On the journey of inventing it can be both exhilarating and daunting. From identifying problems to crafting solutions and eventually bringing them to market, the process is filled with challenges and triumphs. In this article, we get a valuable insider tip from seasoned coach Carl Jones from Melbourne, Australia. He has navigated the twists and turns of innovation. Drawing from his experiences, we uncover valuable insights on staying motivated, dealing with rejection, deciding when to pivot, and much more.
1. How do you stay motivated to work on your inventions when you feel like they’re going nowhere?
Carl Jones: Realize that it is an iterative process and that you need to cast the net wide when trying to find a home for your innovation. If you have done your research and you know that you really do have a unique point of difference that appeals to a broad market (and it can be achieved for the right price point), then it is only a matter of time and perseverance to make it happen. It is important to take stock on a regular basis and incorporate all the feedback that industry has provided you from your outreach and tweak your marketing or design (or both) if you feel it is necessary.
2. Do you have a tip or strategy for dealing with rejection?
Carl Jones: As independent product developers, we are in the rejection business, but that still doesn’t make it hurt any less when a company can’t see what you can in your product. The more you deal with rejection, though, the thicker the skin you develop.
I like to treat it as a game to see how many rejections I can get in a certain time period and continually try to set a new record. As a coach, I like to track outreach performance via the number of genuine no’s that a student receives. By making it a target for which to aim, it reframes the very idea of a rejection from something that you actively avoid to something that you seek.
3. When do you decide to give up on an idea and move on to the next one?
Carl Jones: You need to be okay with the fact that not every idea is going to be successful, however, the more blood, sweat, and tears (and money) you invest in a project, the harder it is to give up. I like to think of the idea of passing through a series of gates at each stage, where it needs to qualify to pass.
The better you can reflect (without bias) upon the merits of the idea at these gates, the sooner you can decide whether to proceed or give up on it. This is why it is fundamental to undertake quality research at the outset of every project because you want to dispel any assumptions you have made and be confident that you have a firm foundation beneath you, on which to proceed.
4. What’s a tip you would give to new inventors?
Carl Jones: The biggest mistake I see novice inventors make is that they identify a problem, they then go about solving it and then start designing marketing material to promote it. They skip right past the market research and fail to ask the question… “Is this a problem that I alone am experiencing, or does this apply to the broader market?” This is probably the single most important thing to do at the early stages of any project… to validate that there is going to be a market at the other end.
The last thing you want is to get to step 8, start reaching out and get zero responses as you’ve ended up designing something no one else wants, except yourself. A licensee wants to know that they are going to be able to sell your product in high enough volume for it to be worth their while and quite often, you need to justify this, so it’s best to think of it right from the outset.
5. What is something you thought you needed but actually didn’t when you started inventing? (i.e., prototype, patent, etc.).
Carl Jones: As an Industrial Designer, I have been trained that you need a full-blown prototype (we call them pre-production prototypes) before ever showing industry, however, I have realized that this is not the case. The method we teach at inventRight is to get the interest first and you don’t need an expensive prototype to do that… you can do this with a virtual prototype and a proof-of-concept that can be demonstrated in a video.
6. How do you decide which product ideas are worth pursuing?
Carl Jones: The more experience under my belt trying to commercialize self-initiated projects, the fussier I become in establishing criteria to evaluate whether to proceed or not with a certain idea. Because each project does take up a fair amount of your time and effort, it’s important to give yourself the best chance of success. No matter how good the idea, there are certain industries I won’t delve into as they are just too hard.
Here’s my criteria evaluating why you may ditch an idea early on:
- Too small / too niche a market
- Too difficult an industry
- Seasonal product
- Too hard to manufacture
- Requires change to automated production
- Too many parts
- Too many processes
- Too costly to make
- Too hard to communicate the benefit (requires re-educating the market)
- Has been done before / too obvious a solution (unpatentable?)
7. How do you deal with doubt and worry associated with licensing and inventing?
Carl Jones: I used to have doubt and worry, but usually that is associated with a lack of knowledge on how to proceed or something you have no control over.
The experience I have gained over the years through both successes and failures, I no longer lack the knowledge of not knowing what to do. And regarding the things you can’t control, there’s no point worrying about them anyway as no matter how much you may like to, your best efforts aren’t going to effect their change.
8.How does it feel seeing your invention on store shelves?
Carl Jones: I remember the first time I saw some stranger riding the streets using my rackless pannier bag, I was blown away. It was so cool to have someone using a product that you had conceived and then gone through all that work to resolve the problems that inevitably arise in their development.
To enhance someone’s life in some way like that… the feeling is addictive. Once you commercialize one, you have a burning desire to get other one out there and then the next.
9. How do you come up with new inventions when you are struggling with creativity?
Carl Jones: I don’t usually struggle coming up with new ideas, I just add them to an NPD list that I have developed. I struggle more with limiting the projects I take on board before the previous ones have been commercialized.
I believe being creative is just about being a good observer and having an enquiring mind… Why is it like this? Why can’t it be like this instead? What should it be? These are the sort of probing questions I like to ask when getting my teeth into a project.
How inventRight Coach Carl Jones Applies The inventRight 10-Step System To License A Product
10. What does your inventing schedule look like?
Carl Jones: Alongside coaching, I am also a lecturer at RMIT University, which I carry out two afternoons per week, teaching an open innovation studio to Industrial Design students, so my schedule is quite busy. I like to dedicate Fridays to work on my own projects as well as projects on which I am collaborating with colleagues.
11. What inspires you to invent?
Carl Jones: A desire to make the world a better place, not just for us humans living on it, but for the planet on which all life depends. Sometimes products that are great for human convenience take a huge toll on the earth, so I try to have strong sustainable ethics at the core of my design practice. As with every self-initiated project I choose to tackle, I like to target products that have a negative environmental footprint, as well as ones that don’t quite meet users’ expectations in some way.
12. What is your favorite invention and why?
Carl Jones: Without any doubt, the bicycle. It enhances people’s lives all over the world, from all socio-economic backgrounds, and has remained largely unchanged for more than 150 years.
Sure, people have made incremental advancements over the years adding pneumatic tires, brakes, gears, lights, and now even electrifying them, but in as far as its elemental arrangement goes, it is still the same. It also uses clean energy to operate, i.e. human power which propels us faster than we could go on our own legs and encourages us to exercise in an age when we rely on fossil fuel power to do most of our hard work for us.
13. Do you have a tip for prototyping a product idea?
Carl Jones: Yes, don’t over-invest. The only thing you need to do at the start is to communicate the benefit. You will also eventually need to prove that the idea works how you intend it to work – fake it before you make it.
14. What do you consider to be the most important part of the inventRight 10-Step system? Why?
Carl Jones: Step 8 – the outreach. This is where the rubber hits the road. Everything up until this step has just been preparation… now you are trying to spark interest and open a conversation with a prospective licensee.
This is the step that most people fear but it is crucial to make your idea happen, as doing it alone is too high a mountain to climb.
With licensing, you are looking for a partner in the right category with an established sales and distribution network into which your idea can be plugged. To find that partner you need to deploy your marketing to get them excited about your product, which can then lead to a licensing deal once they have performed their own due diligence and validated that it is likely to be a hit.
15. What is the most important and/or impactful thing you’ve learned from helping inventRight students?
Carl Jones: Anyone can do this but it takes a combination of attributes for the best chance of success.
My formula is:
- The right inventor / right team
- The right problem to target
- The right idea to solve that problem
- The right testing to prove that it works
- A professional looking profile
- The right communication of the benefit
- A solid awareness of your point of difference
- The right habits formed early on
- The right attitude – confidence, persistence, empathy (for who you are dealing with)
