Had a discussion last week with an Inventor that has had a string of rejections from company Y even though based on the ideas he has shown me you would think they would have shown interest. His presentation is short and concise. He has great graphics that show his ideas and possible packaging aspects for all of them and even has short demo videos of each product showing them proving proof of concept. He even has some good gap analysis slides. The ideas answer the “Better Than” question.
Everything looks as prepared as you can get, so what is the problem? I was as confused as he was until he showed me a listing of the companies he had previously sent the material to for review. He had disclosed at a different meeting we had that he had a deal with company X and had signed a memorandum of understanding outlining what both sides had agreed to but changed his mind at the last minute and decided to pull the product from the company. They had spent a significant amount of money testing and doing a focus group study on his product. So they were not happy with this decision. I know the person he was dealing with at company X from my dealings with company X.
What the Inventor did not know is shortly after this issue happened with him the person he was dealing with at company X left company X and is now working at company Y doing the same position. So how do you think his ideas went over with this same person he burned at company X?
As in any industry people get promoted, fired, quit, move to other similar markets looking for work. So, the bridge you burn at one company can follow you through a number of companies. So it does not take long for your name to be bounced around until you are known as trouble. The same goes if you have a solid reputation for getting things done, providing good ideas and having realistic expectations. Word gets around in this industry. What will they think about you when your name comes up?