1-800-627-5382
1-800-627-5382
Q&A with John Aney, Executive Director of Stanford University’s Product Realization Network
John Aney is the Executive Director of Stanford University’s Product Realization Network (PRN). PRN is a joint project between Stanford’s School of Engineering and the Stanford Graduate School of Business. It collaborates with leading companies in the San Francisco Bay Area to help prepare students for the diverse challenges in product design and manufacturing. John has helped lead this organization for the past six years, and previously worked for a well-known consumer electronics manufacturer.
Q: Where do you see the biggest opportunities for new products?
John: Not surprisingly, I’d say the biggest growth sector is in green tech and clean tech. While it’s true everyone is jumping on that bandwagon, it’s a bandwagon that is going somewhere important. Medical technology is poised to be huge, particularly in the Bay Area. Products that can solve a problem, but do it in a way that is greener—more environmentally or socially responsible—will see continued success. The perceived sustainability of a product will become a differentiator, particularly as retailers, such as Walmart start to develop a sustainability scoring system that gives people information at the shelves.
Beyond that, I think there is a great future in products that bring meaning to peoples’ lives—particularly products that make it easier to communicate with friends and family. While technology has often been seen as something that separates people, mobile technology has allowed people to be in closer communication with each other, and I think the tremendous growth seen in this industry indicates the value people put on conveying ideas, feelings and information. I also think that people will start paying more attention to what things are made of. The way a gadget or other product feels will be as important as how it looks. Apple is an expert at this. A key way that the iPod immediately differentiated itself from the MP3 player market was by being solidly built of something other than cheap plastic. The iPhone not only looks great, but it also feels good in the hand, and it feels solid and well-made. Same with their laptops. While there will always be a market for inexpensive products made from inexpensive materials, people looking for a more personal connection with their products or gadgets will be drawn to items that provide some sort of tactical information—devices that, through their very touch, communicate a sense of quality, reliability and pleasure.
Q: What do you see as the biggest challenges when bringing new products to market?
John: Two big challenges—getting to the next step and cutting through the “extra stuff.” I imagine that Thomas Edison and Leonardo da Vinci had the same problems in different proportions. Regarding getting to the next step, inventors need to be honest with themselves about how much capital it is going to take to get their idea out of the workshop in their mind, and how they are going to get that capital. I have great respect for those inventors that tell themselves that their idea is so good, and they believe in it so much that they are unwilling to part with even the smallest portion of ownership to get it out to people. I suspect most of those inventors continue to toil away in obscurity, cursing the world as it is for not seeing their brilliance. But there are people and organizations out there that are willing to help a good idea come to reality. Yes, an inventor may have to negotiate carefully to make sure their blood and sweat gets adequate recognition and they can retain some control over what they have created, but if the idea is so good, that should be a small price to pay to get the product out where it can be sold. Very few ideas sell themselves. Regarding cutting through the “extra stuff,” there is such an information overload right now, that inventors need to find some way to get their product to rise above what’s out there. Your key differentiating factors, or your specific value proposition, must be clearly communicated. What does your product do that can’t be done cheaper or more efficiently by some other way or some other product? What differentiates your product from what else is out there—quality? price? green cred? ease of use?
Q: What can inventors do to reduce their risk and increase their chance of success?
John: Make incremental steps toward validating the design, production path, and market. For new entrepreneurs getting a product to market can seem daunting. It's important to break the process into stages that don't seem insurmountable. Think about building 1 or 2, then a batch of 10 or 20, and go from there, all the while improving design, getting feedback from customers to validate the market, and gaining insight into how to get it done. Take advantage of those people out there that can help. Be willing to give away part of the farm in order to get your goods to market. Make sure you know what is out there in the market—know what you will be competing with. Learn more about how people work and live. A product that solves a problem that no one really has, or cares about, will not be as successful as a product that cuts down on how much time people swear at things or problems.
Q: How should an individual inventor determine if they should manufacture their invention or license it to an established company?
John: It's never a clean either/or discussion and often moving an idea forward on the product development front will only increase the chances for licensing. With material progress on the development side, risk is reduced, the market becomes clearer, and licensing becomes more attractive. Again, I think it’s a question of how much risk an inventor is willing to take in order to retain 100% control of their idea. Going through the process of taking an idea to production is extremely time and capital intensive. It also requires a great deal of expertise and experience to get it done right. Inventors should look to organizations and people that are willing to help, even if it means sharing some amount of the revenue. Make sure you are protected in some way, and negotiate carefully, but the time you spend doing that is much better spent than the amount of time it will take you to try to do it all on your own.
Q: Does Stanford provide opportunities for individuals who can’t afford to go back to school full-time to learn how to bring their new product ideas to market?
John: The Product Realization Network at Stanford administers a Certificate in Product Creation and Innovative Manufacturing. It is made available to anyone through the distance education arm of the Stanford School of Engineering, the Stanford Center for Professional Development (scpd.stanford.edu). The Certificate is designed to give professionals an opportunity to learn a variety of concepts crucial to the product realization process through courses taught at Stanford but available via streaming video. The Certificate requires the completion of 4 courses spread across 3 focus areas—Methods and Processes, Management and Strategy, and Economic Modeling and Finance. Students take one course from each of the three areas and then a fourth course in an area of their choice. We recommend that courses be pursued one at a time, particularly if students are holding down a full-time job, as the workload for the courses can be intensive. These courses are the actual courses being taught to Stanford students—they are not pre-packaged. The course is taught on campus, and then within a few hours the streaming video is available online. Students enrolled through SCPD are actually enrolled in the course through Stanford.
Q: What is required to take advantage of those opportunities?
John: Courses in the Certificate often have prerequisites, and that information can be found on the SCPD website. It is generally advisable for students to have some sort of calculus background, and an undergraduate degree. The degree does not have to be engineering or business, however. In addition, there is the cost. These are the actual courses being taught to Stanford students, so the cost is roughly the cost of Stanford tuition—about $1,000 per credit hour. Each course is 3 - 4 credit hours, and the Certificate requires completion of four courses. The financial commitment is significant, but interested individuals should inquire with their employers to see if they can get any assistance.
Q: And, finally, here’s a question we always ask: What’s your favorite invention of all time?
John: From a technology standpoint, I’d have to say the airplane. I am continually amazed that we can take to the air. It seems absolutely impossible. I knew a physicist once that said that despite knowing all the science and physics behind how things fly, there is still a small part of him that relies on faith—faith that all the physics and engineering will work.