by Michael Collins, CEO of Big Idea Group and author of “The Million-Dollar Idea in Everyone”

Judging the Hunt submissions is an iterative process. We go through each entry several times to make sure we understand the big idea in each, find best features, and uncover hidden jewels. One thing I learned from reviewing products at BIG Roadshows applies here as well—it doesn’t matter how many ideas I see or in what order I review them, the good ones will always stand out. A Hunt review goes something like this:

• After the Hunt deadline closes, we gather all the submissions, check that the entry agreements have been signed on each one, and we start the winnowing process.
• In the first pass, we simply familiarize ourselves with every idea submitted. Entries that have a sell sheet or some type of visual are tremendously helpful this stage. When you’re staring at a two-foot pile of what looks to be white-paper reports, those submissions with pictures, drawings, or a bullet-point list of benefits seem to jump out of the stack.
• Next we sort the entries into good, better, and best categories. The best submissions are those that meet the requirements of the Hunt, are unique, could be a springboard for a line of products, and have few barriers to actual implementation. We also look for good ideas that we can improve on behalf of the inventor, or ones that if combined with another inventor’s submission improve both of their ideas—making sure to compensate each person accordingly.
• Finally, we put the best and the improved ideas into a formal presentation for the client. Although some of our customers like to see every submission, most prefer we use our judgment to narrow the list first.
• Following the presentation and a brief period to let the ideas germinate, we conference with the client to select Hunt winners. The client has another, more extended, time period to decide whether or not to put any of the ideas into development.

Although we would love to give feedback to all participants in a Hunt, the number of entries prohibits us from getting back to each person individually. And confidentiality requirements prevent us from publishing winning ideas. The only inventors who will hear from us directly are those who won a cash or merchandise prize or whose entries the client is interested in pursuing. Once the names of the Hunt winners have been announced on our web site, however, inventors are released from the submission agreement and are free to pursue the submitted ideas on their own.