Open Source Solutions to Your Challenges

The recent article in the NY Times Science section entitled If You Have a Problem, Ask Everyone, describes how companies are using the concept of open-source science to monetarily provide incentives for anyone to contribute to an unsolved problem. As noted the government has done this in space race issues by funding prizes for the best invention to solve a particular problem (like finding a cheap way to launch heavy payloads into orbit). This approach has application for small businesses in two distinct ways, one old and one new.

You might have a cloud of knowledge surrounding your operation already, including resources like your attorney, accountant, financial adviser. But is this group big enough to provide all your answers, and more importantly are they incented to do so. The obvious move is to get all you can from these outside sources by making them partners, that is put them on your board (board of directors or advisory board) and make them think regularly about your challenges.

From a product perspective, you may need broader knowledge. Can you solicit advice in the marketplace to improve your product without endangering your trade secrets? Do you have a technical challenge needing outside help? You could benefit from a service like Innocentive which uses outsiders who are paid to solve product issues, and fully one third of its solvers have PhD's. It's worth a shot in this day and age.

So now there are new ways to solve your technical problems to go along with the old ways to fix your corporate challenges. It's worth examining both to see if you can maximize the resources devoted to your success. Your shareholders will be glad you did.