Katie: Welcome back to the BusinessMakers Overtime Show heard here and online at theBusinessMakers.com/overtime.

Esther: He-he.

Katie: Woo-hoo! We are in Chapter 3. We've had a great first two chapters and I think this is gonna be a pretty cool one too.

Esther: I love this segment.

Katie: So we're jumping into one of our favorite things which is ideas. We're kind of idea girls.

Esther: We are.

Katie: We like to throw 'em around, hash 'em.

Esther: And you know, I know you have ideas too.

Katie: I do. Oh I have ideas.

Esther: You, but out there in the listening audience, they also have ideas. And they have all these business ideas floating around in their heads, you know. Maybe it's Snugcessories or, you know - and I was actually putting Snugcessories - if you're an avid listener of the show, you know that my boyfriend had this idea for snuggy accessories and it was called Snugcessories. And I put Snugcessories through the 12 steps of "Is Your Business Idea Really a Business" which is what we're about talk about -

Katie: Ah, yeah.

Esther: - and it wasn't.

Katie: It wasn't. Oh, don't tell him.

Esther: No. I won't tell him, but Snugcessories is not meant to be.

Katie: (Laughter) Now, my four-year-old daughter Ella actually had a really great idea and maybe we should run it through while we're talking.

Esther: Yeah.

Katie: What she really wanted yesterday - and I say great kind of sarcastically; really sarcastically - is she really wants ICEEs that don't melt.

Esther: Oh.

Katie: So it sounds a little Willy Wonky, right -

Esther: Yeah.

Katie: - chocolate ice cream that doesn't melt. But I'm really gonna keep this in the back of my mind as we talk today. (Laughter)

Esther: I like that. So basically there are 12 questions that you have to ask yourself when you have an idea. If you're thinking about quitting your job, "Man, I got this idea. I'm gonna take it to the venture capitalists, they're gonna give me a million dollars to make this product, make a prototype, and I am going to sell a billion of these just like the Ped Egg, just like the whatever." You wanna get it in stores, you're like, "This is for sure gonna happen." So them are 12 questions and we're gonna go over a couple of them because you should really ask yourself these questions before you quit your job. So the first question you have to ask yourself is, "Are you filling a void? Is there this hole in the universe that is crying out for your product?" Ask yourself that.

Katie: (Laughter)

Esther: Another question you'd ask yourself is, "Does the idea pass a live fire test?" In other words, if you're making a baked good, try selling it at a farmers market first. If it's not gonna work at a farmers market, it's probably not gonna work with the general American public. It's probably time to go back to the drawing board and make some tweaks, and then if you see if start flying off the shelves at the farmers market, then you can sell it on a bigger scale.

Katie: What good advice.

Esther: Yeah.

Katie: So another one of our 12 questions is, "Do industry experts hate your idea?" And if they do, you're probably on the right track. (Laughter)

Esther: That's right. If they're afraid of you, it's good.

Katie: (Laughter)

Esther: So another one is, "Does your idea have a shelf life?" In other words, will technology come along and make your product obsolete?

Katie: Oh!

Esther: So that's kind of - you know, you don't wanna develop something that's very here and now that is gonna be completely overtaken by the next thing, you know, in a week.

Katie: Right, like what are those things that are really hot right now in middle schools, because I know we're about all in middle school.

Esther: Oh, those bracelets?

Katie: Yeah, they're like spangle-like.

Esther: Yeah.

Katie: They're these weird - I mean they're rubber bands in kind of weird shapes.

Esther: Animal shapes.

Katie: In animal shapes, that's right. Like yeah, shelf life. But you know what, they're making a killing, so who am I to speak. (Laughter)

Esther: They are; yeah. They could be like Crocs and end up going public, you never know.

Katie: Yeah, seriously. And another question to be asking about this amazing business idea, "Is there a high barrier to entry?" The CEO of Avion Systems, Kanchana Raman, is quoted saying that, "The best ideas typically have high barriers to entry." So if an idea is pretty good but it's pretty tough to get to, maybe others have tried, you've got some special skills, but maybe this is it, you know.

Esther: That's right

Katie: Maybe you're on it. Although this is kind of a tricky one though because I could see a lot of what seems like great ideas that probably have incredibly high barriers to entry really sucking.

Esther: Yeah.

Katie: So yeah, I don't know what to say about that. (Laughter)

Esther: Yeah. So another one you have to consider is, "Are you actually gonna make money doing it?" There are some great ideas out there, and maybe the reason that there is no other business like your business is because other people have already run the numbers and determined that this business cannot make any money.

Katie: Or there was a business and then they didn't make any money and now there is no business. (Laughter)

Esther: Exactly. I think this is one of the most important ones actually. "How large is the market?" If you have a product that only a hundred people want, you're not gonna make any money because a hundred people are gonna buy it and then there's no one else to buy it.

Katie: Exactly.

Esther: You've gotta make sure a lot more people than a hundred need this product or at least want this product.

Katie: Right. "So is your idea scalable?" So I mean maybe sitting in your garage it seems like a really great idea because it's just you and one make-believe customer.

Esther: Yeah.

Katie: But I mean the goal as you have said is to make money, is to reach out to the masses to have a really wide audience; and if it's not scalable, it ain't gonna happen.

Esther: Nope.

Katie: And in fact, I mean you may convince somebody to give you - to throw down a little cashola on your amazing idea only to find out that it backfires, you know, in a couple of years once you've hit that critical mass.

Esther: Right.

Katie: So scalability man.

Esther: And this is actually where the Snugcessories got hung up.

Katie: (Laughter) I'm sorry. (Laughter)

Esther: Yeah, um, I'm saying it with a straight face but it's really hilarious.

Katie: Can you explain the Snugcessories again?

Esther: Snugcessories are other products made of snuggy material is basically what they are. There's like booties and there's gloves and there's hats. So you basically could be like covered from head-to-toe in blue felt or whatever that stuff is. It's really an attractive look, let me tell ya. So as I said, this is the one that it got hung up on. "Is it a stand-alone business or an add-on feature?"

Katie: Ooooh.

Esther: So add-on features tend to "mm-mmm" you know, not work so well because like the cup holder - one of the examples they gave was the cup holder. Cup holder, great idea. Doesn't really stand alone. But when partnered with car, it works -

Katie: It's awesome.

Esther: It's genius. You came to sell a cup holder without a car attached to it? Probably not. What would you need a cup holder for unless you were driving?

Katie: That's hilarious.

Esther: Yeah.

Katie: What would you need a cup holder for other than a car? Like this is -

John: To hold your cup!

Esther: But like, you would walk around like with a cup holder on a stick and then like stick your cup in the cup holder and just hold the stick.

Katie: You'd be holding your cup holder in your hand.

Esther: You'd be just holding a stick.

Katie: Well I guess it's called a coozie isn't it? (Laughter)

Esther: Yeah! (Laughter)

Katie: See somebody had a good idea.

Esther: Yeah. Someone's like, "Man that cup holder thing, that's genius!" How can I put the cup holder in somebody's hand? Hmm. Yep, that's the coozie.

Katie: (Laughter) I like that guy whoever that was.

Esther: Yeah. That guy's a smart guy.

Katie: And also think to yourself, "Can this idea be priced attractively?" So I mean really running those numbers ahead of time and knowing, okay, you've got the audience, it's scalable, you can totally do this. But are people gonna want to pay at that price point? Can you develop a product and have it on shelves or, you know, on your fabulous Etsy store online? I mean, is it gonna work financially? Are people gonna shell out that money?

Esther: That's right. And another one that's great is, "If it weren't your idea, would you put money into it?" Like if you were a capitalist, you were putting money into products, you were a hedge fund, you know, funding other businesses, would you invest?

Katie: Interesting.

Esther: Yeah.

Katie: Not just because you have a good sense of humor.

Esther: Like yeah I know.

Katie: Yeah. "Oh that's a dumb - oh wait." (Laughter)

Esther: "Ewe, oh wait, that's my idea. Oh, right."

Katie: (Laughter) And finally - and this may be a no-brainer as an aspiring entrepreneur, but, "Can you pitch your idea as a business in 20 seconds or less?"

Esther: Hmm.

Katie: So whether you're looking at 20 seconds or a 118 seconds, you need to have an idea that is simple enough that you could really express it over and over and over again to people that are very busy, number one; and number two, probably hear business pitches over and over and over again all the time.

Esther: That's right.

Katie: So make it fast, make it effective, and make it make sense, you know. If you have to have a three-hour lunch with four martinis to get through with what it is that you want funding for; fail. (Laughter)

Esther: Pitch fail.

Katie: Yeah. (Laughter)

Esther: So if you have a great business idea and you wanna run it by us to see if we think it's a great business idea, you should get in touch with us at Twitter.com/overtimeshow or Facebook.com/overtimeshow. You feel free to send us a DM or send us an email or whatever you wanna do. Leave a comment on our website at theBusinessMaker.com/overtime and we will get back to you. We wanna hear your great idea.

Katie: We really do.

Esther: We know you're a genius.

Katie: And if you want in on the ICEE thing you can totally DM us too. So we'll catch ya, we'll catch ya.

Esther: Maybe we'll cut you in since you're a loyal listener.

Katie: Exactly. We'll see what you have to bring to the table and, you know. (Laughter)

Esther: Yeah. Well I guess that wraps it up for this week.

Katie: It does.

Esther: Thanks for tuning in and tune in next week when we have some more awesome stuff to talk about in the business world. We're gonna keep coming at ya every week, Wednesday morning.

Katie: Relentlessly.

Esther: Absolutely.

Katie: Ha-ha!

Esther: You've been listening to the BusinessMakers Overtime Show heard here and online at theBusinessMakers.com/overtime. I'm Esther Steinfeld.

Katie: And I'm Katie Laird.

Esther: We'll see you next week.

Katie: See ya.