Florian Denker explores the role of an individual's domain knowledge for the proficient evaluation of early-stage new product ideas in the front-end of innovation. The results of his study show that in order to ensure an effective evaluation, evaluators of early-stage new product ideas should have comprehensive knowledge of consumers' needs and wants, as well as distinct knowledge about the opportunities and limits of available technologies in the respective domain. In this context, the results show that not only firm-internal experts can have this knowledge. Users and, in particular, so-called "lead users" (i.e. users who are ahead of the majority on major market trends and innovations), could also be suitable for effectively evaluating early-stage new product ideas. Contents  Front-end of innovation  Foundations of research in the field of new idea evaluation  Theoretical foundation of the role of individuals' domain knowledge in evaluating early-stage new product ideas Empirical study - new product idea evaluations by experts, users, and laymen Implications for research and practice Target Groups  Researchers, lecturers and students of technology and innovation management, product development, and business management  Practitioners and consultants in the field of innovation management, product development, and business development The Author  Dr. Florian Denker graduated at the Institute of Technology and Innovation Management at the Hamburg University of Technology with Univ.-Prof. Dr. Cornelius Herstatt.