VMA ‘idea mill’ runs hot

Venture Management consultants take new gadgets to U.S. market

FORT COLLINS — The “beta test” for Venture Management Alliance LLC’s system of taking problem-solving gadgets to market culminated March 1 on national television.

The cable-based Home Shopping Network offered viewers a chance to buy something called EverStraight — a simple system that keeps wall-hung pictures from getting out of kilter. In eight minutes, viewers snapped up all 1,000 sets of the 15-piece picture-hanging system.

Now, the company is putting its product-to-market system on the line with other product ideas and soliciting them from entrepreneurs and inventors who can benefit from some management help.

When…