The low down on last Friday’s meeting with Roark.
I didn’t get to see the famous Q Top in the flesh – forgot to ask as our meeting went off on so many different tangents. But Roark does have a web site now dedicated to the Q-Top www.qtop.co.uk
and the more I look at it, the more I think that it is a worthy product. Once you get beyond the unfortunate shape and the fluorescent green colour, you start to realise it does serve a purpose. Keeping cucumbers fresher for longer. When you see some of the strange products for sale on home shopping channels and in homeware shops, you realise there may be a small corner in the kitchen for the Q Top.
Let me know what you think? Were the Dragons right to dismiss it?
So onto the meeting itself.
It was great to meet someone with such a positive but slightly off-beat take on the world. Roark is a genuine ideas man but has a vision – sees the end game for so many ideas and how to bring those ideas to market. Roark’s passion is not just about his own ideas but also about helping other would-be innovators and inventors bring their ideas to life.
So many people have great ideas but no idea how to get them started. Roark brings his own commercial expertise and ability to find the right contacts and partners to the situation. All too often a good idea dies because its creator doesn’t know where to obtain the right help. Roark provides that help.
But there is a method to his madness. Any ‘ideas business’ must have a way of filtering out ideas to leave the handful that are worth spending time, effort and money on. The scatter gun approach rarely works although this method is often adopted by other companies that claim to bring ideas to life.
And over time Roark has realised that the inventor’s own committment is probably the best filter.
Bringing an idea to life or indeed establishing any business is as much about the people involved as it is the product. Ask the Dragons. Sometimes the product has potential but not in the hands of the person currently holding it. Sometimes the inventor is better off passing the idea on, recognising their own shortcomings and just settling into to the routine of the regular royalty cheque.
But we all have our pride. And we all know what’s best. Don’t we?
So the afternoon with Roark was a great success. I’m sure we’ll work together on some ideas and provide feedback to each other on others.
And of course if you have an idea why not give Roark a call. He won’t mince his words but it could be the best call you ever made. Contact him via his Just Imagine web site www.justimagineuk.com
