Well, I’m glad Mattel is still considering a few from EN. Can you tell us if they were compound products or other outdoor items?

There are 4 open items with Mattel, but there are people who don’t go into the forums often…so for majority of the ones left probably won’t see much comments besides my updates.

Wow, so is that everyone now?

Thanks Sherri but just checked the dashboard to find an R8.

Joseph…I hope there are still some more green!! I think the only one still green here in the forums is Shawna?! Fingers crossed for you, Shawna!

Mike D…. hope floats… :-)

Glad you’re in, Michael. This Fund is going to be a lot of fun when it gets moving, I think. The more irons in the fire, the better. Hope floats.

Sorry for the Reds. JoeMc, Michael & Michael and everybody. Sorry for the last post derailing the topic a little bit. At least your projects were presented :o). Sorry again.

Is anyone still green???

Mike D. Thanks for the pep talk. I’ve resubmitted 1!
Thanks Kevin, It is good to see the personable side of EN. They are a one of a kind company and it is paying off for everybody!
It’s all good Jane. Thanks!

I got a ‘pop-up’ trivia fromm Dictionary.com yesterday, explaining it. Now that i want the link, can’t finfd it.

Well, you know how we spell Cool and Crazy, with a K?

I think it originated in the second part of 19th century…

OK are the initials of

Oll Korrect

which obviously was the “kool” way of saying ‘All Correct’

Krazy and kool, uh?’

Very sorry, Michael!! :-(

Michael H

1st, Bummer on the (second) r8. You know, though, that you have to rework it somewhat and pay again. Those aren’t necessarily deal-breakers, I know, but EN really emphasizes that they want NEW stuff. This thread took a FANTASTICALLY informative spin several posts ago…and I am SOOO grateful for the parties (I think the other Mike, for one) for pressing the question of whether EN for sure “keeps track” of good ideas for future “partners”. I am seeing more of Scott Dromms’ MOST EXCELLENT handy work in tackling the question. I have posed that precise question on forums, directly to other personnel, a past g8 winner (twice) who doesn’t post here, but whose successful product introduction hinted at the idea that maybe that’s how it came to be…ie EN remembering it and approaching THE INVENTOR for permission to take it elsewhere. I loved that possibility, BUT

I can clearly see the problems, and there are a lot…like..

Why theirs, not mine? Where does it say you will do that? Did you consider mine too when you looked into people’s past entries? and Can you double check mine? …and so on…I assumed that that was the reason my question was kind of being worked around. And I was fine with that.

Things are-a-changing for the better, now, though. And maybe it’s just TIME for this explanation to be presented, but Thank You Too Much Scott. I actually had a very pleasant personalized contact with Scott at the start of this search, initiated by him after I submitted an idea. I was nearly floored, it was so cool. Anyway Michael, with that explanation below, your idea is probably pretty fresh in their mind, and will probably have the “flag” that they are talking about. jmho

I’d like to know, too. For some reason, I’m thinking it has to do with the wild, wild west, and the OK Corral.

In Oklahoma, its ok

Mike,
Thanks for that! I think I will!

Michael, enter it immediately. You can tweak it even after it’s been submitted. You can alter description, add media, whatever. But you’ve got to get it in before midnight. If you got to G7, it’s good.

Hi Andrew, Thanks.
Just got home to it about an hour ago and don’t think I could “tweak” it fast enough to enter the Fund Search.
I’m confident That EN will eventually find homes for some of our toys.

Chris and Scott, Thanks for everything you did. It was very much appreciated. It would be nice to see if anyone faired well in this search…

Luis, I can’t debate a single point of yours. You might be spot on about them, and about the chance that there might have been something they might have liked better from EN. But because they had a part in the parameters set forth to us, which were vague at best, it was more like a riddle than a search. Is it our fault for not solving their riddle, or theirs for putting us in the position? I don’t know, but it doesn’t matter that much. There are more searches on the way, and other toy companies for us to hit up. Onward and upward.

As for Mr./Mrs. Suit, yes, ulterior motives, hidden agendas, and incompetence are always possible. Smart companies bring in new people to provide new ideas and direction, to stay ahead of the curve. Polaroid did it, by going digital. Kodak didn’t. Did Kodak screw up? Absolutely. Did Mattel? Time will tell.

Bummer Michael….had my fingers crossed for you….Did you enter it in the Innovation Fund Search (think it ends tonight)?
Anyone on the boards still in on Mattel?

I love those intriguing open ended profound posts :o). What do they mean?

Papa Jim, you just reminded me of Socrates. Sincerely. I feel exactly the same way.

However, I bet you I know something you don’t. I learned it today.

I bet you don’t know the origin of the term ‘OK’

2nd R8, I,m out.
Now more than ever I would love to see Wham-O sell 10 million of these!
That said, I can’t help but be challenged by Mattel’s parameters. It’s just my nature and I’ll be thinking about it often.
Perhaps when one of us comes up with exactly what their looking for, we’ll be glad they pushed us to that point!
Time to move on. Don’t forget…less than 6 hours to “last call”!! Greatness is just around the corner!!!

I am back from my walk.

Paul that might likely be so.

I kind of agree with you to certain extent. My position is actually that the people at the meeting were not impressed by what they saw. An unavoidable corollary is that they might have been impressed by something that they did not see.

I think the proposition is simply undebatable.

I don’t mean to villify anybody. But I am not willing to automatically glorify anybody either. Just eyes and mind open. Sadly, the other ‘experts’ might have ulterior motives, hidden agendas or be incompetent. Or NOT.

If Hemingway adviced us to develop a built-in BS detector, over 50 years ago (He died in ’61) I am inclined to believe that that detector is much more necessary nowadays.

It is life, my friend.

I’m sure EN and Mattel made certain there were more than just suits in the room to view the concepts through a number of different professional lenses. You have to understand that a company like Mattel already has the best of the best in creative talent. Most of them come from Art Center and other high profile design schools. These are the kind of creative folks that contribute to companies like Apple, Pixar, Hasbro etc… So the fact that they may have already seen similar ideas should come as no surprise.

On the other hand, I’ve experienced throughout my product design career a number of situations where the decision makers drop the ax on ideas they’ve evaluated before. Even if the technology or costs have become more obtainable since. It’s called expert mind syndrome. They’re so in tune with what is currently working in their business that they sometimes lose sight of how to think from a beginners mind standpoint.

What do i know, Mike? I just don’t know.

I am inclined to believe that the ‘suits’ at large corporations are as varied as people are in any other circles of life. I guess that we should not paint them all with the same brush as ‘infallible’ nor should we paint them all with the same wide brush as ‘clueless’.

But both species do exist. And some individuals may actually belong to both species at different times. It is the reasoning behind their decisions or inability to make decisions or inability to commit to a decision once it has been made, that is really perplexing and disconcerting.

Just like there is the ‘wow’ effect that Papa Jim mentioned, there is certainly a ‘WhatThaf?’ factor regarding their reasonings.

The ‘suits’ at Xerox, stoppped the evolution of personal computers, which later lead to expansion and availability the internet as perhaps the most enabling communication and educational tool of the 20th century. They sabotaged this progress. They dumped the Graphic User Interface technology, developed at Xerox’s labs at Palo Alto Research Center in California.

Thanks to Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Billl Gates and other men and women that did have the vision those ‘suits’ did not have, for rescuing the ‘GUI’ technology that enabled all this progress in the last what? 25/30 years? The arrogance of ‘we know what is needed and you don’t’. We know what has market and you don’t. We know what will sell and you don’t.

Maybe these are the same guys who embrace, finance and launch those proverbial fiascos that give innovation a skeptical reputation that make some other ‘suits’ hesitate, when they have a viable opportunity in front of them. Commitment and also the lack thereof is a huge deal, that affects us all humans in all aspects of life.

Going back to the ‘whatThaf?’ factor mentioned above, I can’t help to smile while I type this and shake my head in disbelief.

The following examples are provided in an impersonal, abstract manner. It is best that way, I think. No company names are necessary. No particulars are necessary.

This is an R8 feedback I received. I am paraphrasing. I am not going to look for the specific wording.

“The project is not innovative enough. It simply adds ‘oneofthese’

This is my unsolicited feedback about Mr. or Mrs. Suit feedback:

Well, Mr. or Mrs. Suit, that additional ‘oneofthese’ and its unique structure actually allows you to enter into a lucrative market that is banned to you, as it is monopolized by company ‘X’ by patent protection. The additional ‘oneofthese’ may actually make you own the largest share of the market. You’ll have a better product for a similar price, and you can now ban Company ‘X’ through patent protection.

The simpler the innovation the better it is, Mr.?Mrs. Suit. How did you get to this high position without knowing this?

It is very reassuring Mr./Mrs. Suit, that you were not in charge of Gilllette (or was it Schick?) when they launched the double razor blade. After all, how much innovation is in there? It is simply one additional ’oneof’em’ blades.

3M would have never had a chance with ‘Post-It’ had you, Mr. or Mrs Suit been in charge of selecting the new products to be launched. Where is the innovation? Paper was invented thousands of years ago. Pressure Sensitive adhesive was maybe 50 years old when Post It was developed by Arthur Fry.

Was that a true reason, or simply an excuse, because you are unable to commit Mr./Mrs. Suit? If that is the case you owe it to your company to resign. You are a liability.

This is another R8 feedback saturated with the ‘whatThaf’ factor. Please, let us keep the references anonymous. That is the only way they can be useful. Again, I am just paraphrasing.

(There were 3 separate projects that got the same feedback) “The company is not persuaded that the solution proposed amounts to substantial reduction of costs”

Come again? Submitter can only persuade you of the importance of evaluating in depth the proposed solution.

Then it is you and only you who can get actual quotations and actual estimates. After you convoked the Search, it is your duty to do so. It is your due diligence to do it.

Only you know the quantities, frequency, shipping distances, shipping means, state taxes, etc, to gather the necessary data to ascertain whether or not it willl in fact impart significant savings in costs.

Was that just an excuse, Mr./Mrs. Suit, because you don’t know how to do your job, or are you for real suggesting that if i am a little more aggressive in my presentation(s) I could have persuaded you to embrace the project(s) without making a careful cost analysis and evaluationn?

I’m telling you. What do I know? Time for my walk :o)

Can we have a “Do Over”…please??? :^) This was such a fun LPS!!!

Right on, Papa.

Like Nerf, nobody imagined the Hula Hoop would become what it became. I wouldn’t be surprised if the next big thing is right under our noses. Could be a compound yet to be applied to toys, could be an existing utility, but I wonder if the first polypropelene ball (future Nerf) or cheap plastic ring (future Hula Hoop) was met immediately with “wow,” or “Hmm, it’s cheap, low-risk, so what the hell, let’s give it a shot and see.” I’m not sure the “wow” didn’t take a few months, after it sold its first million.

I don’t know, Luis. I kinda think they don’t even know what they want. By putting the onus on the inventor, asking for new compounds, etc, it seems to me they are looking for something they’re really unsure about. But if that were easy to come up with, they’d have it by now, imo. Nerf came out 41 years ago, and has been peerless for a reason. Mattel was shooting for the stars, so to speak, and so focused were they that they didn’t see the moon beneath their noses, perhaps. Just my opinion. I was Rxed at 6, so what do I know. I’d love to see them come to EN looking for a cool new toy, rather than a new compound, etc.

Well. I can’t resist.

I can’t help to wonder if they were not impressed by what was presented, it is clear that their criteria is not in sync with EN’s.

Then, maybe there was something to impresss them in what was not presented.

Maybe. Just maybe.

I also think you guys are doing a great job…heck it’s better than no comment or no feedback just to get to the presentation stage means you should continue to present to other companies as that alone is great feedback! I have been inventing for 4 years and I can honestly say that it’s so very difficult to even get a foot in the door let alone a “face to face” meeting about your ideas and you do the inventing and EN does that hard part to include the expense….EN wants to succeed just as much as we do, maybe even more so I feel confident they represent us as the inventor as if they themselves were that inventor…they make money, we make money…well said Scott! Keep up the great work, and I am enjoying seeing you guys more in the forums and communication is stellar these days!

Makes perfect sense, Scott. I am very glad to hear it. Thank you.

Mike -

Great question. One of the key initiatives we have been focused on is the bringing to market of more items. The avenues to do this did broaden when we launched the Innovation Fund and the attached licensing program. As we review submissions now we review them for the specific LPS, but the entire team also may “star” an item that allows us to make quick reference comments for another sponsor we think may be a possible fit. We have reached out to some folks and had patented/patent pending ideas put into the Innovation Fund, so that it can be part of the licensing program. I also know that we scour through the database and will reach out at times to an inventor who had a submission that we feel we may have a lead on…so yes sort of grabbing the bull by the horns approach. We would prefer that we are reaching out to you in advance, letting you know that we may share the idea with another potential sponsor etc., . We would always do this if it an idea that has no patent protection especially, as we would never want to disclose any information .

We are only successful if our community is successful and it is our goal to commercialize more great ideas.

Scott,

To echo what everybody has said, thank you for all you and EN do. I have experienced working both alone and through an agent, and I find EN to be friend, agent, and vested partner all-in-one. You guys are indispensable, knowledgeable, and trustworthy.

That said, your last post makes me wonder something. Will EN present a G7 product from a specific LPS to other companies, should the sponsoring search partner pass? Specifically, you’d said “some items presented” to Mattel may fit into another company’s system. Must the respective “item” be entered into the Fund for this type of additional consideration, or will EN take the liberty of taking the so-called bull by the horns, agent-style, “looking at avenues”? Thanks.

Hey Scott I know you guys kick butt and that you can only pass on the feedback that you are given….sorry to appear ungrateful….that is not the case at all…..my idea will be safe in the database until the next search comes around……I think 2 or 3 of us are still green and on the scene and I look forward to see who makes it in this one……

Joseph -

I agree with your view. We strive to bring essential feedback to the community and I personally am frustrated when I fall short on delivering that to you all. One positive note was we thought highly of several of the items, and one of our agents in the field actually fielded a call from another contact at end of week in the toy industry. Looking at this companies portfolio we feel as if some of the items presented (and not liked by Mattel) may fit into this other companies system.

I can assure you that we will always be looking at avenues to help our community take their items to market.

Joseph -Thanks for your opinion, it is honest, appreciated and shared.

Scott….I am venting frustration and I do feel bad for EN people like you who get the brunt of it… I know both the innovator and EN have a lot riding on every idea..a lot of man hours are involved..from concept and primary development on this side to research and further development on the EN side…cost of flights and salaries and to just get blown out of the water just is terrible…I know feedback has been great in other searches and this is not my first R8…its just frustrating to look for the feedback brightside of an R8 and find Mattels version is….batteries not included…..

Scott & Chris and the Gang – I love you all…I feel you do an excellent job. I couldn’t ask for anything more. You Rock!!!!!

Joseph – I understand your frustration, and I hope you can appreciate the fact that it is quite frustrating for us as well. I think we made it very clear during the trip to California that the presentation, and Mattels response was not as we desired.

I think I can say with certainty that the feedback being given to the community in other recent LPS has been thorough anf informative and that sponsors are aware of the role they play in this model.

I regret that you feel that we didn’t vet the sponsor well enough, but I will advise that often specific companies have their business operating methods they use, and they simply operate in certain ways. Mattel had security unlike any other building I have been into in my career and they have a very specific method in which they review ALL ideas/innovation that even get a chance to come through their front door.

Where we were able to provide additional feedback we did, but quite frankly on some ideas they literally sit there at a table and look at each other and say no. That process in a company the size and market share of a Mattel isn’t going to change for anyone. That is merely a part of the reality of business.

Unfortuntalely several of the items fell into the V/R status for Mattel, while others were able to garner a little more feedback.

I believe that Chris and I were as honest and forth coming about the entire process and it’s results as we can possibly have been. If that didn’t meet your expectations I regret that, but it is a businss reality when dealing with a company the size of Mattel.

Yes Jane still green. Thanks for asking. I must admit I was kind of holding my breath and being a little superstitious in refraining from posting. My husband’s grandmother always warned me not to boast but maybe the more we have pulling for us the better. This is such a great supportive group.

I got the R8 over the weekend…..verbal rejection…what kind of crap is that..a lot of us became insiders for the “valuable feedback” EN should be vetting these sponsers better and let them know what’s expected of them. They spend months reviewing and checking our well thought out ideas….fly out to present them and get a verbal kick in the nads with no explanation……its wrong…

Michael, great place, good memories. Deschutes river every year July 40 to 50 of us would raft. I’ll never forget one year a skunk hopped into the truck bed I was sleepin in. Never knew I was capable of not moving and holding my breath for so long. It seemed like hours, but he or she finally left and went over to some friends food tent where they had thought that making noises and slapping the tent would make it go away. Ha ha John day has some great bass fishing. Beautiful country injoy

Hey Charlie,
The Unibike is my time treasured one of a kind toy. If you lived up here at one time, you might be familiar with da Vinci Days in Corvallis. That is where I would take it to mingle. It does indeed have a sharp turning radius due to the fact that it pivots near the center of the wheel base in effect making two wheel steering. It’s funny that you should bring it up, I just brought it inside so to play a part in a video demonstration of a hand tool for tomorrow’s deadline.
I live in Central Oregon and spend my days along the Deschutes River. Every day is a brand new experience in that Canyon!
Back to work, I shooting for four more submissions by tomorrow night! ;-)=

Hi Michael. Stay green, it’s a good thing. Good wishes with this search. I hope it is the one, keep beleiveing, it works. By the way took liberty of looking at your pics. I love unibike, It’s crazy I was just thinking about something like that, and there it is. Does it have a sharp turning radious, does the back wheel pivot or is it fixed? Where abouts in Oregon are you? I lived by the sandy river before moving here.

Jane,
High again.
Yes, I’m still holding a G7, but it has been the weekend…however I do have great faith in my hold out. I created the invention and working prototype several Months before finding EN and had done nothing with it due to the stone walls of the toy giants. When I saw the LPS for Mattel, it was like a divine calling to this toy. My two boys and I made a video of it in action. I’ve got to admit that I can’t help but think that it’s exactly what their looking for!…time will tell. ;-)

Michael, are you still green? Joe? Shawna? Still holding out hope for all of you!

Throwing in the towel on this one. I’m out on both submissions. R8 feedback on both V/R (verbal rejection)…ouch! :( Additional feedback was that I needed to provide more details on the performance of the concept versus the aesthetics and use of material compounds.

Thanks for the blog Paul, theres a lot of good sense in there. I’m still waiting to hear on one of mine.

It’s like biting nails for all of you .. Its a hard ride along this path towards fame .. Aim with you all !

Michael, I’m out on both concepts. I put some thoughts in my blog if anyone cares to read it…

I think in this search—-being out, kind of makes ya in the ‘In Crowd’. Sorry, but you all are in great company.