What a supid product.....

Several years back I was asked to create a top for a soda can. Needless to say it was not the high point of my inventing career, but it did start my wheels turning. Not about how to create it, but rather why in my entire life I had never seen a person using this product I was sure had already been invented.

A little research and there it was, no less than nine versions of a reusable cap for the top of your soda can. So now I had a mystery to solve. I didn’t know anyone who owned one, I had never seen one being used, and for a product that had been on the market over 30 years that was almost a statistical improbability.

The answer came in a phenomena we call "first purchase". First purchase happens in retail products where the consumer purchases the product once, but never again.

The Can Cap example shows us very clearly how and why this happens.

Each consumer product lives on what I call the Benefit/Detriment scale. Think of it like a see-saw of sorts where you pile things on both sides. First on the detriment side is cost – after all, the consumer has to purchase the product so that will always be the first detriment. We start to balance this out with benefits of the solution the product offers. The name of the product design game is to keep the benefits of the product far higher than the detriments. But that’s not the entire story. The Benefit/Detriment scale often operates within a frame of reference. This frame of reference is called a product use cycle.

Let’s use this simple retail product as an example of how this works.

As you can see from this image the can caps on the market are functional, however they use a manufacturing process called injection molding. While this manufacturing process gives you a very accurate part, it requires expensive tooling that has to eventually be paid for by the consumer.

Consequently, these caps range in price from about $3 to $5 dollars a pack. This price point by design makes them reusable since a consumer does not normally view a product in that range as disposable. This means the product use cycle will repeat itself each time the consumer uses the product.

When you first look at the benefit/detriment scale of the Can Cap, you can see it does exactly what the manufacturer said it would. But when you take a closer look at the entire retail equation, within the context of the use cycle, you find that the benefit/detriment scale is actually shifted far to one side. Let’s look at this example.

It’s Saturday morning and you're taking little Johnny to a soccer game. You grab a coke from the fridge and a can cap from the kitchen drawer. Pop it on, and immediately it starts giving you benefit back for that detriment you suffered in the purchase - exactly as the manufacturer and the inventor said it would.

Fast forward, and its ½ way through the game, you’re done with your coke and you remove the reusable can cap and throw away the empty can.

At that very moment the product starts causing you detriment and the scale starts to tip back. You now have to get this sticky piece of plastic into your pocket for the rest of the game, back to the mini-van, drive it home, take it out of your pocket and wash it off before putting it into the dishwasher, run the dishes, take it from the dishwasher and place it back in the drawer to complete the use cycle – all the while adding nothing but detriment to the scale since the point you took that last sip of coke.

By this time the scale has significantly shifted with far more detriment than the benefit the product offered you back in the store. In fact the product caused you more work than it saved you. This is why you never purchased it again (first sale) and why next Saturday you will likely take your chances without it.

So now we see where the problem is – and as an inventor I have to fix it. In this case the answer was to create a disposable Twist Cap version that fixes the retail equation by making sure the cap and the can end their use cycle at the same time. 

As a disposable piece costing about 20 cents, the Twist Cap has no moving parts (simply rotate to close) and accomplishes the closing mechanism by taking advantage of the natural geometry of the can itself. Simply twist the hole to one side or the other of the can opening and it’s closed. This allows us to take advantage of a much cheaper manufacturing process called vacuum forming.

In the end it wasn’t about the product as a concept being bad, but rather a case of fixing the retail equation by understanding the use cycle, an applying the fixes needed to tip the benefit/detriment scales in favor of the consumer.

A Market Audit...What's that?

We hear the word “Audit” and we instantly think about the IRS. But in the inventing industry the word audit means something good – it means information and that information means better decision making.

One of the first steps in developing a retail product, or getting a product idea ready for licensing is to perform what we call a “Market Audit” we use this tool to understand the current state of the market in which our new product is going to have to live.

In the early stages this is a far more important step than running to the patent attorney or hiring people to work on development. The Audit not only tells you important information about the market, but it lets you know the competitive factors that help you decide to more forward or not.

In conducting a Market Audit you need to first reduce the “product” down to its core function. This is important because audits are done based on function not just on like products. (see blog post http://inventoropinion.blogspot.com/2013/07/want-to-know-where-to-start-you-start.html )

Armed with your function – look for every item currently being sold that is a functional equivalent of what you want to market. List the information in a matrix so you can quickly see the 30,000 foot view of the entire market.

Information like – the store you found it in, the size, packaging type, price, color, benefits, distributor….anything you can think of that gives you a better feel for how this product stacks up to yours.

It’s not complicated, but it is important, so don’t skip this step, in fact make it one of your first steps and you will find it saves you a lot of money and time.

Free money for inventors....

Sorry - Just kidding, but now that I have your attention, I have something very important to tell you. This is not some sermon about how to license a product, or warning about taking things to market without knowing what you're doing.

No, this is much simpler, much more primal to the process of inventing.

This bit of wisdom you should put in your wallet and carry with you everywhere you go for the rest of your natural life. It's the ultimate fortune cookie advice that every inventor should have at the forefront of their thought process.

This very simple reality guides everything you will ever do in the world of inventing retail products. So here it is:

"A retail product is simply a wrapper for a solution to a consumer problem" 

WOW! That's really cool! This one simple statement sums up the entire process you have tried so hard to wrap your mind around.

But what does it mean? 

Let me explain - We are all consumers, and as our daily lives unfold we experience problems we need solved. If you strip away the fancy logo and catchy jingle you will see that retailers are just the place we (as people with problems) go to find ready-made solutions.

Retailers are the repositories of the solutions to everyday problems such as: I'm hungry, I have no way to get home, my clothes stink, my room is a mess, and so on. 

When we have those problems, but the retailer doesn't have the solution, we use our natural tendencies as inventors to find a new solution. When we find that solution, we take it to the manufacturers who will place it in their repository so the next time someone has the problem they can buy the solution. 

We as retail product inventors are simply the ones that keep the repository full of new solutions that apply to the broadest group of people experiencing those problems.

The larger the group of people having the problems the more value the solution has - simple as that.

So, spend some time thinking about this statement "A retail product is simply a wrapper for a solution to a consumer problem" don't over analyze it. Just take it for what it is, and apply it to the consumer invention you are working on. Figure out what the problem is your invention solves, and be honest about how many people it really helps.

You will be amazed at how well these simple words can guide you closer to success.

Now get back out to the shed and find me a solution!

Mark Reyland

She's so HOT!!!!

I recently saw a show on TV about how the mind works. It was fascinating to think about how the mind processes data – but more specifically how the mind fills in the blanks when real information is missing.

Here’s a great example of what I’m talking about. What do you see in this picture?

Like most of us you likely see a woman’s backside. Why? - Because your mind took the basic information and filled in what it didn't have with assumptions. We as Inventors often do the same thing.

As the inventor rushes down the road with their shiny new invention headed straight for the wild and often scary world of business, quickly realizing it’s a world we know little about.

We enter armed with a few bits of real information we picked up along the way, some information we believe is true because we saw it on some stupid inventor TV show, but largely we leave our minds to do what they do best - fill in the blanks with assumptions and force fed images of what our mind is now telling us is reality.

The problem is, just like your mind tells you this is a picture of a woman’s backside – the mind is often wrong. This is in fact, a picture of a pair of shoes – Ahhhh, now you see it!

The same is true with the assumptions we make about the business end of the inventing industry. Taking a little bit of known information and allowing your mind to fill in the blanks is a really bad idea in business. You need to take the time to educate yourself on the real processes and information associated with taking an invention to the market.

Don’t listen to your friends who know as little as you do about the process, don’t listen to your Dog, or your Cat. Take the time to fill your mind with real information so it’s not left to fill in the blanks with assumptions that could later cost you a great opportunity or a lot of money.

Mark Reyland

I went broke inventing!

 No you didn't, you went broke entrepreneuring. In fact, in all the years I've been in this industry I can safely say I've never seen anyone go broke inventing.
 

Unlike it's close cousin Innovation, which we all know is the presentation of a hypothesis. Inventing is simply the proving of that same hypothesis.  To accomplish this feat of daring we may spend some money on research, maybe make a prototype or two, even spend a little money on having some parts made to prove the functional reality of our theory.

However, when those tasks are completed, our point has been proven, and we stand victorious over the innovation -  the inventing process is over. That's right, it's over. finished, ended, accomplished, whatever word you want to use - but inventing time is officially over.

So how did you go broke, and why did you need so much money in the first place? Because you didn't know when inventing time ended and entrepreneuring time began.

You marched off into the world of business holding your shinny new invention and never even knew it. Simple really, like most independent inventors you never got a map of your journey before you left the shed, and you ended up lost.

So how do we fix this problem? Well it's not so hard if you take the time to prepare. You need to understand the phases you will be going through on your way from the shed to the market and decide which of those phases you (and your family) should be going through.

Obviously the biggest jump is from inventing to entrepreneuring. It's where the real risks begin and where most inventors fail. To avoid being the next name on a very long list of broke inventors simply ask yourself these basic questions.

Am I an inventor or an entrepreneur?

Do I know enough about being an entrepreneur to risk my family's treasure?

Do I even know where the line is between the two?

Are there better ways to reach the market that allow me to stay focused on inventing?

These are simple questions really. It's not even a very complicated subject. What makes it difficult for most inventors is that it requires honesty and a long hard look at ourselves. It requires us to face our shortcomings and put our emotions in perspective. It's not easy, but it is necessary.

Do it for yourself, do it for the society we serve as inventors, but most of all do it for your family. That small group of people who love you unconditionally and trust that you are being a good steward of their faith in you.