Haay. The Pinoy inventors. A very gifted yet very underappreciated lot.
Sometimes, some inventors do strike it big. They perfect a product, build a company around it, and get rich ( like some of those entrepreneurs featured in the Gonegosyo book). Others however are not quite fortunate; their products never get off the drawing board. Still others become uncomfortable success stories. They perfect a product and sell it to a foreign company and get rich in the process.
The third group is the most interesting of them all. They become, literally, midnight millionaires. But there is always that nagging feeling that what these inventors simply did was shortchange themselves. Why is that so?
In the movie "Flash of Genius", there was a scene where Robert Kearns, the inventor of the intermittent windshield wiper, was approached by Ford officials and offered a $30 million settlement. Kearns was embroiled in a patent infringement suit against Ford and was trying to prove to the jury that he was the rightful inventor of the wiper. In the end, he declined the settlement, won the case, vindicated himself, and received a hefty amount of cash for damages incurred.
In the actual story, when he won his cases against Ford and Chrysler, Kearns received less money as compensation from those cases compared to what he could have received had he accepted Ford's settlement. But at least he got the title as the product's inventor, an intangible reward which is undoubtedly priceless.
"Settling" for a settlement parallels what some Pinoy inventors are doing. Bereft of government support, some are simply selling off their ideas to the highest bidder. Of course, such a move is completely understandable but I don't think it's in the best interest of the inventor to do that.
Consider this. In this situation, there are always two choices. For instance, Mr. Juan can either sell his idea or product to Company XYZ for five million pesos. Or he can partner with Company XYZ to manufacture and market his product and get five pesos for every item sold. Definitely, the first option is a safe and sweet deal and, besides, five million is still five million. But, the second option, however risky, is also immensely more rewarding than the first.
Nowadays, such a model actually exists. The book "The Risk-Free Entrepreneur" by Don Debelak details such an arrangement where the average man can play with the big boys and not feel robbed. The arrangement usually consists of a marketer, a manufacturer, and the guy (or gal) with the idea. The manufacturer manufactures the product and the marketer distributes it to the market but it is the "idea person" which makes such an arrangement possible. He is the catalyst of the whole process, the one who brings the two companies to work together to bring to reality a product that he has envisioned. As his reward, he gets a portion of the profits from sales of his brainchild. In this kind of arrangement, selling your idea is frowned upon ( because, to put it frankly, why would you settle for five million pesos when you can possibly earn more than just that if you put in the extra work?).
Unfortunately, most Pinoy inventors go with the easier route. It's simpler to sell off your idea than work out a mutually beneficial relationship with a behemoth. Inventors themselves can be the world's worst businessmen.
Maybe, if I'm lucky, I can start a company which focuses on marketing Pinoy inventions without shortchanging the inventor. In the meantime, I hope those poor guys take business courses once in a while.
Sometimes, some inventors do strike it big. They perfect a product, build a company around it, and get rich ( like some of those entrepreneurs featured in the Gonegosyo book). Others however are not quite fortunate; their products never get off the drawing board. Still others become uncomfortable success stories. They perfect a product and sell it to a foreign company and get rich in the process.
The third group is the most interesting of them all. They become, literally, midnight millionaires. But there is always that nagging feeling that what these inventors simply did was shortchange themselves. Why is that so?
In the movie "Flash of Genius", there was a scene where Robert Kearns, the inventor of the intermittent windshield wiper, was approached by Ford officials and offered a $30 million settlement. Kearns was embroiled in a patent infringement suit against Ford and was trying to prove to the jury that he was the rightful inventor of the wiper. In the end, he declined the settlement, won the case, vindicated himself, and received a hefty amount of cash for damages incurred.
In the actual story, when he won his cases against Ford and Chrysler, Kearns received less money as compensation from those cases compared to what he could have received had he accepted Ford's settlement. But at least he got the title as the product's inventor, an intangible reward which is undoubtedly priceless.
"Settling" for a settlement parallels what some Pinoy inventors are doing. Bereft of government support, some are simply selling off their ideas to the highest bidder. Of course, such a move is completely understandable but I don't think it's in the best interest of the inventor to do that.
Consider this. In this situation, there are always two choices. For instance, Mr. Juan can either sell his idea or product to Company XYZ for five million pesos. Or he can partner with Company XYZ to manufacture and market his product and get five pesos for every item sold. Definitely, the first option is a safe and sweet deal and, besides, five million is still five million. But, the second option, however risky, is also immensely more rewarding than the first.
Nowadays, such a model actually exists. The book "The Risk-Free Entrepreneur" by Don Debelak details such an arrangement where the average man can play with the big boys and not feel robbed. The arrangement usually consists of a marketer, a manufacturer, and the guy (or gal) with the idea. The manufacturer manufactures the product and the marketer distributes it to the market but it is the "idea person" which makes such an arrangement possible. He is the catalyst of the whole process, the one who brings the two companies to work together to bring to reality a product that he has envisioned. As his reward, he gets a portion of the profits from sales of his brainchild. In this kind of arrangement, selling your idea is frowned upon ( because, to put it frankly, why would you settle for five million pesos when you can possibly earn more than just that if you put in the extra work?).
Unfortunately, most Pinoy inventors go with the easier route. It's simpler to sell off your idea than work out a mutually beneficial relationship with a behemoth. Inventors themselves can be the world's worst businessmen.
Maybe, if I'm lucky, I can start a company which focuses on marketing Pinoy inventions without shortchanging the inventor. In the meantime, I hope those poor guys take business courses once in a while.
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