Ask Questions First – Then Invent

Companies license products based on their own needs, what they see in market trends and holes they see in their own product line.  Your best chance to license a product is to offer companies a product that meets what companies perceive to be their needs.

How do you do that?  Number one is you need to be a member of an industry. You need to attend trade shows, read trade magazines and make contacts with people in the industry.  Some of my recent Invention 101 columns have dealt with how to make those contacts. But I’ve found it doesn’t work that well to just ask people what types of products they are looking for. Contacts seem to feel you are just on a fishing expedition.  What works better is to put yourself in your contact’s shoes, and come up with potential product ideas.

For example, let’s say your product area is outdoor thrill equipment, one product in the category could be snowboards on wheels. That is a product a daredevil would use coming down a mountain.  This is a particular good area for an inventor because users have Facebook pages and you can use those user sites to get information.  So first what are the company’s needs? One is to have the first best product on the market and second is to have leading edge features. Your contact often won’t tell you what areas cause quality issues, or what new leading edge features they need but you will get plenty of input if you pose the question on a site targeted at users, simply ask who has the best quality and why their quality is good, and what leading edge features should you look for when buying a product. You can repeat this process asking users on their site what are the thrill products the users see coming in the future.  You can also ask what products someone should buy to have a full inventory of outdoor thrill products.

Now you are ready for step 2, preparing a list of possible inventions the company might want to fill their needs, focus on product quality, products the company doesn’t have but its competition does, and products that appear to be likely winners in the future.  A list of five to six products is ideal, don’t make the list too long. Now companies are going to be impressed by your efforts, and they will be more willing to work with you on future products.  Now is the key question. Simply ask what the target company thinks of your ideas. Mention that they know the market much better than you do, and they probably have different thoughts then you do and ask if they are looking for any ideas in particular.  They just might tell you if they have a product in mind and that could give you an opportunity.

Fortunately the US has a first to file patent system so if you do get an idea you can work on, be sure to file a provisional patent.

On the week of February 12, the inventor of Pop-Tarts, Bill Post died. Post, who worked for a company that became Keebler, created the idea because Kellogg’s told them they had a product idea they’d like to have in their product line and Post went to work to develop it.  His death inspired this column.

The key point in this column is that inventors shouldn’t live in a bubble, creating their own ideas and then trying to introduce them.  Instead they need to actively seek out what type of products others, who might license or buy a new product, are looking for, and then try to create those products.  Just keep in mind that companies license or buy products based on their goals and not yours.  Tie your new inventions into your licensing target’s goals and your chances of success will skyrocket.