Lots of people have ideas.  Some are good, some, not so much.  Some ideas are for products, some are for services, some are for processes.   However, an idea doesn’t do anything for your business, it’s the product, service, or process that earns you money.

Jumping from idea to commercial offering is more than just a leap of faith.  It takes time, which may be in short supply, and money, which is nearly always in short supply.  Faith, time, and money.  The first two you can usually provide.  You can’t create a successful product or service without investing both faith and time.

Then there’s money.  Some ideas don’t take a lot of money to develop.  Some ideas take a LOT of money to develop.  But pretty much any idea needs at least some money, either to produce a prototype, set up a web site, stock materials, ensure safety, or whatever else is needed.

The money has to come from somewhere.  Some people self-finance, using savings or loans.  Some people solicit investors to provide funding to be repaid once the idea has become reality, or in return for a piece of the company.

For some people, depending on the idea, the application, and the market, can obtain grants.  Grants aren’t for overhead costs, but for the actual development of the product or service.  There’s no such thing as free money, but in some cases, organizations will be willing to fund your idea if it meets an unmet critical need that the organization is facing.

That’s important enough that it bears repeating: if your idea meets an unmet critical need of an organization, that organization will be more than likely willing to fund your idea.  But that’s the tricky part, isn’t it?  How do you know that your idea meets an organization’s critical unmet need?  Do you even know which organizations may be interested in your ideas?  Figuring out who to target is just the first step.