BrainWaves is a quarterly e-periodical for people who are interested in how organizations cultivate individual and group creativity. Each issue of BrainWaves features information and perspectives about individual and group ideation; how businesses and not-for-profits actuate the best ideas; and reports on remarkable innovations that promise novel solutions to intractable problems. Brainwaves is produced and edited by BrainReactions, producer of “outside insight” — ideas for organizations conceived by outside professional brainstormers and from online brainstorms using BrainReactions.net. BrainReactions also provides innovation training to help companies and individuals generate more and better ideas. 

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In This Issue

• Beyond a contest for the “best idea”: A case of crowdsourcing through a brainstorming competition
• What’s All the Fuss About Engagement?
• Knowledge Sharing Tool SnapAnswers.com insures against knowledge calamities
• Owl Analysis: A Metaphor for the first round of analyzing ideas for innovation
• Training Webinar for Innovation Through Ideation
• Frost & Sullivan conference on Growth, Innovation and Leadership

No Comments | BrainReactions News, Creativity & Brainstorming, Generating Ideas & Ideation Techniques, Managing Ideas, Innovation Techniques, Open Innovation, Voice of the customer, New Concepts & Ideas, Corporate Innovation, Innovation Training, BrainWaves Emagazine | Email Article | Share on Facebook | del.icio.us | digg this

Contributed by Darin Eich, Ph. D., Chief Operating Officer, BrainReactions LLC

Open innovation is valuable because it can harness the perspectives, needs, and ideas of a large amount of individuals, whether they be current consumers of a product or potential users of a website. In order to innovate based on the perspectives of many people, a shift from acquiring the best idea to acquiring idea themes derived from hundreds of ideas from many users or consumers is needed. BrainReactions.net has just launched their first significant open innovation crowdsourcing effort in the form of a brainstorming competition where awards are offered not for the single best idea but for the top brainstormers. In the first few days of the competition there are 500 ideas from 60 different brainstormers. This competition is open for just under two weeks and closes on July 3rd, 2008. This specific competition offers an emerging case of crowdsourcing for the brainstorming purpose of generating multiple new ideas on the launch of a web application, including both marketing and feature development.

This case offers an opportunity to learn about the process of crowdsourcing for brainstorming. This competition has already generated different outcomes than a traditional closed room in person brainstorming session offers or what a contest where “the best idea wins” offers. First, who is brainstorming? Notably there are more brainstormers than in your typical closed room session and they come with and a more global perspective. For this competition, brainstormers come from throughout the globe with heavy representation from the U.S. and the UK. Since most web applications have a global audience and seek the perspectives, needs, and ideas of a wide range of users, crowdsourcing through brainstorming offers unique advantages. Also, new web applications want an opportunity to generate buzz. The brainstorming competition allows this through the marketing of the idea contest while a closed room in-person brainstorm does not because it is more private in nature. The crowdsourcing offers residual benefits, not just the ideas gathered and the ability to validate the direction and decisions through the voice of the user but the marketing of the competition helps to build awareness and launch the web application.

Important consideration is given to what happens before and after the competition. Most of the time spent with preparing the competition actually involves framing the challenge, creating background information (in this instance a free web based video), and identifying questions for brainstormers to generate ideas on. This takes much thought amongst organizers and the client as well as multiple iterations to finalize the questions and background. Alerting the network of brainstormers to begin was the easiest part as BrainReactions has a large network of creative brainstormers who can be readily notified with an email. It also important to consider what the final product of the competition could look like. BrainReactions brainstorming has slightly different desired outcomes then other contests which seek to generate a best idea. Rather than a single best idea, the goal of the competition is to generate hundreds of ideas from many brainstormers so that ideas could be synthesized and analyzed. The themes that emerge amongst many ideas from multiple brainstormers are often times more valuable than a “best idea” and often marketing and product development directions move forward from these themes. After the competition a team of judges with different expertise bases will also spend time at the end to select the top brainstormers based on the quantity of good ideas they provide. Since a goal of brainstorming is to gather a large number of good ideas to synthesize and generate themes around, going beyond just selecting the best idea is needed. This is a current and emerging example of crowdsourcing meeting brainstorming on the web.

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Contributed by Darin Eich, Ph. D., Chief Operating Officer, BrainReactions LLC

The increasing emphasis on the need to innovate is leading organizations and individuals to collect more ideas to start down the innovation pipeline. The increase of brainstorming sessions, idea submissions, and contests to fuel ideas for innovation are leaving individuals with significant lists of ideas. Many ask us where to start and what to do next with their idea lists. This calls for a story and a metaphor.

When I was in elementary school my class took a trip to small state park in Minnesota, Forestville. When one goes to Forestville it is natural to go into a forest, so that is what this group of 30 youngsters did. I remember the park ranger telling the kids that he would give a quarter to the first one that could find a grey ball in the forest. This was unusual to us, we had never heard of such a thing. But, we were up for the challenge and a quarter was a quarter and they had hard stick candy for only 10 cents at the old Forestville country store. As luck would have it I was the first to find this grey ball. I gave it to the ranger and he gave me the quarter. He then told us something amazing. He held up the grey ball in the woods and told us that it was once a mouse. I quickly looked at my hand and was grossed out. He then said that an owl will catch a mouse and eat the whole thing. The owl will digest all of the parts of the mouse that it needs and spit out what it doesn’t need in this grey ball of fur and bones called an owl pellet. Fascinating.

I traveled to San Diego in September for a conference for innovation professionals from a wide variety of corporations. One thing that was interesting to me was that these professionals and their organizations had large amounts of ideas, could get many ideas, but what was needed was a way to quickly screen these ideas. During my presentation I told the story of the owl and I suggest doing what the owl does to the mouse. Why not quickly take all of the ideas in, and then quickly only keep and devote energy to digesting those ideas that you need, are beneficial to you, and belong in you. These are the ideas that match your criteria and are for the reason why you gathered ideas in the first place. Everything else can be spat back out in a grey ball of fur and bones.

In my world of idea generating more is better. More ideas are better than less ideas. The nice thing about ideas is that they are short and can be quickly read and judged. I regularly review, analyze, and synthesize lists of over 700 ideas and make quick decisions on them. The first stage is an important one, your quick review and selection of ideas. Many ideas just get read over because they already exist, are way too far out, or are not aligned with what the organization is about. But there are a fair amount of ideas that get digested and developed from this long list. This is valuable. The key is to not get intimidated by so many ideas and to be process focused. Process focused means understanding that generating a lot of ideas is key to discovering something new or creating something innovative. So, consolidate all those ideas and start spitting out some grey balls. It is also quite good to have at least a couple of owls analyzing ideas. What you digest may be different than what someone else digests, and you may be spitting out something that is healthy.

When we work on our idea generation projects we have at least 2 formal owl analysts who digest everything and spit accordingly back into the idea list or bank them for future consideration. So, also important is to store all of the waste, those ideas that didn’t make the cut. You never know when they could come in handy later. So, begin the work of an owl with digesting your idea list!

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As readers of BrainWaves, you are invited to attend our exclusive “Innovation through Ideation” online webinar on Thursday, July 24th, from the convenience of your own computer. Details and registration for the event are available on our training website at:

http://training.brainreactions.com

In business, you need to make decisions, find solutions, and think up new ideas every day. Do you leave idea generation up to chance or luck, or do you use systems and tools to help you generate ideas?

BrainReactions has worked with the most innovative companies in the world. We are familiar with their methods of innovation, but we have also developed our own toolset that increases brainstormer productivity by 200-300%!

Transform your company with great ideas!

Attend the Innovation through Ideation webinar online on Thursday, July 24th and you will have the tools to transform the way you work. Register now at http://training.brainreactions.com

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By Darin Eich, Ph.D., COO of BrainReactions

I attended this conference as a media partner from BrainReactions and OpenInnovators.net and set out to identify some overarching themes about the current state of open innovation for large organizations. “Advance innovative ideas through partner collaboration and co-development” was the theme of this 2008 Marcus Evans conference. The workshop tracks were labeled “dismantling the ‘not invented here’ mentality” and “establishing a culture that values open innovation at every level’. Some themes that emerged from the conference presentations from innovators like P&G, IBM, Clorox, Pepsico, Kraft, and others include:

1. Open innovation is a very new concept and most companies are just adopting it and learning it. This means there are a lot of failures and process improvements right now and the success stories are just starting. Even P&G which is recognized as a top open innovator is still on the journey and learning.

2. P&G is a leader. Other companies that want to be better at open innovation appear to recruit P&G innovation professionals to work for them thus gaining that knowledge and experience to apply within their own organization. I heard multiple instances of this during the conference. P&G really has an excellent reputation for open innovation with their “connect and develop” philosophy and mandate from the top to get half of their ideas from the outside.

3. Collaboration is critical. Most organizations are shifting to become more collaborative as this is key for open innovation. This also requires a culture shift and new skills to learn for innovators.

4. Suppliers and partners are key. Since much of the open innovation relies on the work of partners and suppliers, finding and assessing them is important to innovation success. Suppliers and partners can not only provide the idea but they can also help to develop the idea, provide the technology or knowledge to make it work, package it, or virtually anything else needed to create and launch a new product.

5. Searching is a key open innovation practice. Many of the organizations that presented today have a focus on searching for technologies and intellectual property that they can acquire to bring their ideas to market faster. This is much more efficient than creating the technology internally. Many examples in particular were given of product packaging that was found in Japan and licensed for use in the United States.

6. Open innovation is transformational and not transactional. Though you are relying on partners and suppliers to help you develop the idea you still must do much work to connect the supplier’s insights in and strengthen the relationship for the future. Open innovation should not be a transaction but rather a transformational experience that helps everyone learn how to innovate better and in new ways.

7. Open innovation is a result of desperation or challenges. Many of the organizations adopted open innovation because they had to. Their business was declining or they had to react to urgent challenges. For many this impetus for change ended up being positive because they launched an innovative new product (like Clorox Wipes) or gained a more efficient development process.

This article is part of the April 2008 issue of BrainWaves E-magazine on Innovation and Ideation

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Contributed by Bob Carter, Vertex Transformation Director and author of The Balanced Innovator

Innovation is so vogue in business language today that it is almost a fashion. Try to Google or Yahoo the word Innovation, and you will be amazed at the number of entries you will find. Everybody is talking about Innovation. Every company claims to be innovative, and to prove the point, there are more conferences on Innovation than the average ninja can shake a black belt at. So I asked myself a simple question: What the bleep is Innovation? Is it a verb or a noun? Is it an input or an output, or is it the process? Is Innovation imagination, inspiration, ideation, invention, creation, or improvisation? It certainly takes dedication and usually lots of perspiration! I believe that Innovation is the result of all of these things. We all know that Innovation is good, as long as it adds value in some way. It can be continuous (i.e., the progressive improvement of something) or discontinuous (i.e., the introduction of something new that takes away the need or desire for the thing it replaces). This can be a product or a service, and it can happen in every walk of life.

Most people would agree that Innovation is exciting and groundbreaking (hence, the more than 120 million Internet search results). There is no doubt that Innovation is one of the keys to growth, and everybody is rightly concerned about growth, especially revenue growth.

Balanced Innovation

The Venn diagram below shows how balanced Innovation works. Notice how the intellectual, organizational, and human factors are equally important. In other words, What we do, How we do it, and Why we do it are equally important. You will also see that the factors are all interconnected, suggesting that successful Innovation is dependent on balance.

Your intellectual strength shows that you have the capabilities to deliver the product or service that your customers need. It is about your core competencies. Your organizational strength shows that you have the ability to produce what your customers need. Your human strengths show that you understand the needs, that you empathize with your customers, and that you are focused on satisfying those needs. Your behaviors prove that you can be trusted and the way you communicate proves that you are in empathy.

Each factor validates the others. The human factors validate the intellectual and organizational, the intellectual factors validate the organizational and human, and the organizational factors validate the human and intellectual. So the What validates the How and Why, and vice versa. This What, How, Why Balance, is key to success and is used throughout The Balanced Innovator. In order to achieve success in anything we do, we must reach a minimum threshold in each of the intellectual, organizational, and human factors. If one of these factors is weak, the What, How, and Why are not balanced.

BALANCED INNOVATION

Source: THE BALANCED INNOVATOR by Robert (Bob) Carter

Unfortunately, many organizations are focused more on one area at the expense of another, like those shown in figure below:

UNBALANCED INNOVATION

Source: THE BALANCED INNOVATOR by Robert (Bob) Carter

Unbalanced Innovation occurs when Innovation is focused on one factor at the expense of the others. In example A, the Innovation is highly intellectual, focused on the technical aspects but not necessarily focused on customer needs and certainly not focused on telling the story to make the right emotional connection. Think of the Betamax videotape system. Betamax was regarded by many as technically superior to the VHS system but was a comparative commercial failure. Had the Betamax tape manufacturers adopted a more balanced approach and focused on the organizational and human factors of Innovation as well as the intellectual ones, there may have been an entirely different outcome. In example B, the story may be compelling but the solution may have little substance. This type of imbalance is usually seen in organizations that have outstanding marketing and business development professionals, but their focus is all about winning new business rather than on execution. Their success is usually short lived. Contrast this again with figure (Balanced Innovation), where all three factors are equally important. Companies that exhibit out-of-this-world performance have a balanced approach to Innovation.

The ideas behind balanced and unbalanced Innovation are equally applicable to strategies, business models, and organic growth. A good strategy is one that reflects the larger external market or macro environment as well as the micro needs of the specific market segment. A good business model is one that enables the strategy. Organizations that match their business models and strategies to the needs of the external environment are more likely to grow organically—that is, they increase revenue through the acquisition of new business. Organic growth is achieved by winning new business.

About the Contributor:

Robert (Bob) Carter

Author of The Balanced Innovator, Thought Leading Innovator, 6 Sigma Black Belt and Director of Transformation at Vertex, Manchester, United Kingdom and a good friend of BrainReactions.

This article is part of the April 2008 issue of BrainWaves E-magazine on Innovation and Ideation

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Contributed by Anand Chhatpar, CEO of BrainReactions

ThinkCube is a new idea generation tool from MetaMemes, a small innovative company whose mission is to bring people and ideas together. Founder and Director of Innovation, Kes Sampanthar, recently took the time to answer some of my questions.

Q: What is ThinkCube?
A: ThinkCube takes the concept of a brainstorming card deck to the next level. It provides you with a diverse selection of thought-provoking stimuli and incorporates a simple innovation process that results in high quality ideas.

Q: Tell me the basics of how I would use it.
A: ThinkCube can be used individually or in a group. In both scenarios, the basics are the same. You define your challenge as specifically as possible. To stimulate ideas, you randomly draw six cards from ThinkCube’s Idea Library. This starts you out with a collection of ideas and stimuli from diverse fields and topics. The cards are then combined to form new ideas. The ThinkCubation process takes you on a journey through phases of incubation and evaluation until one idea emerges as a winner.

Q: Why did you decide to create an innovation tool?
A: I have always been obsessed with ideas and innovation. It started with designing computer games as a child and has evolved into a career focused around innovations in technology. In my university days, I was challenged to come up with a steady stream of ideas and that’s when I first started digging into research on creativity and innovation. It led me to create my own rudimentary innovation system that involved reading widely and collecting ideas. I used these ideas as stimulus to form unique ideas and solutions in my own work. It worked so well for me that I decided to craft it into a tool that I could share with others.

Q: How did ThinkCube get its name?
A: ThinkCube is named after my ThinkCubation process which focuses on the two most important steps of the innovation process: thinking and incubation. ThinkCubation, as I’ve coined it, is a practical methodology based on creativity techniques used by mathematicians and physicists like Henri Poincare, Jacques Hadamard, and Albert Einstein. I leveraged their thoughts on invention and incubation to come up with a process that resembles techniques used in their work.

Q: What makes ThinkCube different from other creativity tools on the market?
A: Our innovation process. Other popular tools (IDEO Method Cards, Whack Pack, KnowBrainer) consist of a playing card size deck of questions and/or techniques that only focus on one aspect of innovation – mainly ideation. We have wrapped our tool with a simple business process addressing all aspects of innovation to ensure people get better results from their ideation sessions.

Q: You said ThinkCubation is based on techniques used by Einstein – can you tell me more?
A: Einstein had a highly developed mental ability to “play with ideas”. He described his technique as combinatory play: combining existing ideas to form new connections and new ideas. Einstein always explained this was at the core of his genius. I am not sure about that, but I know that his technique is powerful and as more research is done on the brain, it seems to be pointing to this ability being at the core of all creative thought. ThinkCube is based on this technique of combining ideas and provides a wealth of disparate ideas to spark the creation of unique new ideas.

Q: Where did you get all the ideas for ThinkCube’s Idea Library?
A: I’m a self-proclaimed idea addict. I am constantly reading and learning about new things. If you were to stand in from of my bookshelves you would see books on variety of subjects including artificial intelligence, marketing, evolution, game design, cognitive science, internet architecture, and archaeology. Any fascinating ideas I come across, I record in my personal idea notebooks. Oddly enough, when it came to creating ThinkCube, the most difficult task for me was trimming down the list of ideas to be included in this initial release.

Q: How would someone use your tool in an uncreative, corporate environment?
A: Innovation can start from the bottom-up. You don’t need to wait for your company to start an innovation program; you can start one yourself, grass-roots style, utilizing a tool like ThinkCube.

Q: What kinds of projects can ThinkCube help with?
A: Our customers use ThinkCube to create original plot lines for books, new product ideas, movie scripts, games, and new business processes. Basically, ThinkCube can help with any task that requires original thought.

Q: How do I know if ThinkCube will fit my style of creativity?
A: To get a better idea of what’s included in ThinkCube, our website offers a rich set of multimedia resources including print-ready examples of the idea library and a Flash version of our handbook.

Q: In your Idea Handbook, you mention building a social network around ThinkCube. Can you explain a little more?
A: Combining ideas from diverse domains to form new ideas is at the core of the ThinkCubation process. This principle builds on a phenomenon called small worlds; you are more likely to get a new job from a friend of friend then directly from a close friend. The same concept applies to ideas. Everyone has a unique set of ideas and experiences and you are more likely to come up with new ideas when interacting with people outside your immediate circle. ThinkCube provides the perfect vehicle to bring people together in the form of an innovation club to ThinkCubate new ideas and swap ideas from each others’ personal idea libraries. I am currently working on building a social network on Ning.com for the ThinkCube community.

Q: What are the next steps for ThinkCube and MetaMemes?
A: ThinkCube represents the first in a series of products and services that will help companies to develop innovative cultures. In the near future, we plan to release ThinkCube expansion packs targeting topics like nanotechnology, biotechnology, and management strategy.

Special Offer for BrainWaves readers:
We have been able to negotiate a 10% Discount for our readers wanting to buy the ThinkCube from MetaMemes. Simply use the Coupon Code BRAINREACTIONS during check-out at http://www.metamemes.com to get this discount.

This article is part of the April 2008 issue of BrainWaves E-magazine on Innovation and Ideation

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In business, you need to make decisions, find solutions, and think up new ideas every day. Do you leave idea generation up to chance or luck, or do you use systems and tools to help you generate ideas?

Take a look at this list of 10 Accidental Product Discoveries that are still in the market today. If you simply wait around for a number of years, perhaps one day, lady luck will shine on you and make you stumble upon the next greatest innovation for the world making you and your company rich and famous! Perhaps, one day! OR… you could use a proven SYSTEM of innovation. One that works consistently and has been refined and developed over the years.

BrainReactions has worked with the most innovative companies in the world. We are familiar with their methods of innovation, but we have also developed our own toolset that increases brainstormer productivity by 200-300%!

Transform your company with great ideas! Attend the Innovation through Ideation webinar online on Thursday, May 29th and you will have the tools to transform the way you work.

This article is part of the April 2008 issue of BrainWaves E-magazine on Innovation and Ideation

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Contributed by Shahira Raineri, GE Global Imagination Breakthrough Leader
(See complete bio below the article)

Throughout it’s 115-year history, GE has introduced world-changing technologies and processes. As the company continued to grow into one of the world’s largest companies, GE needed a powerful mechanism to transform potentially market-changing ideas into a portfolio of products to meet the needs of an ever-expanding global market.

In September 2003, GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt introduced a new process to build innovative solutions addressing global-scale challenges. These innovations, called “Imagination Breakthroughs”, receive special nurturing and investment to drive the solutions to maturity. To qualify as an Imagination Breakthrough (IB), each product idea must be directed at market transformation and must have the potential to achieve more than $100 million in incremental revenue.

IBs are delivering for GE. The current IB portfolio contains more than 45 IB projects in development around the globe. Since its inception, the IB program has consistently delivered $2-3B of incremental revenue annually.

Imagination Breakthroughs take two forms:

• Commercial products: designed to provide customers with products and processes that create new ways of conducting business, while maintaining GE efficiency and quality.
• Technology products: designed to provide customers with new technologies and solutions that help transform their marketplace.

IB Development: The Creative Process
In the early development phase, GE business units surface key ideas and innovations to the CEO in a formal IB review meeting. Once approved, the sponsoring business follows a regimented process to ensure development and delivery of a successful product to market.

CECOR: Turning Creative Ideas into Business Applications
Throughout their life, IBs follow the CECOR (Calibrate, Explore, Create, Organize, Realize) model, a GE-developed strategic framework that helps convert innovative thinking into tangible and practical business solutions.

A disciplined process that guides all GE business through shared marketing practices, CECOR is a series of 5 analyses designed to push an Imagination Breakthrough to achieve it’s greatest potential.

Calibrate … Business Performance
What is our business?
Who are our customers?
What do they need/want/prefer?

Explore … Avenues for Growth
What are our avenues for growth?
How do customers make money?

Create … New Ideas
What are our best ideas?
What is the customer value?

Organize … For Execution
Have we aligned resources?
Are we collaborating with customers?

Realize … Value
What is our revenue and income plan?
How will we measure customer and GE impact?

Throughout this series of reviews, the customer’s needs and requirements are kept squarely at the center of the IB development to ensure that not only is an IB innovative, but, that it also accomplishes the goals of the customer. Once an IB evolves through the full process, it is ready to be launched.

The IB portfolio is dynamic – it is not only one of the ways that GE achieves growth, but it is in line with the company’s strategic intent which ensures that these breakthroughs are enabling our reach into new markets and important adjacencies.

About the Author:


Shahira Raineri
GE Global Imagination Breakthrough Leader

Shahira joined GE in early 2003 as the Global Marketing Leader for the Healthcare Vertical Initiative. In this role she was responsible for analyzing healthcare needs, articulating the value proposition of our broader healthcare offer, creating company-wide sales tools and marketing communications materials. Now the Corporate Imagination Breakthrough Leader, Shahira leads a variety of strategic marketing projects and works closely with the GE Global Research Center and the businesses to enable the commercialization of breakthrough innovations.

Prior to GE, Shahira was at Siemens Medical Solutions where she worked as Marketing Director. During her tenure at Siemens, she was also Vice President of Marketing for the Optical Networking division of the company’s Information and Communications Network.

Shahira previously led various teams at Lucent Technologies and AT&T Bell Labs. During her tenure at AT&T and Lucent, Shahira led global teams in the areas of Product Management, Systems Engineering and Market Development. Shahira began her career as Chief Biomedical Engineer at Berlex Laboratories.

Shahira received a B.S. and a M.S.E.E. from Rutgers University.

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Contributed by Anand Chhatpar

I had the chance to interview Dominick Martinetti, CEO of Slappa Distribution, a small but rapidly growing company that is making a great name for itself among DJs and music junkies as an innovative product company. Dominick is an inspiring young man, and I have shared in this article, excerpts from our conversation that reveal his thinking and journey into market leadership.

Slappa has been in business for four years now, and it started with an initial product range consisting of CD cases. It was not a particularly “sexy” business to get into. CD cases had been around for 15 years, and the CD business was not growing aggressively any more. DVDs, computer software and video games still used CD cases, but the margins had been declining for most companies in this space. Also, brands before Slappa had commoditized the product — there was no real choice available to the consumers. Most of the people using these disc cases were forced to not have choices… outside of cosmetic colors, no one was building quality and variety into the cases. Therein lay a problem with CD cases from the consumer’s perspective, which Dominick was able to spot.

To conduct his market research and with an Open Innovation mindset, Dominick went to online bulletin boards and chat rooms for audio professionals like Audiophile, Audio Asylum and Audioreview.com. He sought advice on what these target consumers needed from the ultimate CD case.

He heard back two major things from them:
1. More Protection: A majority of CD cases available in the market were not providing any real level of protection for a person’s disc collection. People wanted to protect discs even while moving formats towards MP3. They wanted to protect their investment. An individual’s music collection alone can amount to anywhere between $3,000 and $10,000 over 15 years depending on whether one is a general consumer or a DJ.

2. People wanted to keep their discs and covers together: People did not like jewel cases because they cracked and then one could not keep their CD artwork (cover) together with the disc.

Dominick created a series of prototypes and sent them to influential journalists who write product reviews for well read magazines and blogs and asked for their feedback and advice on the design. He kept iterating and improving the design based on feedback from these reviewers. After 2 years of prototype iteration, Dominick finally heard “Its perfect!” from several reviewers and he knew he had a winning product in his hand. Dominick had designed the D2 patented pocket system which has a rear pocket for the disc and a front pocket for the cover along with a 5-7 mm opening. The shell for the D2 was made out of X-EVA, a fire resistant, water resistant material.

Launching the product now became much easier for Dominick. He put up a website at slappa.com and told all his friends and the product reviewers he was in contact with that his product was now available for purchase. The reviewers wrote rave reviews of his $49.95 CD-case next to reviews of top of the line $2,000 music systems. Slappa’s products achieved very quick acceptance among the “Pro Audio” market, and Dominick has expanded into distribution via retail, mail order, catalogs and other media where people can pay attention to details of the product.

Dominick’s inspiration is the Fossil Watch Company that made people think they were getting a better deal with a $79 designer watch from Fossil in a tin can than with a $20 watch from Walmart. He already has plans to expand his product line into backpacks, high end bags, and other products, while also expanding distribution globally.

When asked about why Slappa’s customers become huge fans of the company, Dominick says, “We’ve made ourselves a customer focused company. Each customer is our most important customer. You CAN please everyone, in a million ways. You just have to find a different way for every person.”

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