Millions from the Mind

Alan R. Tripp

What Do the Winners Do Right?

The stories of PLAX, Colorocs and Post-it: they were all brilliant ideas that would have come to nothing without post-invention attention to the business side. The inventors of those products, and others whose stories are analyzed in this book, succeeded by the capacity for taking infinite pains, which is one definition of genius. This is expressed in fine-tuning a product that already seems good enough; or in solving "insoluble" production problems; or by raising both early and second-stage financial underpinnings; or by using patents, trademarks, and secret processes so well that lawyers for potential competitors tell the boss it's risky to stomp on this innovation.

What separates the people who succeed with their innovations from those who--often with equally meritorious products or technologies--fall by the wayside?

Although there are no universal road maps, if you consider the experiences of the fifty+ inventors chronicled in this book, coupled with my commentary and advice, you may well find your way through the rough patches and straight to the pot of gold.

There are two qualities, however, which one cannot acquire from this book or any other: judgment and belief.

You can sharpen your judgment a bit by studying actual experience, your own and others, but while history repeats itself, it does so with variations and these often prove critical.

Belief is different from judgment. Belief comes from within. Belief tells you that, no matter what those dummies out there say, this is a great innovation and someday they'll all eat crow.

It's what made Spenser Silver hang in for five years with his only-slightly-sticky glue until a commercial product was found. It's what made James (now Sir James) Black keep on searching for an ulcer cure until, long after SmithKline management had officially killed his project, Black discovered cimetidine which became the billion dollar drug, Tagamet^®.

Of course, there are those who pursue an innovation long after any signs of life have gone out of it and others are crying, "Enough!" For that reason, not all the "success stories" recounted here have a perfect happy ending.

Which brings you back to judgment.

 "Millions..." Pages

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