How to evaluate entry barriers?

[Maxkaz]

Good day everyone!

On a recent inventors’ meetup here on the forum someone suggested “Invent with me” podcast, which happened to be a big hit for me. Two guys are describing their inventions and stages they went through.

The question I (as a solder-stage inventor) came to is this - how does one evaluate entry barriers? As we all know, in CENTS framework Entry is the barrier between your idea/execution and billions of competitors rushing to have a piece of your discovered market.

Thing is I do not feel that my invention now has any descent entry barrier. I have a goal - an invention I eventually want to build, and a set of stages I follow - smaller inventions, easier to build. But still what I am making now already involves electronics, hydraulics, some calculus-level math in the programming. Compared to what the guys in “Invent with me” did, I seem to be somewhere on orbit and those guys speak about paying $1700 to some Fiverr guy for what I do on my leasure time.

For me I am just moving with the flow. I need electronics? Here is “Blink” sketch in Arduino. I need to measure humidity? Youtube suggest us to add voltage divider and measure relative resistance between two electrodes. Each step is easily learned in one-coffee-cup time and instantly implemented in the growing prototype. It feels like almost everyone can catch up with me in a matter of hours.

So how to estimate, how high a wall did I build?

 

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[Stargazer]

I need electronics? Here is “Blink” sketch in Arduino. I need to measure humidity? Youtube suggest us to add voltage divider and measure relative resistance between two electrodes. Each step is easily learned in one-coffee-cup time and instantly implemented in the growing prototype. It feels like almost everyone can catch up with me in a matter of hours.

Amusing.

Trust me on this. 99% of people would not be thinking 'Oh, I can learn how to make xyz by watching a few You Tube videos'

I am sitting on a chair. Pretty sure I can make my own and that doesn't involve any electronics, adding voltage dividers and measuring relative resistance between electrodes (whatever the heck that means)

The fact that any electronics Engineer, or even hobbyist would know, is not the same as the market knowing.

Dan

 

[Maxkaz]

The fact that any electronics Engineer, or even hobbyist would know, is not the same as the market knowing.

This more rrlates to Need in CENTS. Need is a must for any business. But when Need is there, how do you evaluate the Entry - that I do not know. How to quantify it, to transfer it into something usable?

 

[RightyTighty]

Good morning! The “Invent With Me” youtube is great for inventors. And they’re fun to watch because they’re so relatable - just a couple of regular guys who EXECUTED. I recently had a long conversation with Grant from the series and he is still crushing it. His product is simple, and entry is set by his patent and enhanced by his aggressive marketing and branding efforts.

Entry barriers for physical products are established by patents, trade secrets, complexity, startup cost, innovative production methods, regulatory considerations, TAM (as the market increases the other factors become less significant) and a host of other things. If you have an innovative product that is patentable and is a combination of multiple manufacturing techniques (electronics & injection molded housing), you are golden on Entry. If it is not patentable you may still be able to establish entry barriers (at least for a long enough time to gain some seed money). But honestly, the biggest problem in CENTS for most inventors is N, not E. Validating the NEED of your ideas is something that needs to be done early to avoid wasting your time on something that is ill-conceived or has a low TAM. Hope this helps!

 

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[Maxkaz]

Good morning! The “Invent With Me” youtube is great for inventors. And they’re fun to watch because they’re so relatable - just a couple of regular guys who EXECUTED. I recently had a long conversation with Grant from the series and he is still crushing it. His product is simple, and entry is set by his patent and enhanced by his aggressive marketing and branding efforts.

Entry barriers for physical products are established by patents, trade secrets, complexity, startup cost, innovative production methods, regulatory considerations, TAM (as the market increases the other factors become less significant) and a host of other things. If you have an innovative product that is patentable and is a combination of multiple manufacturing techniques (electronics & injection molded housing), you are golden on Entry. If it is not patentable you may still be able to establish entry barriers (at least for a long enough time to gain some seed money). But honestly, the biggest problem in CENTS for most inventors is N, not E. Validating the NEED of your ideas is something that needs to be done early to avoid wasting your time on something that is ill-conceived or has a low TAM. Hope this helps!

I am working on my N constantly

And I recently finished “The right it” book I would strongly recomend now to anyone thinking of evaluating for Need for their idea.

The thing is that I do not know how to evaluate the E. What should I put on the Entry grade of MJ’s calculator page to put question simple?

 

[RightyTighty]

The minimum E value for physical products is inherently greater than digital products due to the manufacturing and logistics aspects.

If it’s patentable and you’re in USA you’re good (PPA $120 or less). If patentable and you’re in another country, if you’re willing and able to pay for the patent/utility model you’re good. If you will not have IP protection you need to assess the other factors. If you feel like you can efficiently bring it to market and TAM is not huge I would execute, learn as much as you can, and not worry about it.

 

[Jon822]

Here's an example I recently thought of: "Man this thing I'm building doesn't have much of an entry barrier - it only took me a few months to build." But here's the thing, part of the reason it only took me a few months to build was because I've spent over 10 years learning and perfecting the craft. We undervalue the entry barrier in fields we know very well because we incorrectly assume everyone else can match our time input - most can't and many who can, won't.

 

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