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DEVELOPING NEW BUSINESS IDEAS includes music and videos, ideas which were initially screened out in
favour of books.

evaluation frameworks for screening ideas

Although the actual criteria used will necessarily vary from business
opportunity to business opportunity and will depend on your personal
situation, a number of useful frameworks exist which can help you
undertake a two-phase evaluation of business opportunities.

We will look at each of the frameworks in turn before turning to a more
detailed discussion of some of the criteria which you may choose to
include within the frameworks. The criteria will cover not only business
issues but also your personal circumstances, resources and objectives.
The overall process is shown diagrammatically in Figure 5.1.

Multiple ideas from Step 2 Flowchart Decision Single idea
Criteria grid balance forward into

Phase 1: sheet Step 4
coarse Idea
screen compatibility
matrix
Weighted
criteria grid

Phase 2:
fine

screen

Person-focused
criteria

Business-focused criteria

Figure 5.1 The two-phase idea screening process

phase 1: coarse screen

evaluation framework 1: criteria grid The criteria grid method allows
you to judge possible business opportunities against a limited number
of criteria. You could screen ideas against a specific market or type of
opportunity, or against a rough-cut business assessment.

Imagine you are Jeff Bezos and you wish to screen down 20 possible
product ideas for online retailing to a more manageable number. The
first step is to generate a list of criteria appropriate to the situation –
this requires both left-brain and right-brain thinking. You need to be