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Ask Slashdot: What Is the Best Way To Approach Big Companies With Your Product?
New submitter ily2013 writes: My family have invented a product that will prevent electrical related fires for homes and businesses. A patent has been filed and approved worldwide, which includes the United States. Now I would like to take this product, and ask Apple/Microsoft/Big vendors to see if they would be willing to integrate our product into their existing and future products, because we believe the product will truly change the way safety of electric/electrical devices are viewed. What is the best way to approach this? Should I start by cold-calling Apple/Microsoft/Big vendors? or send them a mail/email?
and one of us will send it up the chain if it looks useful
Sig: I stole this sig.
If you're cheap, start by posting about it to an online forum.
Oh, wait...
If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
You wait N years for them to independently come up with your same invention, achieve market penetration, and sustain profitability. Then you sue them for $700 trillion.
As the topic says: first get a lawyer.
Suppose some company does take an interest, they'll want to craft a contract that could potentially screw you.
If they decide to simply buy you out, you'll need one there too.
READY.
PRINT ""+-0
I think you are on the wrong page. Try here: http://abc.go.com/shows/shark-...
Dude. We get it. You personally don't like Google. That is all well and good, but this isn't the place and time to drive the point home (We call that off topic here on Slashdot, as you know based on your SlashID Number.) Off you go now ...
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
Make competing products using your patent. When you overtake Apple and Microsoft in marketshare, they'll investigate why this is happening. When they realize that they're uncompetitive because of all the electrical-fire-related expenses that they have and that you don't, they'll have no choice but to license your patent.
Please tell me you've invented the fuse. Or the circuit breaker! (I'd make a quip about an AFCI, but how many would get it?)
Just some observational evidence, but big companies do not seem to buy ideas or technologies. . . they do seem to buy customers, though. Of course, you probably are wanting to sell the idea so that you do not have to worry about the annoying customer part of product development. . . Interested to see what stories of such an elusive thing will pop up here. . .
However, if I were you, I would just go ahead and hit up kickstarter at this point. . .
Sdelat' Ameriku velikoy Snova!
If not, forget it. Your solution won't work. If you want to know why it won't work, hire an electrical engineer to explain.
I second this. There are a lot of ways to approach this, but reading some books on Negotiations is always helpful. But make sure you have a lawyer (one that you are paying, don't just get a friend who may not spend as much time on it since it's just a favor) to thoroughly look through any contracts.
Like a typical start-up nowadays: start a company, get your name out, wait for the take-over offers to come in.
And stop writing introductions like the above if you want some real interest. Like that it'll end up with the rest of the "I'm interested in your product, please open the attachment" scams I get every day.
Well, it's not *impossible*, but it is pretty unlikely. If you have a patent in the US, it protects only
against infringement in the US. And when you say "approved", that's slightly unusual terminology.
If the patent was granted by the USPTO, then please say that (or alternately, the patent was "issued.")
The original description makes it sound as if the invention isn't really a stand-alone thing, but something
which needs to be "incorporated" into other, existing products. Is that right? Hard to advise you without
knowing a little more. Please post patent (or application) number.
A patent has been filed and approved worldwide, which includes the United States
Post a link to the patent application or design docs since it is already protected under the patent approval process and I'll tell you why it's a really fucking dumb idea.
No one wants your shitty LUDDITE product. If you app it into an app, modern app appers will app it with other apps!
Apps!
Engineers tend to find devices to include in their designs via salesmen and distributors. If you have a product, partner up with a sales rep who sells things similar to your product. If he's any good he knows who to approach to get new ideas through, and can get you visibility.
The odds of you approaching a company like that any other way are not easy. You can call the front desk but you'll never find the right people. You want to find system and hardware engineers I imagine. But be prepared for a tough sell, these guys (and i know from personal experience) have tight deadlines and very directed tasks and aren't appreciative of disruption, particularly if you have product and it's not the right form factor or your supply chain isn't sorted out. A good sales rep knows how to make this happen and get their attention.
Sometimes having the best product in the world is not enough. You need to learn to sell or get someone who know how to do this. Give this a read: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse...
First off, there is no such thing as an international patent. You file a patent in one country, and then can file for a PCT which - if it's granted in the first country - means other PCT signatories will agree to "respect" the patent. But you really still need to file in those other countries to get true protection (I recommend filing in the US, Germany, Japan, and China - you'll cover the biggest markets in the world, ones counterfeiters will not ignore, and you will cover the source of most counterfeit goods - and China is very protective of their own filed IP).
Next, roll it yourself. Prove it's capable of actually making money. So you invented something - big deal. Unless you can make money with it, it's worthless. So start your own small business, show that there is a market for it. You don't have to sell tens of millions or make millions in revenue. Just a small stream will show it's commercially viable.
THEN pitch the idea of licensing or buying the company to bigger players. Target contract manufacturers, not direct end-customers. I've had a LOT better success getting factories to license my patents, then they reuse them with their bigger clients. Going straight to the end customer (Microsoft, Apple, Dell, etc) is very hard to do; getting their CM to accept it (the Foxconns, Flextronics, Fosters, and Quantas of the world) would be more receptive.
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
You need to do several things, not just the "best" one.
They may include:
- renting a booth and presenting at a trade show
- advertising in trade journals
- establishing an online presence, so people can find you via Google, etc.
- contacting companies that specialize in marketing a product like this to other companies (for a cut)
If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
There are a couple of methods of marketing your product. But the method which requires the least amount of up front capital is to pick up the phone and speak to the people who would have the power to decide whether to buy your product or not. This is the most difficult method but it is also the method most likely to work for you. And by difficult I don't mean technically hard, it will be emotionally hard as you will be told no over and over and over and over and over again.
Step 1 is to identify who would be the person that makes the decision about your product. Don't aim for purchasing or procurement aim for the relevant engineering manager or higher. Again general rule of thumb is to aim as high as you can get in contact with. It is easy to be referred down, almost impossible to be referred up. Before you pick up the phone you want to have identified at least, absolute minimum, 100 targets. Linkedin will be your friend here.
Step 2. Practice you sales pitch with your friends and family. Over and over and over again. Make it short, make it relevant, and have in mind your clear goal. Get your friends and family to play the biggest bastards they can. That way the actual calls will be easy. Keep in mind you will NOT make a sale on the first call to someone.
Step 3. Pick up the phone and dial and dial and dial and dial and dial. Get used to being stopped by secretaries, pas and every other possible reason you can think of. Get used to being told to fuck off and die. And then on the 99th call or the 456th call you will get some interest.
As for the people telling you will get screwed by the big guys I beg to differ. I supply services to massive multinationals and am a small operation. Some of them I choose not to work with because they have stupid contracts but the majority deal perfectly well with me. Good luck
Start a business that sells your idea. You can sell schematics, or something. Once you start having decent sales, contacting large companies will be easier. If you make enough, you won't have to contact them, they will contact you.
The reality is Apple and Microsoft are not likely to be interested in paying you if it doesn't increase their own profits. And lets be honest, the way most people view electrical-related fires is "not at all." You're not going to revolutionize it. So in your case, you may have a business plan to lobby the California government to pass a law that all devices include your safety feature.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
I'm pretty sure the Amish already solved the electrical related fires problem.
The Amish do use electricity sometimes. They just don't like to connect to the grid.
If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
Why would two software companies be interested in a building wiring issue in the first place?
Fires from the products you mentioned are pretty rare compared to say space heaters, stoves, toaster ovens etc.
And thus find out there is no such thing as a worldwide patent.
I worked for a "very large computer company" (retired). I interviewed and hired many engineers.
I know of zero situations where we bought a design from an individual and developed the product. We bought companies but not individual patents from a person.
You may want to try Kickstarter or something similar. Or, attend a trade show and demonstrate the product and attempt to get a venture capital firm interested in the product.
Unless you get that thin ready made, with all certifications, descriptions, and cheap, distributed by standard suppliers, your product will remain a niche.
(Hint here: It competes with fuses, NTC current limiters and safe regulators)
Don't worry, if they really like the idea they'll steal it and then sue you for infringing on their vaporware product.
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
Or you could buy a scratch ticket. Your odds of getting rich quick, while abysmally low, are still better than the odds that you'll get on Shark Tank, make your presentation, receive funding, and then living happily ever after.
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
I think HP has a process you can follow, but that may only be for chopsticks with in-built soy sauce dispensers.
Nullius in verba
Hopefully, OP's idea gains enough traction that it frees him from ever having to pointlessly troll /. every day, typing boastful but otherwise incoherent manifesto-style posts and utterly failing to grasp what constant -1s should have told him years prior.
You invented the fuse! Good for you!
Insurers are in fact a major, major source of funding for safety initiatives of various kinds, because reducing -their- customers' claims reduces their costs. You may have noticed your home insurance company sends you stuff about fire safety and burglary prevention on a regular basis. This month, they probably sent you something about Christmas trees, Christmas lights, and fires. If you haven't seen this because you don't yet have your own home and car, perhaps go upstairs and ask your mom if they insurance bill is around somewhere. In the envelope you'll see safety tips.
You've probably heard of Underwriters Laboratories, the #1 organization in the US for ensuring products meet safety standards. "Underwriters" in the name means insurance underwriters.
So how does this all work with profits? Suppose in 2014 you bill $350 million in premiums, spend $270 million paying claims, $40 million on marketing, $10 million on customer service and overhead. You end up with a net profit of $30 million. With me so far?
Now suppose your customer outreach, telling YOUR CUSTOMERS how to be safer, reduces their claims by 5%. A 10% reduction in claims is $13.5 million. You've just increased your profit from $30 million to $43.5 million. So a modest 5% reduction in claims from your customers increased your profit by 45%.
Companies generally like to increase their profit by 45%, so that's why insurance companies are in fact a primary driver of safety in the US.
Better yet, turn on the TV and wait until George Foreman comes on. It won't be long.
This question sure got a ton of really crappy answers. The fact is big companies buy stuff from and cut deals with little guys all day long. I got a good tip for a basic script from a guy who makes those calls for a living, and cuts deals worth millions of dollars all the time. Right now I don't particularly feel like posting it here, though.
If you want to let me know how to get in touch with you I'll tell you what the pro told me. I had posted my GPG key so you can encrypt your contact info if you chose to, but Slashdot won't let me post such a long string.
Preferably a PE in EE. Even if you have the start of an idea, anything dealing with safety and electricity will need to go through UL and or CSA. The specifications for anything that touches hazardous voltages is not easy to digest and apply if you don't have experience with it. Without approval, your device will sit.. Also, patents for actual electronics are HARD to enforce. They nature of circuitry is not obvious by just looking at it. You have to spend a lot of investigation just to know if somebody has done something your patent covers.
Five steps will do you.
(1) Get a patent
(2) Find an adorable blond little girl or baby who was horribly burned and scarred (living is required, as that means they can appear on camera a lot), preferrably on one side, so you can pan around from the "isn't she cute" to the "OMG!" side at any photo op, on 20/20, on 60 Minutes, and so on
(3) Get the parents to sue the shit out of the company that made whatever product was the culprit in the fire for not including your safety device (doesn't matter if it wasn't invented at the time)
(4) Get it written into the regulations that your device is required
(5) Profit!
If you want the justice system to protect you for nothing, get arrested for a crime and show you're broke. Absent that, laws and courts are for those who can afford to pay for them.
After the matter is closed, contact your old high school teachers and tell them how good a job they did in preparing you for life.
Reading that book will only get you one of the two ways to be successful
The other way ... not htat I am teaching you guys really rotten stuffs, but it has happened many times before in our tech fields ...
Since the poster already stated that he (and his family) already obtained the world-wide patent for their invention, they could opt for the unscrupulous way of SUING instead of selling
We are talking about reality here -
A. If you try to sell them stuffs, they will try their best to cheat you, steal your technology, and then refuse to pay you the loyalties
B. If you sue them, they will have to defend themselves in the court - and if (like the poster has stated) have already obtained the patent needed, then you have legal ground to charge them loyalties (plus the penalties for their illegal use of your technology without paying you)
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
"Don't try to bat with the big boys. They will either slaughter you in negotiations or laugh you out of the room."
Bill Gates' early relationship with IBM really proves your point.
BTW here are two more reasons. First, 48% of property and auto insurance in the US is provided by coops, called mutual insurance companies. These include Nationwide, Mutual Of Omaha, State Farm, etc., and of course the 100 or so other insurance companies with "mutual" in the name.
Mutual insurance companies don't make a profit. Any excess money is refunded to customers, who are the owners. So for half the insurance companies, keeping the customers safe is keeping the owners safe, and saving the customer money is saving the owners money, because the customers -are- the owners.
Another major thing is that a large building costs between $10 million and $3 billion to build. One building can be worth a significant portion of everything the insurance company has. Insurance companies, like other business, don't like to go bankrupt, so a major fire or collapse is a BIG deal to them. One or two major events can absolutely put them out of business.
See answers here:
http://yro.slashdot.org/commen...
and here:
http://yro.slashdot.org/commen...
...smaller companies. Seriously. People talk. Especially the tech wonks who deal with this stuff. Make a good product, give your customers what they want, under-promise and over-deliver. Do all that, and if your product is really revolutionary and a good value, the big companies will come calling.
Don't.
The big guys are happy with things just rolling along most of the time. It's the small guys that want a game changer so that they can get somewhere. After they have built it up to the point where it is selling the big guys may condescend to notice.
A fairly old example but a product that you are probably using.
After Netscape's web browser got popular Microsoft decided they wanted one too.
They bought what became Internet Explorer from a company called Spyglass. As part of the deal they offered a fairly high percentage of sales royalties and Spyglass jumped at the deal despite it being not a great deal of money up front.
Microsoft gave it away for free so the royalties were zero.
mailing yourself something is not worth a damn b/c you can mail yourself a letter that is not sealed.
In your case, you could file for a copyright.
"prevent" is a very strong statement. How has this been tested?
An idea by itself is almost worthless, unless you can turn it into a business. THEN try to sell it to a big company if you still want to.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/am...
Woops, looks like this has already been invented. http://edison.rutgers.edu/pate...
I totally disagree. If they didn't already read all these books, they aren't going to. These types of recommendations only have utility when the question is about what books to read. If they're actually in the real life situation where that knowledge would be useful, and asking randomly what to do, they're not going to benefit from the books. And they're probably not going to try to either, but if they did try just this one time it would fail and they wouldn't be able to use the knowledge. They would need to be a reader and to read dozens of books on business, and then an individual book that covers their situation could have utility.
If they are at this stage in real life, and not just a fake question by dice, and they are willing to listen to ideas from slashdot users, they're just screwed. They should cut short their pain and just bring in some lawyers, give them ~25% of the company, and hope they can plunder some loot. Because lawyers are going to be the ones who end up with all the money from this, because the patent holder is a cluestick.
Read Deepak Chopra's books. Once you are done go read the entire Chicken Soup series followed by Rich Dad, Poor Dad series. That should suffice.
You either need to find an entrepreneur or be an entrepreneur. Seriously, the hard work is just getting started. You may have a technology, but you don't have a product, a market, a business model, or a customer. So start learning about how you build companies. There are plenty of online classes or books at the library. And forget about starting with big companies just because they are big, you need to find the companies that are hurting the most from the problem you are solving - electrical fires.
You will get the key for unlocking your data only if you buy my product!
Dear [name of CEO],
I have developed a small application that will discreetly install itself on computers and encrypt all data in the filesystems. You are currently enjoying the benefits, as you will soon hear from your emlpoyees; please gather $[huge number] in used bank notes and await further instructions.
Yours sincerely ...
... invented a product that will prevent electrical related fires ...
I think you have either:
A very large ego
A very poor understanding of electrical engineering
Poor language skills (and thus haven't described your invention well)
Regardless of which is true, all paths lead to most certain disappointment.
Given the amount of Hoverboards that are spontaneously combusting at the moment have you thought about approaching them? http://news.slashdot.org/story...
Build a Man a Fire, and He'll Be Warm for a Day. Set a Man on Fire, and He'll Be Warm for the Rest of His Life.
A product that stops electrical fires, you say? Well if you want big companies to buy it, then all you have to do is "think of the children." Get politicians at the local or national level to pass laws and regulations that require electrical products to have your kind of product. And then, gasp, look at what is in the market - your product.
Crony capitalism at its best. It's amoral and filthy, but it works.
Love sees no species.
Step 1: Hire a lawyer.
Step 2: Hire a product development company Here is one I'm sure there are many.
Step 3: ???
Step 4: Profit.
I have tried what you are attempting. Same thing will likely happen. You will run into the attitude that if the idea has any merit they would have thought of it. At least you have a patent.
Your best bet, partner with a good lawyer ( otherwise you won't be able to afford the subsequent legal costs ). Send proposals to lots of companies. If you idea is really useful and can be made profitable then sooner or later someone will put it into a product, forgetting where the idea came from. File your lawsuit(s) and set back and get rich.
I have people come to me with idea for products many times in the last 20 years. They are always concerned someone is going to "steal" their idea. I tell the all the same thing, if your idea is any good you won't have to worry about them stealing it, you will have to ram it down their throats.
Even more directly, do you know who writes the National Electric Code that is generally adopted in toto by every state and local government? The NFPA - a group founded by insurance companies to get fire suppression sprinklers included in buildings to prevent fire deaths and property loss. They have over 300 standards now that are generally accepted as one of the gold standards in safety.
Tiller's Rule: Never use a word in written form that you've only heard and never read. You will end up looking foolish.
As you've discovered, ditching class actually was a bad idea, and those California policies do make things expensive. Whem I was in my 30s I went back to school at WGU. Earlier this year I had to decide if I wanted to own two homes or just one. I decided to sell the old one rather than renting it out. It also helped that I quit spending my time getting stoned.
WGU? Not exactly the most demanding school, but congratulations on finally finishing your bachelor's.
Or maybe we could acknowledge a few facts instead of being condescending dicks.
FTR, most of my friends under 35 rent, and the majority of them have graduate or postgraduate educations.
SWM seeks new sig for a brief fling
Technology created to stop a table saw blade when it contacts skin. Happens fast enough to avoid serious injury. Attempts to sell to major companies fail: They do not want it. Starts his own company and now makes some of the highest rated saws on the market.
Being a landlord generally makes money, because the rent is more than the mortgage. In other words, renting typically costs more than owning.
So the question becomes, are they:
1) Saving up a down payment.
2) Uninformed
3) Planning to move to a new city soon
4) Not that interested in their own financial well-being