Great business idea. Unfortunately, you can't do it.

As discussed in a recent post here on The Heretech, there's a big difference between invention and innovation. Nowhere is this distinction more clear than in the realm of business models and go-to-market strategies. Or, to put it another way, "Now that I've had this brainstorm, what do I do with it?"

When you get a great idea, it's intoxicating. In fact, you can get drunk on your own brilliance, often to the point where you should not be trusted to drive product direction. And the last thing you want to hear is some buzz-killing smartypants tell you that you're not really capable of turning that Big Idea into Boffo Business. (Little twerp.)

Unfortunately, that little twerp is often your best friend. It's no insult to say that the idea is really, really good, but that it's all wrong for your company. If there's no company yet, that market entry might be a lot harder than you think. Or, in either case, the cost of getting people to adopt your technology--the innovation part--might be pretty high.

Here are some common pitfalls for people who devise fantastic inventions, but have no patience for the business barriers for turning them into genuine innovations:

• You can picture what the technology will do, but you have no clear idea who will use it, and for what.
• You can picture who will use the technology, but you haven't solved a critical business problem for them,
• You've solved a critical business problem for that person, but they're not the ones making the buying decisions in the organization.
• To reach the critical buyer in the customer's organization, you need to work through channel and implementation partners that focus on that solution area.
• The idea is great, but costs and risks of replacing the existing technology are pretty high.
• You're a big technology vendors with lots of resources might bring the product to market,  but your own salespeople and partners have no incentive to sell it.
• Small technology vendors depend on turning the new technology into a "platform"--something that customers usually buy from larger vendors.

And I'm sure you've seen other examples. I have at least a couple of my own, if you're ever interested in hearing them.

Which is all a roundabout way of saying, before you kick off a new product, or God help you, a new company built around a great idea, stop what you're doing. Think hard about the invention itself long enough to consider how innovation is going to work. After you know that there's economic potential there, and it's not going to take the strength of Hercules and the wisdom of Solomon to achieve it, forge ahead.

Write the business plan. Hire the product manager earlier, instead of later. Do the necessary research. Be prepared to hear a few disappointing facts of life--but better to hear them earlier, instead of later.

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