e manager, if the idea piques his interest, might say, "I'll tell you what. You're welcome to use our resources here to spend a couple of weeks on this, so long as you get the rest of your work done on time. Come back to me with a report on why you think it's the right thing to do."

You could think of this stage as self-funding.

Two weeks later, Mi

"Can you help me find an investor for my idea?"

You'd be astonished at how often we hear that question in our line of work. It's usually asked just after the inventor has done just enough scribbling to convince himself that he has solved one of the world's most pressing problems.

He might have. But...

There's an expectation by many entrepreneurs that if they create and patent what they believe to be a great idea, investors and customers will come knocking at their doors. Many are clearly surprised when they discover this isn't the case.

Inventors will spend months working on designs, perhaps prototyping them, creating the drawings and material needed to apply for a patent. They'll pour thousands of hours and thousands of dollars into the project -- all this without really understanding that all those hours and all those dollars are being leveraged at the wrong time!

Take a Tip from the Skunkworks

Look at the way product development is done in a large company: Someone observes an opportunity, gets an idea about it. The first thing that happens is an investigation of the opportunity, the initial inquiry that goes on prior to the first decision of whether to spend more time developing the idea.

Such projects are often launched as "skunkworks." One or two workers -- let's call them Mike and David -- have an idea and, after doing some initial inquiry, they present it to a manager. The manager, if the idea piques his interest, might say, "I'll tell you what. You're welcome to use our resources here to spend a couple of weeks on this, so long as you get the rest of your work done on time. Come back to me with a report on why you think it's the right thing to do."

You could think of this stage as self-funding.

Two weeks later, Mik

urs that if they create and patent what they believe to be a great idea, investors and customers will come knocking at their doors. Many are clearly surprised when they discover this isn't the case.

Inventors will spend months working on designs, perhaps prototyping them, creating the drawings and material needed to apply for a patent. They'll pour thousands of hours and thousands of dollars into the project -- all this without really understanding that all those hours and all those dollars are being leveraged at the wrong time!

Take a Tip from the Skunkworks

Look at the way product development is done in a large company: Someone observes an opportunity, gets an idea about it. The first thing that happens is an investigation of the opportunity, the initial inquiry that goes on prior to the first decision of whether to spend more time developing the idea.

Such projects are often launched as "skunkworks." One or two workers -- let's call them Mike and David -- have an idea and, after doing some initial inquiry, they present it to a manager. The manager, if the idea piques his interest, might say, "I'll tell you what. You're welcome to use our resources here to spend a couple of weeks on this, so long as you get the rest of your work done on time. Come back to me with a report on why you think it's the right thing to do."

You could think of this stage as self-funding.

Two weeks later, Mi

nds of hours and thousands of dollars into the project -- all this without really understanding that all those hours and all those dollars are being leveraged at the wrong time!

Take a Tip from the Skunkworks

Look at the way product development is done in a large company: Someone observes an opportunity, gets an idea about it. The first thing that happens is an investigation of the opportunity, the initial inquiry that goes on prior to the first decision of whether to spend more time developing the idea.

Such projects are often launched as "skunkworks." One or two workers -- let's call them Mike and David -- have an idea and, after doing some initial inquiry, they present it to a manager. The manager, if the idea piques his interest, might say, "I'll tell you what. You're welcome to use our resources here to spend a couple of weeks on this, so long as you get the rest of your work done on time. Come back to me with a report on why you think it's the right thing to do."

You could think of this stage as self-funding.

Two weeks later, Mi

g that happens is an investigation of the opportunity, the initial inquiry that goes on prior to the first decision of whether to spend more time developing the idea.

Such projects are often launched as "skunkworks." One or two workers -- let's call them Mike and David -- have an idea and, after doing some initial inquiry, they present it to a manager. The manager, if the idea piques his interest, might say, "I'll tell you what. You're welcome to use our resources here to spend a couple of weeks on this, so long as you get the rest of your work done on time. Come back to me with a report on why you think it's the right thing to do."

You could think of this stage as self-funding.

Two weeks later, Mi

e manager, if the idea piques his interest, might say, "I'll tell you what. You're welcome to use our resources here to spend a couple of weeks on this, so long as you get the rest of your work done on time. Come back to me with a report on why you think it's the right thing to do."

You could think of this stage as self-funding.

Two weeks later, Mike and David come back with a positive report. If the manager is impressed, it's likely they'll make a simple presentation to the department Director. If the Director likes the idea, what often happens is that the two aspiring entrepreneurs are given the go-ahead to do some further development on company time.

Think of this stage as early angel funding.

You can see where this leads. If an idea turns out to be really good, the Director will end up presenting the idea to an executive team whose responsibility it is to approve projects. If the executives give the go-ahead, a full-scale project is launched and our erstwhile inventors have just received their first round of venture funding.

It works no differently for the independent entrepreneur.

The All-Important Initial Inquiry

The initial inquiry is all about assessing the opportunity. There is a mile-wide chasm between thinking an opportunity exists and the fact of its existence. If there is an opportunity, how big is it? How many people would be affected by a product that addresses this opportunity? Are there any other products or services out there that address the same opportunity? How successful are they? What is unique about them, and can you identify areas in which your own product could achieve an edge?

And so on. As you can see, the process of inquiry goes along for quite some time. At some point, the entrepreneur may gather en