Inventing Is Like The Olympics Part 2

Think about organizing your entire life around the chance to run 100 meters in the Olympics four years from today. Just the chance. Every day you'll train for hours, day after day, for years. Think about all of the good luck you'll need avoiding illness and injury to make it to the starting block, the personal sacrifices.

And then you'll have less than 10 seconds to make your dream come true and win gold.

Inventing is like that.

You have a great idea and can spend years developing it, protecting it, making prototypes and then bringing it to market. Whether it's on a shelf in a store, a web page, an email to a potential licensee, or pitching it live and in person, your target typically makes up their mind in less than 10 seconds. The decision to buy. The decision to license.

It can take years and many thousands of dollars just to get the opportunity to have your invention considered. And the consideration, whether it's on a store shelf or an executive's desk, typically lasts just 10 seconds or less.

Minds are made up in an instant. If a product doesn't instantly engage a consumer, it will almost surely fail. If your invention doesn't quickly engage a target licensee, the odds of a deal are nil.

Few sprinters win Olympic Gold Medals. Few inventions succeed. But the pursuit itself is worthy and failure to win this time can be a stepping stone to a better chance next time.
Inventing Like The Olympics Part 1

- Mike