Some days I would have to say “Yes” to the question above. It is just dumb luck sometimes. If you think about it a lot has to do with luck, timing, being in the right place at the right time. Of course you hope it is really about you having a great idea or product, but that is not always the case.
You can have a great idea, but your pitch is off and they just don’t get it. Your package arrived the day they are discussing budget cuts. The person you sent it to no longer works in that department or they are having a horrible day, so nothing looks good to them. Your prototype was handled rough in shipping and doesn’t work right for the person doing the reviewing.
I had a case where the reviewer I sent my toy prototype to did not have any sense of eye/hand coordination and could not make the toy work. So he did not understand its play factor until I sent him a video of a kid enjoying the toy and showing how easy it was to operate. My chances would have been higher had I sent the video first, but I made the mistake of assuming it was so easy anyone could do it. Instead I get the one person in the company with zero eye hand coordination. Lol
Many possible opportunities are killed in the first 30 seconds over the phone because you are nervous and stammering over your words. Then there are those moments when you and the other person just click and they are open to anything you mention. They get your pitch as concisely as if they had the idea themselves. They call that “Finding the Zone”. You live for those moments.
On the other side of the coin I have had times where the contact person changed 4 times in 2 months because they were doing a reorganization. My material was given the okay by one reviewer, turned down by the next one, but wasn’t sent back to me before it was left for the next reviewer. That person liked the idea and routed it to the next person higher in the food chain for approval. Two days later that person quit and moved to another state. I did not hear anything for 2 weeks at which time they informed me they were no longer looking at outside ideas. That was definitely a bad run of luck. But as I have always said “inventing is a fluid business and constantly changing.”
The dumb luck syndrome isn’t just targeting inventing, it happens in all industries. While writing for comic book companies I called an Editor I hadn’t talked to in months to see if he had any openings on his books. He laughed and said my timing was great the Writer for one of his books was sick and he had just gotten off the phone with him prior to my call. So, I got the job, not because I was a better Writer. I got it because I called at the right time and saved the editor the hassle of finding another Writer.
On another occasion I contacted a toy company for the first time and expected to just get my name in front of them and start the ball rolling, instead he said I caught him in a bind, they needed some toy ideas for a presentation they were putting together for upper management and he needed them by the next day. The person they were using didn’t deliver their products on time so he had nothing to show. We signed NDA’s via email, I sent 10 ideas I had in stock. And the next day they told me they loved 2 of them and a licensing deal was signed. I was paid a nice advance. The product didn’t make it to market, but was released back to me and I got to keep the advance. So, it was a strange but profitable venture.
You will find that for no reason you can explain some ideas you think have the most potential will not get a second look. While others, which you think are okay will get a rave review.
I have sent the same story to the same editor two weeks apart. The first time he hated it. The next time he loved it and bought it. I never told him he had already turned it down.
The longest time for a sale after first contact was over a year. I saw the company’s product in a store and got their contact info off the package. A couple of days later I contacted them asking if they looked at outside ideas. They said no, they do all their design work in house. The owner and myself hit it off and she liked the products I had already licensed that were posted on my website. She said to keep in touch and let her know of anything new I had come out. So over a year’s time we exchanged maybe 4 or 5 emails. A year later she told me they were starting a new line and would look at ideas if I had any. I sent 5 ideas and they picked two to license. I am the first inventor on the outside they have worked with.
Was that dumb luck, genius on my part, great product ideas, salesmanship, right time right place? I may never know, but I have two products coming out because of it! So, I may not want to know. You can do the same.