It's just an opinion

It seems in this industry the one thing inventor wants almost as much as a million-dollar deal is feedback.

Professionals in this industry are often asked: what do you think of my product? Will people buy it? Can I get a deal on it?… Even, will you invest in it?

Although there may be some people in the industry that feel that they do, most of us realized long ago we have no crystal ball. At the end of the day we all have to walk to the end of the diving board jump off, and hope there's water in the pool. Although there are a lot of things that we learn in this industry about how consumers react and what they may likely buy - none of us know for sure.

So what is this elusive feedback but and individuals opinion. Because it's just an opinion, it's probably less important that we get the opinion, than it is who we get it from.

The spectrum of experience in the inventing industry is so vast the feedback an inventor is likely to get about their idea is based on that individual’s expertise in one section of the linear commercialization process.

A good example of this may be asking for feedback from a sales rep. The response you will receive should be very accurate in terms of the kinds of products retailers are currently looking for. However, it may be inaccurate in terms of the product’s manufacturability, distribution, or function.

That doesn't in any way make the opinion lesson valid, as long as the inventor understands it's rooted in the part of the process where that person has experience.

So how do we get the best feedback? We look for professionals in the industry that specialize in different areas and we asked the questions over and over. The answers should be taken exactly as they are given – as a single data point to be mixed with other data points and used to paint a mental picture of probability.