Bring the power of So what? who cares? why you? to your clients. Become a So what? who cares? why you? Certified Coach! Join us at one of these upcoming certification sessions:

	October 18-19, 2011 Galway, Ireland
	November 3-4, 2011 Ottawa, Canada
	November 10-11, 2011 Orlando, FL
Reserve Your Seat Here »

"At the European Space Agency Telecommunications and Integrated Applications Directorate, So what? who cares? why you?® works with our standard process to assess project proposals to determine those with the best commercial potential. It also creates a platform for our staff to have high-value discussions with industry about the commercial value of projects submitted to us for funding consideration.”

– Michele Le Saux, Head of Ground Segment Technology Section Telecommunications Department, European Space Agency

"So what? who cares? why you?® is a pilgrimage for those who have ideas to change the world. It will help you to contemplate your ideas and startup company concepts by identifying the facts, myths, and critical assumptions. Ultimately, it will provide validation for the one idea you may decide to pursue. It is a great companion for those who yearn to create and contribute."

– Dan Leri, Director, Innovation Park and Research Commercialization Office, Pennsylvania State University

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Priming the Innovation Funnel: Five Key Strategies for Pre-incubation

Most seasoned advisors have developed a sixth sense about which new businesses will thrive and the ones that will crash and burn before the first product shipment. Finding ways to systematically spot winning – and losing – ideas at the very early stages can dramatically increase an incubator's success rate for backing viable businesses. At the same time, helping inventors learn repeatable commercialization skills can pay huge dividends down the road in fostering the development of a robust community of “commercial-ready” founders.

Download five strategies to use now in developing your pre-incubation program.

Free Online Course: Early Detection for Winning Ideas – The Power of the Category Map

On the road to commercial success, many ideas run out of gas before they leave the garage (or lab). Discovering the winners early on can help incubator managers to invest time and resources in the ideas with the most potential to actually make the journey to market. For early detection to happen, we need to engage inventors to get outside of the technical details of their ideas and reframe them in commercial terms.

The Category Map is a powerful tool to help you redraw the conversation with your inventors. By working with a visual framework on a wall or even a napkin, you can channel the inventor’s passion and knowledge to quickly find the core value of the innovation.

In this 45-minute session, Wendy will show you how to map an idea into the market landscape and category where it best fits. She will take you step-by-step through the process of creating a Category Map and give you a coaching tutorial on how to use it to engage inventors in discovering the commercial value of their ideas. You will come away with practical, hands-on tools and tips, plus real-world examples to use category maps to effectively chart the commercial opportunity for scientific or technical ideas.

Join Wendy on Sept. 22 at 1 p.m. ET for this free online class. To register, visit: http://wendykennedy.com/freeclass/

SpringBoard West's Venture Runways Takes Flight

When SpringBoard West Innovations was founded four years ago to foster the development of new technology-based businesses in Saskatchewan, the incubator focused on providing 1:1 advisory services to each client, from idea to launch. But as the business expanded, SpringBoard West needed to find a way to create a more turnkey approach that could help a larger number of innovators get their ideas past the early stages of commercialization.

“What we found with first and second-time entrepreneurs is that we were spending a lot of time teaching them about the commercialization process and not necessarily providing them with the intelligence to build their business case,” says Divyesh Patel, Senior Innovation Officer at SpringBoard West. “As our client base grew, we needed to find a better way to jump-start the process for those inventors at the ‘pre-incubation' stage, whose ideas aren't quite developed yet.”

Two days after returning from the So what? who cares? why you? certified coach session in Fort Worth, Divyesh and his colleagues began working on a new pre-incubation service based on the tools, Venture Runways. Says Divyesh, “It's a great tool to use with clients who have not considered all of the elements of their business case, and it allows us to provide a structured program for those inventors to engage with SpringBoard West.”