Finding a Licensing Partner
Keep in mind that until you have made personal contact with company executives, paid a visit to their offices, gotten to know them, and most importantly, talked with others who have licensed products there, you will not have a full picture of the situation.
Consider some tips on how to find the right home for your invention:
◆ Put a lot of time into researching and selecting which potential licensees to approach. Do not rush the process. Match your inventions with company capabilities and profiles.
◆ Do not make the error of insufficient options. Expect rejections—lots of them—so line up as many candidates as possible.
◆ Find out if the company works with outside inventors. The best tests for this are: how many, if any, licensed products are in the company’s line, and does the company have an inventor relations department or system for outside submissions? Study product. Get catalogues. Surf the web.
◆ You want to sell to a company that would be classified by the U.S. Navy as a “friendly port.” The best way to find out is by meeting other inventors who have licensed to the company. I have found that although companies in the same industry do not talk to each other, inventors discuss contract terms, share impressions, and otherwise spill their guts to each other at the drop of a hat. After all, it is us against them.
Every September, a group of toy inventors and their spouses get together and spend a three-day working weekend at a beautiful country inn in Vermont. Some folks travel from as far away as California and England. What do they do while walking through the woods, biking, antiquing, and eating? They share experiences. “Mike is a terrific guy.” “I was ripped off by so and so.” “I got a $75,000 advance from David. What did you get?” “How did you have that clause removed?” And on and on it goes.
After the weekend, attendees’ phones typically ring with executives wanting to know if their names came up in conversation, and if so, in what context. As for the executives, they reap what they sow.
In south Florida, there is another group of toy inventors called The Sunshine Santas. These elves share information on an almost daily basis, socializing throughout the year and even collaborating on projects.
A key question inventors ask each other is whether they have had an audit conducted of a specific company’s books and if so, what the results were. The answer could tell volumes about the company.
See Chapter 23 for details on how to hook up with a group. There tends to be great camaraderie among inventors.
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