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The top five questions to help you separate the merely clever from the ideas that stand a true chance of succeeding.
For instance, putting cup holders into cars was a great idea 30 years ago, but not a great business on its own.
Are you filling a void?
"You have to determine that there's something actually missing to a specific market--something you're going to supply," says Tom Lane, founder of Propertyroom.com, an auction site for recovered and seized items sitting in backrooms of police departments in the US.
Does the idea pass a live-fire test?
Many ideas lend themselves to an easy litmus test to determine if they'd be needed or popular. A newfangled baked good, for instance, could be tested at a farmer's market before being pitched to retailers.
Do industry experts hate your idea? Good.
Just because so-called experts hate an idea doesn't mean it's bad. It can often prove to be a good thing. "Industry experts, by definition, are often steeped in the orthodoxies of the industry; therefore they are also more likely to underestimate the importance of a novel business model or innovation coming from outside their industry," says Eric Noyes, a professor at the Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship at Babson College.
Does the idea have shelf life?
Companies not on guard for changes in technology can be swept away while competitors move ahead, says Matthew Ammirati, president of Ammirati, an advertising agency. Advertising agencies that didn't embrace social media as it emerged several years ago, for instance, are still struggling to catch up.
High barrier to entry?
The best ideas have high barriers to entry, says Kanchana Raman, CEO of Avion Systems, a telecommunications company. If an idea is good but not patentable, bigger competition could overrun you overnight.
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