It is rare that even I the “ideapreneur” have an idea that is ready to go, is brilliant and has the potential to increase someones bottom line by a billion dollars.

Companies like AT&T, Apple, Microsoft, Verizon and others spend billions of dollars each year selling technically complicated products to consumers who don’t know how to use them.  Starbucks has these same consumers standing in line for coffee every morning.  Make the connection the simplicity is brilliant.  Starbucks rents a table in their stores in the morning to, lets say, Apple for $100/hour.  Apples reps can offer technical support and do training.  They cannot sell products.  The advantage for Apple is that their customers become better users and more loyal while they demonstrate a competitive advantage over their competitors.  The advantage to Starbucks is using their “safe space” to generate revenue.  The math I figured was 3000 stores time 4 hours a day time 200 days times $100.  Close to 200 million dollars a year. Starbucks has 17,000 stores worldwide.

One of the great things about this idea is that it can be tested regionally at low cost so that the rules of engagement can be clearly defined before rolling it out internationally.  Perhaps call it “in store reps” and have a different one each day, on a regular schedule that is listed on the web site.  So if I want to talk about my iPhone I will go to the Sierra Madre Starbucks on Tuesday when the Apple rep is there.