Steve Christini's new All-Wheel Drive Mountain Bike was all
the buzz at two major bike trade shows, and the 27-year-old
entrepreneur is on the verge of major success, now that a sales and
marketing agreement with a major bike manufacturer is in the
works.
A passionate mountain biker, Christini felt there had to be a
solution to an annoying problem with mountain bikes--they lose
traction on steep inclines or sandy or slippery surfaces. Since he
had a degree in mechanical engineering, Christini felt sure he
could come up with a winning design that would eliminate the
problem.
Christini did succeed--but mainly because he didn't just run
out and start designing his product. First, by researching the
history of other all-wheel-drive mountain bikes to see how they
worked and how they had fared on the market, he was able to
determine how his product should work and what pitfalls to avoid.
With that head start, he avoided repeating others' mistakes,
and ultimately created his product with a minimum of design
changes.
Content Continues Below
Most inventors never bother to take this step, and as a result,
they often follow the same flawed design paths of earlier
inventors. Christini's brother, a patent attorney, didn't
want Christini to make the same mistakes--he pushed him to do his
homework so the capital provided by their family would last as long
as possible.
Don Debelak (dondebelak@uswest.net) is a
new-business marketing consultant who has introduced new products
for more than 20 years. He is the author of Bringing Your
Product to Market (John Wiley & Sons, $19.95,
800-225-5945).
Page 1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 