Edison's Four Part Test

Part five of episode 9 of the Connections series ends with a review of Thomas Edison's 4 rules for new product development:

1. Is there a market for the invention?  (Sound familiar?)

2. Get financial backing before you start.  (For what?  This I'll expand on in another post.)

3. Publicize it in advance so when it comes out consumers are ready to pay for it.  (I suppose if it is other people's money paying for it, fine, but you really need only publicize it enough, through the process of #1 above, to cover a suppliers initial production run requirement.)

4. Plow every penny you make back into more inventions.  (This sounds like work-as-lifestyle ethic.  Today people tie up all of their billions in "charitable foundations" at taxpayers expense, and quit providing any value to society.)

Biographers and contemporaries note Edison was more dogged than brilliant, so Edison had nearly 1100 patents to his name, went bankrupt, but died rich, and was friend with Ford and Tesla and all the other leading innovators of his time.  (Tesla was brilliant but died broke.) What if you are not such an exceptional person like Edison?  Still do what he did, the same four elements, but within your means.

Over time I'll expand on each one.

Bookmark this post --- Email this post