Submitting Ideas

Many folks come up with good ideas – inventions, catchy slogans, fancy artwork, and marketing concepts – and they envision some big company handing over handfuls of money for these ideas. Enough money so that they could retire happily and sip umbrella covered drinks on a sandy beach. If it were that simple, most New Hampshirites would be on that same beach.

Unfortunately, reality dampens these dreams. The person with the idea may not want to take the time, effort and money to protect or research the idea, but there is no substitute for such work. Companies don’t hand over money unless they have no reasonable alternatives. Your job is to leave them with no reasonable alternatives.

There are two elements to successfully submitting ideas – you must show ownership and control. Control can be demonstrated by non-disclosure or confidentiality agreements that are signed by the company and state that the company will not reveal or use your idea.

However, most companies will not sign such an agreement. In fact, most large companies will not accept submissions unless the submitter signs a submission form, commonly referred to as a non-non-disclosure agreement. This submission agreement is signed by the submitter and declares that the submitter is freely showing the idea and that the company makes no guarantees or promises to the submitter.

The reason for this submission process is well founded, as these large companies may already be working on your idea in the backroom and do not want to agree to anything that could jeopardize current projects. In this situation, control can only be demonstrated independently of the submission, namely through patents, trademarks, and copyrights.

Ownership needs to be shown so that the company knows it is dealing with the proper party. Good and thorough documentation is important to show the trail of the idea and any changes that have occurred along the way. It also establishes the approximate scope of the idea and background information.

Once again, having filed for a patent, trademark, or copyright protection will aid in showing ownership as well as putting a stake in the ground as to the date of your idea. The dates could be important if there are several submissions at the same time relating to the same idea.

Along with a description of the idea to be submitted, you should also include a brief business plan. The business plan will carefully explain how your idea is going to make that company money – so much money that they can afford to pay you a few handfuls of money.

The business plan should be brief, but reflect research and attention to detail. Depending upon the idea, it might show costs, marketing data and analysis of competitors. Most important, the idea should be presented so that the evaluator can see that the profit exceeds the expense.

Submitting both a business plan and a good description of the idea should allow the evaluator to see both sides of the idea. This is very helpful if the evaluator lacks experience or vision and would not otherwise understand how your idea would fit into the company plans.

The amount of compensation for ideas is generally proportional to the amount of research and hard work performed by the submitter. The more control and ownership demonstrated by the submitter – the more the company is willing to pay.

There is still plenty of room at the beach, but only for those that work hard and deserve the rest.