The Art and Market of Everyday Things

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The Art and Market of Everyday Things

• T.Basche
• Curiosity Club May 2nd 2006

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Introduction

• Product designer for 20 years
• Hardware Pr1me, HP, Computervision, Apollo,
  MIPS, SUN, Visioneer
• Software Visioneer, Remedy, Logictier, Apple,
  Macrovision
• Always was inventing
• Have had a notebook for 30 years
• I write my ideas down tracking the thought
  process
• Inventing is the creative starting point for all
  product development

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Look where they Aint

• Sand Hill road and all the brain cells are
  focused on
• RUBY on RAILS open source environments
• Web 2.0 Applications
• Wireless
• Social Networking
• Broadband delivery
• Blogs and blog search engines and feeds
• Think of how much and IQ Power is focused on
  those areas.

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The lights better over here

• Many traditional markets are dominated by OLD
  companies.
• Companies that have not innovated in decades
• Companies that do not attract the best and
  brightest
• These markets are enormous
• Pet Products 40B
• Power Tools 25B
• Promotional Products (PPAI) 20B (yes, 20B in
  tshatshkes)
• Mechanical Locks 5B
• There is a huge untapped market in applying state
  of the art
• Creative thinking
• Design techniques
• Marketing and positioning
• Ie. Real innovation to all of these old, markets
  and products.

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By the numbers..

• 75 of the people I talk tell me I have this
  idea
• 97 Of all patents filed do not recover the cost
  of filing.
• 500M/Year is fleeced from Inventors by Promotion
  firms.
• File a Patent 15K USA Only 30K Europe
• Office actions, adjustments of claims, etc
• How long from filing to issue ?
• Trademark 3K USA
• A good license deal yields 5 of retail
• Taking a consumer product to market as a company
  takes 300-500K in working capital.

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The One(s) that Got Away

• Sun-Watch 1984

• Yo-Go 1986

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The One(s) that Got Away

• Digital Tuner 1979

• Color changing Sunscreen 1990

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The Idea is only the beginning

• Elevator Pitch
• Market segmentation
• Detailed understanding of the Competition
• Analysis of Manufacturing costs
• Prototypes (yes you need one)
• Sell Sheet
• Marketing and Positioning of your product
• How your product is differentiated
• Intellectual Property Protection strengthens
  position but not required.

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Shelly Hunter, MomgtInventor
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Stephen Key, Full Time Inventor

• Over 20 products licensed.

Shipped on 300M products world wide.
Rotating Label gt 8 Patents used worldwide
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Stephen Key

• Guitar pick market dominated by two vendors.
• Size of Market is 200M worldwide.
• No innovation in 100 years
• Stephen came in and built a 5M business in 3
  years.
• Distributed in over 5000 stores worldwide.

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Once there was a pool fence
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Original Elevator Pitch

• WordLock is a next generation combination lock
  that enables kids and adults to set the
  combination using words that are easier to
  remember and more fun than numbers.

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Original Renderings
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Concept was Extendable

• Padlocks, luggage, luggage locks, bike locks, ski
  locks, kids banks, laptop locks
• Theme products
• Movie Words
• Sports
• Animals
• Languages
• Can be in local languages

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A long and winding road.

• Idea in Notebook January, 1998
• Patent filed October 1999
• Drawings of Prototype March 2000
• Turned down by Masterlock March 2000
• Lost Momentum 2001
• Had prototype built 2002
• Cold Called Struck out 2002
• Advice Know your market (Padlock, Bike Lock,
  Laptop , .)
• Patent issued September 16th, 2003
• Contract signed with STAPLES June 25th 2004
• On store shelves June 20th 2005, Now in 2000
  stores.

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The License Process

• Look for Markets that are large and lack
  innovation.
• Validate size of target market
• Brainstorm ideas
• Validate not already in the market
• Develop product concepts
• Produce prototypes, Sell sheet and pitch
• Track down market leaders and contacts within
  them . (sales not dev or prod marketing)
• Cold Call and pitch idea (Yes always better with
  introductions)

Get to prototype as quickly as possible, present
product and get feedback quickly. Go/no go and
move on.
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In the pipeline

• Wrestle WordLock away from STAPLES and license
  more broadly.
• Rice Rockers (talking to General Mills and
  Mattson)
• Two new innovative locker locks (Built-in)
• Easy-Hanger
• Childs Cup-Nightlight

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Easy Hanger

• One touch
• Patentable
• Consumable Cartridge of hooks
• Lighted-tip
• Just press and hang.

Easy-Hanger
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Whats Next

• VCs now starting to see the potential
• Evergreen IP founded just to back inventors
• Researching a new product line for Boomers

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Questions ?
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Rice Rockers

• Puffed Rice molded into cylinders 4 long.
• Molds hold the rice and heat it till it puffs,
  and it puffs into the mold in the shape of a
  cylinder with a hollow core.
• Rice can be White, Brown, Jasmine etc.
• Filled with healthy fillings as a ready made
  snack.
• Peanut Butter
• Red Bean Paste
• Fig Jam
• Sesame Seed Paste
• Combinations Peanut butter and Chocolate.

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Rice Rockers Visuals