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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?
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
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.
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.
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!
Fires from the products you mentioned are pretty rare compared to say space heaters, stoves, toaster ovens etc.
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.
and one of us will send it up the chain if it looks useful
Many corporations have policies that ban employees from looking at patents. If you look at the patent, you can later be found liable for intentional infringement. It is better to just ignore existing patents, and document your research, so you can latter show it was independently developed, and maybe invalidate the patent by claiming it was "obvious". If you really need to check existing patents, it is best to do it through a patent attorney who is not involved in R&D.
Many corporations will also refuse to talk to independent inventors. Most of their "inventions" are crap, and it just leaves the corporation open to a lawsuit if they do, or are already doing, something similar.
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.
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!
This!
You're just knocking on doors asking companies to expose themselves to lawsuits for the dubious reward of paying you to sit on your ass and do nothing while they dump buckets of money into turning your patent into a product. Not attractive.
If you want a big company to pay for your idea, start a business. Succeed with your idea. Then get your company bought out. You'll get money for effort. Y'know, money you deserve, for putting in the effort.
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.