your field and take the advice you receive seriously, but be smart about it and ask yourself if each recommendation truly sounds right for you.
Test everything and use the resulting data to guide your decisions.
Build a team that covers legal, accounting, insurance, real estate and other professional services necessary to a successful business. Always have an eye as to whether it may be better to sell your company to another that is more suited to the job of taking your product to its market potential.
Be reliable, with impeccable integrity. So much of your success will depend on the relationships you build.
James McQueen: COO, Rumble
There are four keys to successfully getting your product or invention commercialized:
Don’t cut corners, build it right
Build a roadmap and give some thought to each step it will take to get your product into the market. Think about R&D, market audits, pricing strategy and regulatory requirements.
Surround yourself with good partners, people and/or advisers
No one can do it alone, and you’ll never know everything. It’s invaluable to have someone on your team that has direct experience commercializing a product or service. Strategic advisers or mentors can be particularly helpful in navigating potential pitfalls or costly mistakes.
Trust your instincts, but not too much
If you have a good idea and everyone in your immediate ecosystem [friends and family] tells you it’s going to be the next big thing – it’s probably best to take it outside that group and do some real market sounding. Go to your potential customers to get their direct feedback.
While you should not let naysayers steer you off course, you should heed warning, especially if you start to hear similar feedback across multiple end-users or stakeholders.
Don’t give up!
Commercializing something from scratch can be a long, dusty road. Expect naysayers, setbacks and highs and lows along the way. Ultimately, being an entrepreneur is about being persistent, resilient and adaptable. Follow your gut, put the work in and you’ll get there eventually.
