Free Business Ideas and Business Plans

Many businesses start with a great idea. But a great idea isn’t enough; you have to make it a great business. If you know business, that might be easy. But if not, here’s an overview to find out what’s involved in going from idea to business.

Building a business takes four things: a product or service, a business model, a team, and money. There is no standard order to gathering these, though they all affect each other. For instance, raising money first makes it easier to attract a top-notch team, but you will have to give up more of your equity to raise the money. Having a prototype first makes raising money easier, but without money, prototyping must be done on a shoestring. The tradeoffs will reflect your judgment, willingness to take risks, and the circumstances that come your way. Read the rest of this entry »

Reducing market risk is always a sensible strategy, but never more than when a company’s product development costs run high or its development cycle is prolonged. With one to three major products under way at a time, and with cycle times as long as three years, Dade Behring, a manufacturer of diagnostic medical equipment, has ample reason to minimize its risk of error. To achieve this aim, Dade Behring maintains a high product and service profile in its customers’ research and commercial laboratories. With almost a century of history under its belt, the Deerfield, IL-based firm maintains a research, manufacturing and marketing presence in 39 countries. In 1999, the company began to implement Customer-Centered Product Definition (CCPD) as a tool to embed customer needs in its product development process. Read the rest of this entry »

BY STEVE SARNO

It’s a fact borne out by hard-won experience: after investing hundreds of thousands and often millions of dollars in product design and development, the product launch is a critical moment of truth.

If early sales meet or exceed expectations, then executive staff and shareholders can start popping the champagne corks.

But if the market responds with less enthusiasm, better put on your helmet and hunker down, it could be a long and bloody campaign.

Every high tech CEO knows that by increasing the effectiveness of our product launches we can dramatically increase the success of our new products – and the ultimate success of our companies — in the marketplace. Read the rest of this entry »

BY STEVE SARNO

New product launches are critical to every high tech company. Success in today’s high tech marketplace re quires more than a superior product. It also requires a superior product launch. Competitors in today’s hotly contested markets must ensure that their products break through to their target audiences as quickly as possible, otherwise they are courting failure. Read the rest of this entry »

BY STEVE SARNO

Statistics show that new product failure rates run as high as 45 percent. Additionally, most products hit the market late, creating lost opportunities, eroding revenues, and often erasing profits. As little as three months’ delay severely chokes expected revenues, half of which usually come early in the product’s life cycle. Read the rest of this entry »