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Starflyers
This was a 'great' product introduced in 1983 to the marketplace. It had everything going for it:
1. The endrosement of the greatest hocley player ever (at least in my view)-- Wayne Gretzky.
2. A good design-- it had a patented aerodynamic shape (it used a dimpled surface on the flying disc which, much like a golfball, produced a superior perfromance).
3. It used persistence of vision to create a halo effect so that the flying disc could be thrown and caught at night.
4. The small camera sized batteries were neatly tucked away and lasted a long time.
5. Throwing 'frisbees' was 'catching' on in a big way.
6. The backers felt it could be the next hula hoop...
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There was just one tiny problem. It turns out that no one wants to play 'frisbee' at night and there was zero demand (or close to that) for the product. Student entrepreneurs need to know that the market is always right even when it is wrong. The planet is littered with neat products for which there is no demand. So, one of the simple rules of business is introduce products or services that the market actually wants. Most successful startups are not based on e = mc**2; they are usually derivative improvements of existing products or services-- someone has seen a niche not being filled now or a way of doing something that is already being done but they see a way od doing it better.
There are very few startups like Priceline.com (where the customer names his or her own price), eBay, Fed/Ex (Fred Smith invented a whole new category of overnight package delivery), Apple Computer, ... where the founder(s) are really breaking wholly new ground and they are successful.
It is essential to understand whether you have a gadget or gizmo type of idea (mostly developing into marginal businesses at best) or something substantial. Gadgets and gizmos make great hobbies but that's all. Entrepreneurs should be tryong to create more value than that.
Twenty Five Steps to Entrepreneurial Success
Entrepreneurialist Culture