How to Submit New Product Ideas
Imagine you have an idea for a household cleaner that would make a great new product for Proctor & Gamble. Or, you have an idea for a new feature for an Apple iPhone. What are your chances of making money by submitting your new idea to Proctor & Gamble or Apple?
During 10 years working as a patent lawyer for a multi-national company, I managed the review of thousands of product ideas submitted to my company by outsiders. The vast majority of these ideas were rejected after no more than a cursory review. From my experience, below are 10 tips to improve the way you submit a new product idea to a company.
Most companies have a bias against outside ideas
To increase their chance of success, anyone submitting a new product idea to a company should understand most companies are biased against outside ideas.
While some may criticize this bias as part of the "not invented here" syndrome of a company with little imagination, there are good reasons for this bias:
• Most outside ideas aren't worth enough to spend the time needed to review them.
• Accepting outside ideas brings a high risk of being accused of "stealing" them.
• Most outside ideas do not fit in well with the company's existing business plans.
• Many people submitting ideas are hard to work with, and are unrealistic.
Due to this bias, companies set up procedures for reviewing outside ideas which includes a person tasked with acting like a hockey goalie to block outside ideas from being improperly submitted.
From my decade of working like a hockey goalie to protect my company from outside ideas, here are 10 tips for submitting new product ideas to companies:
10 Tips for Submitting New Product Ideas
Tip
| Description
|
|---|---|
Use the company's idea submission process
| Check the company's Internet site to see if it has an idea submission process. If so, follow it.
|
Clearly describe the product idea
| What is the idea? What are its benefits? How will it make money for the company?
|
Identify the part of the company that would most likely be interested
| Especially for large companies, don't assume the person managing the idea understands it
|
Wait until you've filed a patent application or received a patent before submitting the idea
| Most companies won't pay for an outside idea unless they know their competitors can't use it
|
Include a short PowerPoint presentation
| The person managing the idea will need to communicate the idea to others at the company
|
Include other things of value
| What else can you do to help the company? Could you help them develop the idea? Could they use your name to sell it?
|
Propose a win-win licensing deal with the company
| Don't just ask for $10,000,000 up front. Instead, propose a deal where you'll make money if they make money (e.g., a royalty arrangement)
|
Make your submission look professional and trustworthy
| Make your submission stand out from the hundreds or thousands of worthless submissions the company gets.
|
Act like a reasonable person they'll want to deal with
| Nobody likes to work with a jerk. So act professionally, be courteous, and be helpful
|
Be persistent, but not annoying
| Busy companies may forget to review your idea. Following up after 3 or 4 weeks is persistent. Following up every day is annoying
|
Disclaimer
Disclaimer: The author has retired from the practice of law. This cursory article is for information purposes only, is not legal advice, and does not establish any attorney-client relationship. The author encourages any reader with questions about submitting new product ideas to companies to contact an attorney.
