The Birth of an Idea

Bringing a new product to term in this market can prove the most teeth-clenching experience of your life. The gestation period -- from initial conception until that happy day when the consumer slaps you product on the counter and declares it profitable -- can rival that of an elephant. Every decision of the expectant entrepreneur during this time seems fraught with anxiety as to its successful outcome.

For those seeking to shorten this 24-month gestation and ease all the introductory labor of birthing a new product, Linda Coppolino stands as a ready and expert midwife. Her seminar, "Bringing Your New Product Idea to Reality," will be part of the annual New Jersey Association of Women Business Owners (NJAWBO) conference Thursday through Saturday, April 18 through 20, at the Ocean Place Conference Resort Center in Long Branch. Cost is $450. To register call 609-581-2121. Coppolino's program, set for Thursday at 1:45 p.m., is designed for both the lone inventor and the established firm. She will punctuate her product realization strategy with a series of hints on how to cut time and cost on each step.

NJAWBO offers an ideal network for finding everything from your next supplier, banker, or golf partner. In addition to its statewide seminars, each of the 13 chapters each holds monthly meetings with informative speakers. For information visit www.NJAWBO.org.

If you were a sharp young business lady from Brooklyn, with an equally sharp sense of fashion, you might quite naturally move toward a marketing career with Playtex, Revlon, Charles of the Ritz, Caswell-Massey, and Krebs personal care products. But what you probably would not do is forsake the smooth, quiet executive offices and during your off hours get down into the factory. And almost definitely, you would not think to work on the assembly line, study the manufacture and shipping process, take notes and store all this information for future use. But Linda Coppolino did exactly that.

Thus today, when a client needs to know how long it will take to retool for his new lipstick, Coppolino can tell him. Her Howell-based Marketing & Design Depot, which she founded in l998, and its more marketing-oriented spin off company, Coppolino-Kenter Creative Partners, have eased the way onto the sales floor for scores of products from skin lotions to tractor parts.

Coppolino sees product development much like a chess game in which you mentally follow the consequences of each move down the line before you make it. Ticking the caveats off on her fingers she lists, "Where are the bottlenecks? What's the cost in time and cash? What are your tradeoffs?" She recommends the entrepreneur feel his way through the process with agility. With so many variables, the startup firm must be ready to decide and change at any stage of development.

Overseas vs. Domestic Production. Typically this is a cost factor. The general 18 to 24-month timetable for getting a product to market is seldom affected by this choice. On labor intensive items, such as children's products and graphics, overseas manufacturers can bring in great per-piece savings. Also, for lighter articles, overseas makers frequently have similar equipment more readily available, thus cutting down on retooling costs.

However, quality control becomes a major issue the further your specs get shipped from your supervision. Having your company one floor above the factory where managers can run down and check on things is, of course, ideal. When abroad, it will at least become necessary to hire a special quality control agent to check all the work on site during each shift. Seems expensive? Bitter experience has forced many firms to have each piece submitted to a domestic inspector at each stage. "Never underestimate the enormity of the language barrier," advises Coppolino. "You would not believe some of the errors in graphics that I have seen come out China -- both in design specs and on packaging instructions."

Upfront Modeling Investment. Of course, it is thriftiest to present your backers with a flat board picture of your new shoe line. More and more funders want to can the glitz and see their funds invested in the nuts and bolts of production. However, setting a tangible pair of shoes on the table before each potential funder for her personal inspection beats a disc full of graphics. It also teaches the entrepreneur many things. By special-ordering samples from a potential supplier, you get to see how he works, his quality, and his ability to meet deadlines.

Insource vs. Outrsourcing. Outsourcing's flexibility, thrift, access to experts and general convenience has been exhaustively touted. And truly for the startup business, each of these factors becomes especially poignant. Most of all, a deft blending of outsourced personnel, Coppolino points out, saves time. You can set several projects of your launch all swiftly overlapping and thus bring your product to market often months earlier. On the manufacturing end, outsourcing production remains popular due to huge factory and equipment costs. However, when seeking an outside manufacturer, few contractors make full inventory of what materials the plant owner uses on other jobs that can be cheaply purchased and require minimal changeover.

Yet, ever wary of trends, Coppolino warns outsourcing's very flexibility can lead to a loss of control when you need it most. Project teams, if not well orchestrated, can get ahead of each other and force you to backtrack and undo work. Further, the contract worker holds no great loyalty to your shop and he may be working elsewhere during those vital hours. Also, his intellectual property may very well not fall under your control.

Sales and Distribution. "This continues to be one of business' greatest bottlenecks," says Coppolino. It is very hard to cut a retailer's time schedule. The mass merchandiser wants to see your item in January for July. Between that time, while it passes through the hands of the buyer and the sales force, you wait without a penny. The only hope here is to search for an appointment and make your contacts early, so your delivery demands and your production dates mesh.

Gut vs. Consumer Research. The final decision, Coppolino says, looms over every step of the product development process, and whether you should trust your instinct or objective research is sometimes a tough call. No one can deny that business would not stand remotely where it does were it not for continuing advances in science. And as the scientific methods of consumer research make for increasing predictability, it seems foolish not to rely on them. But you, Mr. Inventor, are bringing forth a product you are in love with. Probably this affords you a better, not more biased, view of its marketability.

In the end, exactly how your product reaches the almighty store shelf must be your choice. Just remember, consumer research absolutely proved that the coffee drinking public would never shell out the extra cash for a cup of Starbucks.

-- Bart Jackson

This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com -- the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.