It’s pretty simple. If you want to transform an idea into a product sold on the market, you need to act fast. I discovered this after deciding I would make a go at licensing my ideas for a living. It was the most prolific time in my career. It dawned on me that inventing for the market is purely a numbers game. There would always be factors unknown to me; that was unchangeable. I couldn’t possibly expect to come up with a hit idea every time I went to bat. It just wasn’t realistic. And it wasn’t in my best interest given what I knew about creativity.
I needed to figure out how to vet my ideas before investing in them. Licensing appealed to me for that very reason. I didn’t have to spend much to test the market, to get a response. And I’d worked primarily in the toy and novelty gift industries, which actually relied on submissions from independent product developers. It was pretty straightforward. Prototypes weren’t required; neither were patents. So later on, when I discovered that many inventors spend a long time prototyping and patenting their ideas before trying to sell them, I was surprised. That strategy didn’t make sense to me. And it didn’t seem to be working out that well either.
Momentum is so easily lost. So what if an idea you have isn’t getting any traction? Move on to another. Be willing to have a few lines in the water. That’s what it takes to be successful at product development. Pride sometimes gets in the way. I meet inventors who have been working on the same idea for months, sometimes years. They keep making modifications, they talk about their idea to others, but at the end of the day, they’re still standing in the same place.
Creating quickly is essential. It’s also doable. (To be clear, I’ve learned to love and want to work on simple ideas.) Coming up with a licensable idea isn’t as hard as you might think. Look at product lines and think, “What can be improved?” Look for opportunities in the market, for holes. Try to come up with new variations. Play games to exercise your creative muscle. Develop a rough prototype, hire a graphic designer to help you create a sell sheet, and file a provisional patent application. Then, reach out to the market shortly thereafter. Don’t wait. Do what it takes to get moving.
Earlier this month, I spoke at the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s opening of its San Jose office. I was delighted to meet Candice Elliott, CEO of Nouvoyance, there. Candice has more than 90 patents to her name. She uses a similar approach in regards to testing her ideas, she told me — but she uses it start companies, not license concepts for products.
It surprised me that she was able to do the same thing with big ideas that I do with small ideas. We’re talking about ideas that would take hundreds of millions of dollars to fund. But she told me, yes, she often shows concepts, really just rough ideas around to see if anyone is interested. She listens to the market. Is anyone interested? Was the idea going to be pulled to market, or would she have to push? If she got the kind of interest she was looking for, raising money would be easier.
It’s okay to love your ideas, of course. I love all of my ideas. But don’t be afraid to let them go. Share them with the world. Focus on testing quickly above all else. Does the market want your idea? Does it need it? It will let you know. It takes courage to expose oneself to potential rejection. Believe there will always be another idea. I do, because I know creativity is a choice, an act — a skill that can be honed.
Originally published on Inc.com November 6th 2015.
