Taking ideas to market

Sharon Wright knows a thing or two about coming up with an idea and taking it to market. After some initial success of her product, The MagnaMole, she then went on to BBC's Dragons' Den and has since become known as 'The Dragon Slayer', after single-handedly wowing all five of the 'top business brains'. So what does it take to come up with an idea and actually take it to market? Entrepreneurial skills are difficult to categorise and even harder to learn. Most successful entrepreneurs also have their fair share of failures, but sheer determination and self belief will often see them bounce back with an even stronger pitch and better product. The inspiration behind Wright's invention came just after she moved in to a new build home. When British Telecom and Sky installers arrived, she observed in dismay as they struggled in vain to thread cables through her wall installation with 'a tool of the trade', which consisted of a tatty old coat hanger. She watched in frustration as they slowly went through the floors and ceiling of her three floors home. "But, then I had that Eureka moment," she says. "I thought about it for a couple of days and then did some research online and no one had produced a product to carry out this job properly." Wright, who has a background health and safety, recognised the need to fill the void with a safer, and much more effective solution. "I had the idea for the product in my head and was sure it would work," she says. "It's basically just a magnet on the end of a rod." After producing a rather haphazard proof of the concept she took the design to The University of Hull to get advice on how to get the produce made and the kind of materials she would need. She received a £250 grant that paid for a general prototype to be made by the University, which she could then take to the market. "It was then a case of breaking it down in to sections, as I didn't actually have any experience in the field," she says. As Wright already had a full time job, she set herself a schedule of things she needed to do and strategically worked through them in her spare time. "In the first week I would look at all the costs, the second week I would look at the patent requirement, and so on," she says. "It was literally pen to paper and realising how much I had to do. It's very complex but I did all the research, went to all the B&Qs and worked out where my product would fit and how I could make the business work." Like many successful entrepreneurs, the backbone to her success is sheer hard work. After initially coming up with the idea in November, she worked doggedly only stopping for a break on Christmas Day. "There have been so many obstacles in my way," she says. "It was my pure personality that has got me through. You have to be a certain natured person to be a successful entrepreneur; very independent, patient, determined and persistent. I got to a point where I thought I'd come so far and put so much in to it; I promised myself that I wouldn't give up." She put her application in to Dragons' Den after picking up the Diamond Award for Innovation at the British Invention Show. "That was the turning point for me," she says. "It gave me a little bit of confidence and self belief in what I had achieved. "I'd sold about 20,000 units by that point, I knew it was a good product, that worked well and people would buy it. But I still needed that help and support to get to the next level." Several months later, and rather out of the blue, she received the call to say she had been accepted on the show so she readied her pitch. "Along this journey there have been different obstacles and problems that have tested me," she says. "This was another one of those things to see if I could take it all the way. But the emotional trauma that you go through in the lead up to it is so intense." However, the hard work and perseverance paid off. After delivering one of the best pitches the programme has ever seen and initially asking for £50,000 for 15% equity of the company, she secured £80,000 for a 22.5% stake from Duncan Bannatyne and James Caan. And Wright remains busy as she continues to develop new products and expand her business. Solution to last month's coffee time challenge Sharon Wright has devised an ingenious way of threading cables safely and efficiently through wall cavities. Her invention, MagnaMole, is a two-piece kit that consists of a rod and threading magnet. Once a hole is drilled through a cavity wall, the rod, which has a magnet on the end, is stuck through. The second piece in the kit, a threading magnet, is a small magnet that easily attaches around the end of any cable. The threading magnet, with cable attached, is then magnetically connected to the rod. This is then pulled through the hole taking the cable with it. The tool is fully reusable and is also fluorescent making it easy to spot, even in the dark. Eureka top tips to becoming a successful entrepreneur: 1. Be determined in what you are doing and be prepared to be knocked back. Successful entrepreneurs have the self belief and perseverance to carry on against the odds 2. Find a niche. What will make your product or service different to what is already in the market? 3. Find an innovative solution. Identifying a genuine problem and then coming up with a simple and ingenious solution is half the battle 4. Be systematic in your approach. Set yourself a clear schedule to tackle key objectives that must be done and stick to it 5. Perhaps most importantly is be prepared for hard work, long hours and sleepless nights to overcome the many challenges and obstacles that you will encounter along the way