I am writing this in the hopes that it will make Inventors stop and examine what they are doing and if it is really helping or hurting them. Recently I was contacted by an Inventor and asked to review their product. I said I would after we signed a nondisclosure first. They didn’t want to bother with a nondisclosure because that would delay them sending me their material for review by a couple of hours, since they were going to scan it in and email it back. I insisted on the nondisclosure or I would not proceed further. They agreed and the nondisclosure was signed and returned.
They sent me some material and a video of their product. The material was concise and gave you the information needed without a lot of fluff. The video was 1 minute 7 seconds long and gave a great demonstration of the product. After reviewing the written material and seeing the video I was very impressed with their product and already had several places in mind to contact. Everything about this product is a winner and had a high chance of success, (I am not trying to be mean here)… if you did not involve the Inventor.
When I contacted them via phone I was looking forward to working with this person and seeing them succeed. I told them I thought their product was sound and had a great chance of success. This is where things went downhill quickly. When I asked what they were expecting out of a licensing deal with a company red flags started shooting up immediately. They wanted an advance that was 10 times what is even realistic. They wanted full control over the product and a royalty percentage that even the most seasoned Inventor couldn’t get.
I tried explaining how the industry really works and what they could realistically expect and that was met with, “I understand, but this is what I want.” I again tried to explain that unless you were making and selling this product yourself no company licensing your product will meet these demands. They insisted it had to be those terms or it just wasn’t going to work for them.
I conceded and told them we were at a fork in the road and they needed to follow their own path and I wished them success with that path. I even gave them a couple of companies to try.
Five weeks later I get a phone call from this Inventor and they are angry at me. I ask why. They stated that the first company I gave them reviewed the idea loved it and wanted to move forward. This confused me since getting licensing deal should be a good thing…right?
They said they received a licensing agreement that stated the same percentages I had told them were standard in the industry and offered no advance. They said they FIXED the interested companies licensing agreement to what they wanted and sent it back to them. Then was surprised when the company contacted them saying they were no longer interested in the product and wished them success elsewhere.
The Inventor wanted to know if I had called the company ahead of them and told the company to only offer them the deal they did? (regardless of what people think I do not have that kind of power).
This Inventor wanted to know if the other companies I gave them to try would make that same kind of offer? I told them if they liked the product it would probably be in that same area. The Inventor said “Then why did you give me these companies?” (which made me ask the same question. Why did I give them any company to try?)
This Inventor has the best and worst of two worlds. They have a product companies would be interested in and an unrealistic expectation of their products value.
How do you get this person to change that perception and except reality or is this a lost cause?