I have a degree in Physics, worked as an engineer for a while and have in the past started a company in the chemical engineering field (B2B clean tech).
There is very little context to go on, I don't know if what you're trying to do is extremely basic chemistry, or would require research and patents, so I'll try and add some generic advice that I successfully followed myself when starting up a business with a complex high tech product that required patents.
If you have 0 background in physics or chemistry and the understanding you need exceeds high school level, don't try to figure it out yourself at first, speak with experts first, most people love to talk about their field of expertise. Once they give you a clear idea about whether or not something is possible, you can deep dive into the right books to learn what you need.
There are a few questions you should answer, question 1 and 3 below are the first questions to answer.
Q1: does what you want to create provide value in the eyes of your target customer? Answer this by speaking, face to face, with potential customers. And figure out how much value you would create for them, this indicates your potential revenue per customer.
Q2: why has no one who has a background in physics or chemistry figured out to do what you want to do? The answer to this question determines if you have a premise for a business. This could be as simple as: the people who would use it and pay for it, are not aware of technologies that could solve their problem Or the macro world changed and something that was not profitable before is profitable now (rising commodity costs make new recycling technology suddenly economically viable). Or is it because the fundamental technology is too expensive compared to the benefits? This will become clearer as you speak with potential customers.
Q3: is what you're trying to do is technically possible, do fundamental physics support that what you're trying to do is possible? The best way I've found to answer this question is to speak with practitioners or researchers in the field (physics and chemistry are extremely broad and diverse fields). For example, if you're looking to create a new type of solar panel, speak with semiconductor and nanotechnology researchers. Even if you know it's possible, speak with practitioners to figure out how they would solve the issue you're trying to solve, this can provide extremely valuable insight into the problem you're solving.
Q4: get a rough idea of the cost and benefit of the technology, and compare it with the cost and benefit of the closest alternative and see if the cost benefit makes sense on paper, and if there is a healthy business model in there, either as a service using the new technology or selling widgets based on the tech. This you need to figure out yourself based on the responses from potential customers and practitioners.
There is very little context to go on, I don't know if what you're trying to do is extremely basic chemistry, or would require research and patents, so I'll try and add some generic advice that I successfully followed myself when starting up a business with a complex high tech product that required patents.
If you have 0 background in physics or chemistry and the understanding you need exceeds high school level, don't try to figure it out yourself at first, speak with experts first, most people love to talk about their field of expertise. Once they give you a clear idea about whether or not something is possible, you can deep dive into the right books to learn what you need.
There are a few questions you should answer, question 1 and 3 below are the first questions to answer.
Q1: does what you want to create provide value in the eyes of your target customer? Answer this by speaking, face to face, with potential customers. And figure out how much value you would create for them, this indicates your potential revenue per customer.
Q2: why has no one who has a background in physics or chemistry figured out to do what you want to do? The answer to this question determines if you have a premise for a business. This could be as simple as: the people who would use it and pay for it, are not aware of technologies that could solve their problem Or the macro world changed and something that was not profitable before is profitable now (rising commodity costs make new recycling technology suddenly economically viable). Or is it because the fundamental technology is too expensive compared to the benefits? This will become clearer as you speak with potential customers.
Q3: is what you're trying to do is technically possible, do fundamental physics support that what you're trying to do is possible? The best way I've found to answer this question is to speak with practitioners or researchers in the field (physics and chemistry are extremely broad and diverse fields). For example, if you're looking to create a new type of solar panel, speak with semiconductor and nanotechnology researchers. Even if you know it's possible, speak with practitioners to figure out how they would solve the issue you're trying to solve, this can provide extremely valuable insight into the problem you're solving.
Q4: get a rough idea of the cost and benefit of the technology, and compare it with the cost and benefit of the closest alternative and see if the cost benefit makes sense on paper, and if there is a healthy business model in there, either as a service using the new technology or selling widgets based on the tech. This you need to figure out yourself based on the responses from potential customers and practitioners.
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