One of the first steps in our process of finding potential buyers or licensees for a clients patent is to build a list of target companies.  Clients usually have an idea of who should be on that list and by in large they are large size, well known, companies.

The trouble is those companies are often the most difficult to approach and to generate interest in the clients invention.   There are a couple of reasons for this.  The large companies tend to be bureaucratic with many layers of  staff between the person who has the authority to buy and the persons who will initially take a call.

Another reason is that the large companies often have internal departments doing R&D on similar technology to the clients patent and these departments often  regard the inventor as a competitor.  There is a real paradox here because these internal experts are also those who might best understand the technical details and benefits of the clients invention.

Its often been suggested by marketing experts to "start at the top" by contacting the CEO or some other high ranking person.  The advantage if you can engage such a person is that they will have the authority to buy.  The disadvantage is that they are very hard to get to as they are protected by layers of underlings and also are usually very short of time.

Large Companies often have gateways for inventors, which often lead to "Submitted Ideas Offices".  Often the reason for these gateways is not to connect to inventors but only to protect the company from lawsuits that might arise if someone in the company talks to the inventor, and the company later brings out a similar product.  The company makes sure that only these offices speak with inventors so they can claim their was no connection between the external inventor and their new product.

Because large companies are so difficult to connect to, small companies often are more attractive targets.  One story I like to tell is about the authors of the "Chicken Soup for the Soul" line of books.  These authors took their book to a trade show and were dismissed by just about everyone including most of the big companies in publishing.

 Finally a small publisher called "Health Publishing"  decided to take their book on.  The company was almost bankrupt.  However when someone had the brilliant idea of giving the book to jurors at the OJ Simpson trial, the exposure that generated caused a sensation and book sales soared to the sky.  Health publishing did very well.  Eventually one of the larger publishers took on the Chicken Soup  books but this was only after they had proved their value in the marketplace.

If you need help determining which companies to target and who to talk to at those companies please give us a call.