Turning good ideas into great companies is hard to do. InnovateLTC can provide the resources to make it happen

It can be incredibly difficult to tun a good idea into a great company. A few days ago in an article titled Good Ideas/Bad Ideas I wrote about innovation and senior housing.  This is the second half of this two part series based on an interview I did with John Reinhart, the CEO of InnovateLTC.If you are working in and care about having better products, services and ideas for seniors, InnovateLTC is an organization you need to pay attention to.

The Million Dollar Problem

As I outlined in the prior article, even when a group of entrepreneurs have a good idea it can be extremely difficult to actually get that product or service into the marketplace.   The problems include:

• Not having enough capital to go to market
• The product or service needing some additional polishing.
• Not having access to buyers
• Buyers not seeing the same value as do the inventors
• Not packaging the “thing” properly which could mean the specific features; how it is being used; telling the story right; or creating the right business/pricing model.

InnovateLTC

If you have a good idea and can tell a compelling story, it is relatively easy to find people to invest in your new venture.  Most start-ups get their money, from incubators, angel funds or venture capital firms.   These organizations do some level of due diligence and provide funds and often some level of expertise in getting the idea ready to go to market. The investors have an expectation that a very small percentage of these ventures will be big successes, a few more will be modestly successful and the majority of them will never make it.  It is a system that has given us some great products and services.  Here is the question: What if an organization existed that could take those modestly successful ventures and even some of the “never make it” ventures and turn them into home runs? InnovateLTC could best be described as a business accelerator.  Here is what that means: They have the resources needed to work with products, services or concepts that are essentially ready to go to market and help create a final salable product that will serve seniors and senior living communities. Perhaps even more importantly they have ready access to senior housing and senior service companies who understand innovation; who are excited about innovation and who are willing to spend money on innovation.  In a very real sense InnovateLTC gives these companies the ability to go from a tiny sales force (often the CEO and/or one other person) and a part-time or no time marketing department, to having in effect a seasoned marketing and sales team.   They can mean the difference between failure or mediocre success, to great success.  In return for what they do, InnovateLTC receives a modest percentage of the company and of the revenues they are able to generate for the company.  

The Rest of the Story

• If you have the next great senior product and are thinking this is for you, InnovateLTC would love to hear from you.  That being said, they are cautious and do significant “due diligence” to make sure the idea is viable and the team compatible.
• If you are interested in seeing the latest and greatest ideas that InnovateLTC is looking at, come and join them for the second annual LTCLINKTank Innovation Competition in Chicago on July 22.  Admission is open to anyone and is free.  You can register HERE
• Keep your eye on InnovateLTC for some the newest freshest ideas for senior and senior housing.

  What other individuals or companies should we be paying attention to?   Steve Moran