Source: The Wall Street Journal - Fast Fixes By: Michelle Wu at michelle.wu@wsj.com Who: Wayne Poll, M.D. What: Minimally Invasive Devices, Inc., a company that develops devices that assist doctors during laparoscopic surgery Where: Columbus, Ohio Web site: www.midsurgical.com Year founded: 2006 Number of employees: 7 Annual revenue: $90,000 in 2009 Everyday, loads of people have great ideas that could potentially become a profitable business venture. The real challenge is what to do next: how do you make an idea into a marketable product? (As Thomas Edison famously said, “Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.”) When Dr. Poll of Columbus, Ohio, wanted to develop FloShield, a device that improves visibility for doctors performing laparoscopic surgery, he knew going to a major company such as Johnson & Johnson or Boston Scientific would be a dead end. Dr. Poll, a surgeon and urologist for 20 years, had gone that route in the past and was wary of the process. “It’s very frustrating when you approach big medical device companies with an idea,” he says. “I decided that the only way that I would have any control over my project was to develop it myself.” So Dr. Poll took matters into his own hands and decided to start his own company, Minimally Invasive Devices, Inc., in 2006. To read what happened next and to read the rest of the Wall Street Journal article, click here.