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1. Value – What is the value you are bringing to the marketplace. You get paid for the value you bring to the marketplace. More Value = More Pay.  Ever wonder why Bob Iger of Disney makes approx. $50million a year (ie. approx. $3000/hour) whereas the average Park worker at Disney make $15/hour? Both folks deliver important value to the community in the same 24 hour cycle. However, Iger seems to be delivering a lot more value per hour. He did that by constantly enhancing his tools and skills. As a corporation you must constantly focus in on enhancing the value you bring to your customer. The less value you bring, the less the customer wants a piece of you…..that goes for us too!

2. Who is on the team – Me, Myself & I does not cut it. You must have a good mix of experienced & growing team members with core competencies. As the great Michael Jordan once said: “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships”. 

3. Landscape – Who else is doing this. Is there room to grow. How are your competitors doing things differently. Different good or different bad? How are the governmental policies influencing my specific landscape. If the competition is too crowded or policies are severely adverse to you, timing might not be right for this venture.

4. Financials – P&L, Balance Sheet & Cashflow Statement. Show me the money! More importantly, show me that you are know how to and are keeping track of mine.

5. Leadership & Culture – Leaders set the culture within the organization. Poor culture leads to poor results. The Block Luster leadership at Blockbuster Video & Borders Bookstores got so complacent that they failed to recognize the innovative digital world. This complacency led to a culture of non-innovation. Hello Amazon & Netflix. Do you have the skills and tools to be able to lead, invigorate & manage people?

1. Inability of the inventor/lead subject matter expert to see the value in other participants. 80% of the time we usually find this to be the case if the inventor/subject matter expert has a background in sales & marketing. Keep in mind the invention is just 1% of a successful business. 

2. Inability of the inventor/lead subject matter expert to let go of their baby. The thinking often seen here is no one can do this better than me. I won’t trust others to do it. Its just easier if I do it. This type of mindset is self defeating. This business will always be stuck on the 1st floor. You have to be able to leverage other peoples core competencies. Trust that they are doing the best they can yet expect for them to make mistakes. The business with the most resilience always succeeds.

3. The Product/Service does not pass the Litmus test: This is the test of Value & Distribution. Does this Product/Service deliver value? Does it serve people? If so, how do we get it to them. Is it easy or really tough to distribute it. Keep in mind there is a reason why authors of books you find at Barnes & Noble or other bookstores get less than 10% in royalties…..and thats if your at the level of Bill Clinton or the Dalai Lama. For less well know authors, its closer to 2-3%.