From innovation to profit

Canadian entrepreneurs need to do a much better job of turning their ideas into commercially successful businesses. Many innovators and inventors are surprised to find out that the business side of commercialization is so much harder than the process of developing the product or servce in the first place. (Which is why Dragons' Den, with its emphasis on customer needs and marketing plans, is such a great national resource.)

My column in the National Financial Post this week looks directly at this problem. It's titled, "Take budding idea from prototype to final product," and it offers a seven-step formula for turning a product or service innovation into a million-dollar business. The points come from longtime Grimsby, Ont. innovator Ron Gdanski, who shared his experiences at the recent Innovation Forum sponsored by Enterprise Toronto.

It starts, naturally, with communication. Gdanski urges innovators to start by recognizing that their most valuable asset is not the invention they've been obsessively perfecting for so many years, but the way they describe it to others.

Read all about it, right here.

Creating a culture of innovation

This morning I took part in a ceremony launching Peel Region’s new RIC Centre (Research, Innovation and Commercialization) in Mississauga. Mayor Hazel McCallion was there, along with the local MP, the chair of Peel Region, and the head of the Board of Trade.

The organizers showed their innovative-ness by inviting four local business people to help open the centre – all named Rick. There was Rick Drennan of the Mississauga Business Times, Richard Fine of RMF Manufacturing & Design, and Rick Holden of Best Buy (Witty) Insurance – and me.

I support resources such as the RIC Centre, which aims to connect inventors to resources, mentors and expertise. As I said in my brief remarks:

"In my experience, when innovation fails, it fails for one of four reasons:
* the inventor fell in love with his product;
* the business was undercapitalized;
* the marketing plan was ineffective, insufficient or non-existent;
* or the innovators failed to realize how long commercialization takes, and how many changes even the best products have to go through before they succeed.

The same problems recur, over and over again. And all of them can be solved by places such as the RIC Centre.”

But I also went off-script to respond to a few remarks made by previous speakers. For instance, Peel regional Chair Emil Kolb, who operates a family farm near Bolton, Ont., noted that the original farmers who pioneered Mississauga probably couldn't have imagined what goes on at a place like the RIC Centre.

I took issue with that, pointing out that the farmers I know are tremendous innovators and inventors. They are always tinkering with crops and seeds and fertilizers to find the best combinations. And they're constantly collaborating with other farmers to identify best practices. I believe that’s exactly the culture we're trying to recreate today!

A couple of speakers also criticized the shortage of venture capital in Canada. I pointed out that Canadian entrepreneurs have to take some of the blame for that. If we had all been better at commercialization, Canada’s venture capitalists would have made a lot more money over the past decade, and there would be a whole lot more capital to throw around today. Incubators such as the RIC Centre can help overcome these problems – but until they do, Canadian VCs can hardly be blamed for not throwing good money after bad.

I may never get invited back.

June 11 update: Click here for the writeup from the Mississauga News, which also published the photo below.
Joining Mayor Hazel McCallion are, from left, VP of Research at the University of Toronto Mississauga Ulli Krull, Financial Post journalist and speaker Richard Spence, Mississauga Business Times Editor Rick Drennan, MPP Mississauga-Streetsville Bob Delaney, Rick Holden of Best Buy (Witty) Insurance, Rick Fine of RMF Design, Peel Region Chairman Emil Kolb and Mississauga Board of Trade Chair Jake Dheer.

Best-Ever Entrepreneurship Quotes, Week 79

Here is your Monday motivational quote, personally selected to get your week off to an inspired start.

Today, a Canadian business guru on how leaders create an "innovation culture" in their companies:

"They’ve managed to instill a culture that has everyone thinking about what can be done – they are forward-oriented. It’s a culture in which people are thinking less about the problems that have occurred and more about the cool strategies that could be pursued. They don't run change-management workshops: they have strategic session on “growing the business.” It’s not an easy task, but innovative organizations have managed to get their people away from “right now” to “our next step.”

Jim Carroll, Mississauga, Ont. innovation expert and futurist, in his 2007 book, Ready, Set, Done.
http://www.jimcarroll.com/

Best-Ever Entrepreneurship Quotes, Week 79

Here's your Monday motivational quote, specially selected to get your week off to an inspired start.

This week: an anthem for all pioneers.

"The poor man of one idea is always in danger of being laughed at by people who have none."
Bob Edwards, The Calgary Eye Opener, June 6, 1902

Best-Ever Entrepreneurship Quotes, week 68

Back to business, with our continuing series of leadership quotes designed to get your week off to an inspired start.

This week: Why there will always be room for entrepreneurs, in every market:

“The underdog in many products can pick and choose where it wants to hit the giant. The giant, by contrast, must defend itself everywhere.”

George H. Lesch, former president, chairman and CEO, Colgate-Palmolive (from 1960 to 1971)

Sometimes, as entrepreneurs, we see only the huge challenge in front of us. If we could see it from our competitor's perspective, things might not look so daunting.

Best-Ever Entrepreneurship Quotes: Week 39

Here's for your motivational Quote of the Week, specially selected to get your week off to an empowering start.

In honour of Canada Day, here's a gem from one of Canada's earliest and foremost satirists:

"The poor man of one idea is always in danger of being laughed at by those who have none."
Robert C. (Bob) Edwards, editor, the Calgary Eye Opener (1902)

(He's the same guy who wrote: "I know what a statesman is. He is a dead politician. We need more statesmen.")

The Shy Inventor

A quick follow-up to my Dragons’ Den post of the other day.

While I was between “auditions” of potential Dragons’ Den participants, a young guy came up to me with a question. Pulling out the yellow legal form that all pitchers must sign, he asked if it was true that, if he signed it, anyone on the DD team could steal his idea and run with it themselves.

I hadn't read the contract, and said so, but I took the liberty of telling him that's the way the world works. Once you disclose your idea to anyone, you risk idea theft and knockoffs.

The question is, what’s your idea really worth? Few ideas are so original or brilliant that they need to be kept under lock and key. Instead of keeping everything secret, and fussing over patents and non-disclosures, I think most entrepreneurs should talk up their ideas and actively seek out feedback, criticism and help.

Very few people are going to drop everything to compete with you when you have a head start in time, effort and (presumably) relationships and planning. So yes, the CBC crew could steal his idea, but the chances of them doing so are just about nil; and the chances that they could do it better than he can are probably even less.

So would he tell me his idea? He smiled and said he’d think about it.

As I write this, I recall that I dealt with this subject a year ago in a post quoting tireless CEO blogger Jim Estill of Synnex Canada in Guelph, Ont. "It is not the ideas that will make a business successful, it is the implementation," Jim said.

"When EMJ (Jim's startup firm) was public, I was worried people would see our statements and public disclosures and copy what we were doing. Some tried. Over time I came to realize that implementation is hundreds of little things that tend to be almost impossible to copy..."

"Most entrepeneurs could be more successful by simply implementing now and faster rather than trying to keep everything a secret. I have seen more failures caused by inaction than caused by having ideas stolen."

BTW, as I was leaving the Dragons’ Den auditions Saturday, the shy inventor came up to me again. He said he’d decided to tell me his idea.

I won’t give it away, but it’s a big idea, visionary, and probably expensive. I doubt a single entrepreneur with limited financial resources could pull it off.

So I suggested he get in touch with established players in his industry and try to work with them to push the industry in the direction he wants to see it go. Strong, helpful relationships can do more to make your business competitor-proof than the best patent lawyer in town.