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Some Good and Bad News - My Inventions
by muddejp » Wed Apr 14, 2010 8:32 am
- muddejp
- White Belt
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- Joined: Tue Oct 14, 2008 7:06 am
I would like to officially introduce myself and tell a little about my story. As most inventors who are working on getting products to market, the story is long so I will try to make it brief to get started. I still have a full-time job as an electrical engineer and I don't see myself doing inventing full-time anytime soon. My goal is to pay for my kids future college through my inventions. I have only been in this invention world for 2-3 years so I am a rookie.
Why did I get in the inventing addiction program? I have always had ideas but one idea I really thought was worth something. A toy I invented.
What Happened? I built a prototype of this toy and I fell in love with it. I had no idea what to do next but I heard of a casting call for Everday Edisons in Atlanta in Feb 2008. Ultimately after 9 months of "holding" my product they passed on it.
On my own now, I made some connections and presented to Mattel. They said they were interested but ultimately passed in Feb 2009. The next week, I took my toy to Toy Fair in NY to see what I could do with it. I ended up meeting Richard Levy and we became good friends since then.
The toy industry is very difficult to get into. Possibly the hardest. I am still working on finding the right company to take this toy. I know that it will do well with the right company. Along the way I have been creating new inventions, presenting to companies and learning a ton about the industry from Richard. In October 2009 I came up with a pet product idea and prototyped it. Later that month, we presented it a company and they licensed it. This product went from idea to reality in what I think is an incredibly short time. We are set to deliver product August 1, 2010. We presented the product to the pet industry at the Global Pet Expo in March and it went really well. It is called "Cool Down Doggie" and is a dog leash with and integrated misting system to keep dog's cool and help prevent heat exhaustion.
I sometimes think I was cursed by coming up with a toy idea as my first invention that I thought worthy of pursuing, but sometimes the road is more important than the destination. This is a quick introduction to the story but I know from being a forum reader that a post any longer will put me to sleep. I will post more about it later.
Why did I get in the inventing addiction program? I have always had ideas but one idea I really thought was worth something. A toy I invented.
What Happened? I built a prototype of this toy and I fell in love with it. I had no idea what to do next but I heard of a casting call for Everday Edisons in Atlanta in Feb 2008. Ultimately after 9 months of "holding" my product they passed on it.
On my own now, I made some connections and presented to Mattel. They said they were interested but ultimately passed in Feb 2009. The next week, I took my toy to Toy Fair in NY to see what I could do with it. I ended up meeting Richard Levy and we became good friends since then.
The toy industry is very difficult to get into. Possibly the hardest. I am still working on finding the right company to take this toy. I know that it will do well with the right company. Along the way I have been creating new inventions, presenting to companies and learning a ton about the industry from Richard. In October 2009 I came up with a pet product idea and prototyped it. Later that month, we presented it a company and they licensed it. This product went from idea to reality in what I think is an incredibly short time. We are set to deliver product August 1, 2010. We presented the product to the pet industry at the Global Pet Expo in March and it went really well. It is called "Cool Down Doggie" and is a dog leash with and integrated misting system to keep dog's cool and help prevent heat exhaustion.
I sometimes think I was cursed by coming up with a toy idea as my first invention that I thought worthy of pursuing, but sometimes the road is more important than the destination. This is a quick introduction to the story but I know from being a forum reader that a post any longer will put me to sleep. I will post more about it later.
Re: Some Good and Bad News - My Inventions
by apapage » Wed Apr 14, 2010 12:51 pm
- apapage
- Green Belt
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- Joined: Tue Jun 23, 2009 6:30 pm
- Location: NYC
Good luck.
I did some patent work for a toy company many years ago and it is like no other. The competition is fierce, copying is expected, and there is very limited life for the product (except for a few types of toys). On the plus side, the market is huge and the rewards high if you are able to get your product to market.
I did some patent work for a toy company many years ago and it is like no other. The competition is fierce, copying is expected, and there is very limited life for the product (except for a few types of toys). On the plus side, the market is huge and the rewards high if you are able to get your product to market.
A Papageorgiou
http://www.patentlawforinventors.com
http://www.patentlawforinventors.com
Re: Some Good and Bad News - My Inventions
by randyNH » Sat Apr 17, 2010 4:01 am
- randyNH
- Yellow Belt
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- Joined: Wed Sep 24, 2008 5:16 pm
Have you tried an agent for your toy idea? I have read that some companies you cannot even talk to without and agent. I personally never have used an agent, but if I couldn't talk to a company any other way I might consider it. I know that Roger Brown licensed an idea to Hog Wild Toys with only having them sign a NDA. I understand that Hog wild toys is an inventor friendly company.
Re: Some Good and Bad News - My Inventions
by muddejp » Tue Apr 20, 2010 6:00 am
- muddejp
- White Belt
- Posts: 7
- Joined: Tue Oct 14, 2008 7:06 am
Yes, some companies say you must use an agent. I actually am using an agent and that makes the submissions go much quicker. Even the companies that say that you must have an agent usually will let you present your idea. It just usually takes a lot longer to get to the right person in the company and get NDAs signed etc..
It has been my experience that finding the right person and getting NDAs set up on your own can take up to six months, where with an agent a product submission usually takes less than a week and the responses come back much quicker.
It has been my experience that finding the right person and getting NDAs set up on your own can take up to six months, where with an agent a product submission usually takes less than a week and the responses come back much quicker.
Re: Some Good and Bad News - My Inventions
by Sexxxy Beast » Fri May 21, 2010 1:56 pm
- Sexxxy Beast
- White Belt
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- Joined: Sun May 16, 2010 7:58 am
how much is the leash idea getting you annually or estimated to get you annually?
Re: Some Good and Bad News - My Inventions
by muddejp » Wed Jun 02, 2010 9:20 am
- muddejp
- White Belt
- Posts: 7
- Joined: Tue Oct 14, 2008 7:06 am
I have not come up with projected revenues at this time and I am not sure I would be able to post them if I did. It will all be determined based on the wholesale price and how well the product does at retail.
What I can say is that my licensor is doing a great job with both timeline and marketing. So it will be up to the public how much money it makes.
We are currently approving the final design for manufacturing. There have been some great design improvements to make it more ergononic and robust.
Here is a link to an MSNBC.com article that mentions it.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36463646/ns ... et_travel/
Look for it at number 9.
This shows the original design and not the new one. The new manufactured product should hit the US by Sept 1, 2010
What I can say is that my licensor is doing a great job with both timeline and marketing. So it will be up to the public how much money it makes.
We are currently approving the final design for manufacturing. There have been some great design improvements to make it more ergononic and robust.
Here is a link to an MSNBC.com article that mentions it.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36463646/ns ... et_travel/
Look for it at number 9.
This shows the original design and not the new one. The new manufactured product should hit the US by Sept 1, 2010
6 posts
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