Inspired!: Take Your Product Dream from Concept to Shelf

by Vik Venkatraman

Overview

Each year, passionate, hard-workingindividuals launch tens of thousands of new products. Unfortunately, although a great number of these products serve a need or satisfy a want, the majority disappear from the marketplace within two years. It doesn't have to be this way. Most products fail not because they weren't good ideas but, rather, because the entrepreneurs behind them weren't prepared. In Inspired! Take Your Product Dream from Concept to Shelf, entrepreneur Vik Venkatraman provides the expert guidance you need to avoid the common mistakes most people make.

Divided into three sections—Development, Launch, and Rollout—and using what the author refers to as The Inspired Method to help you build mutually beneficial relationships and make informed decisions, Inspired! walks you through each and every step of bringing a new product to market and ensuring that the product succeeds, including how to:

• Use Web tools to determine demand
• Utilize your personal network to gain access to those who can assist you through the various stages of launching a product
• Create a mock-up and a prototype, and the difference between the two
• Select a name that increases your chancesof success
• Negotiate with suppliers, including thequestions you should ask
• Determine whether to manufacture yourproduct domestically or overseas
• Pitch your product to retailers, and how to get your foot in the door in the first place
• Market your product on the Web
• Find financing from angel investors, venture capitalists, banks, grant programs, andentrepreneurship competitions

Inspired! also includes sample letters to potential business partners, invaluable insights from successful entrepreneurs, and exercises to reinforce what you've learned.

Launching a successful new product requires much more than just a great idea. Inspired! arms you with the knowledge—the knowledge most entrepreneurs lack—that can help you save time and money, and ensure that your product is one of the 10 percent that proves to be a huge success.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780470933787
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	12/15/2010
Sold by:	JOHN WILEY & SONS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

VIK VENKATRAMAN is a dreamer, free thinker, and student of life. He is the founder of both Star Power, the first 100% pure starfruit juice sold at specialty grocery stores, and V Bespoke, a fashion company offering affordable, high-quality, custom-tailored clothing. Vik is a former brand manager for Red Bull, and as a highly respected entrepreneur and management consultant with Deloitte Consulting and American Express, he has advised Fortune 500 retail, travel, and consumer product companies on a wide range of issues, including operations, marketing strategies, and manufacturing. Vik studied biomedical engineering at Columbia University, where he graduated with honors.

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Table of Contents

Preface ix

Acknowledgments xvii

Phase I Development

Chapter 1 Develop the Idea 3

Chapter 2 Create Your Product 21

Chapter 3 Brand Marketing 57

Chapter 4 Design the Process 89

Phase II Launch

Chapter 5 Packaging a Product 119

Chapter 6 Produce Your Product and Platform 139

Phase III Rollout

Chapter 7 Get Distribution, and Get on the Shelf 163

Chapter 8 Demonstrate Local Success 191

Chapter 9 Financing Primer 217

Notes 243

About the Author 245

Index 247