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BIG Microbusiness Hunt

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Hunt Focus

We’re interested in innovative products that could become the basis for a successful microbusiness. Our categories of interest:

Hardware
Lawn and garden
Pets
Housewares
Sporting goods

Key Invention Criteria

Unique and innovative: Your invention must have unique, compelling features and benefits
Category of interest: Your idea should fall into one of the categories listed above. Note that we’re interested in products for general consumers.
Fills a real consumer need, addresses a meaningful problem
Fits an existing retailer category: Retailers and consumers need to know what section of the store the product will fit in
Simple for consumers to understand what it is, why they need it
Appeals to a large market
Offers at least average gross margin and good revenues
Relatively low rollout time, complexity, and costs
Has some longevity and extendability: We’re less interested in standalone products than lines of product, with follow-on items
Ease of selling to retailers and consumers
Inventor (skill set, experience/history)
Preferred: Utility patent and useful development work (including market research, design, engineering, prototype, testing, etc.)

Key Questions to Address
In presenting your innovation, please address these questions:

How would you describe the innovation? How does it work, and what does it look like? How is it made?

How is your idea unique and innovative? Describe how it significantly differs from current alternatives and why it’s better.

What are the target market and the potential of the innovation? Discuss who would buy/use the innovation and evaluate market size—both immediate and longer term.

How is this innovation a good fit for BIG and the basis for a viable microbusiness? Demonstrate how it meets the criteria of this Hunt, particularly in regards to being the basis for a profitable, sustainable microbusiness.

What We’re NOT Interested in Seeing
Apart from not being interested in innovations that otherwise fail to meet the key criteria, the following categories would not be a good fit:

Me-too products
Content-based products (books, DVDs, etc.)
Items that depend on securing a license from another party (e.g., Michael Jordan basketball shoes)
Fad items that chase or try to create a craze
Apparel
Specialist or B2B products: For example, if you have a hardware tool that would appeal mostly to contractors or a lawn and garden product that nurseries would use to run their business, that wouldn’t be a good fit for us.
Design innovations: If your product is only innovative because of its surface design or the way it looks, it’s probably not of interest.
Combo products: We’re not interested in simple combinations of two existing items (e.g., hammer and wrench) unless there’s something nonobvious and clever about your blend.
Vague ideas: We need to have details about how something is made and functions or we’re unlikely to choose it.