I encourage every business person to watch the show The American Inventor. It celebrates creativity and ingenuity of entrepreneurs, young and old. From the totally brilliant to the downright stupid, American Inventor showcases the best (and well, lamest) results of creative thinking.
The show is also highly educational: it feels like MBA education in action. You learn how best to pitch your product, how a potential investor may judge your product (whether you agree to what they say or not) and how the market may see a particular product. It provides lessons on determining product viability, and what challenges the product may face when it is produced (some contestants were dismissed by the judges for having great products but are very costly to produce and mass market). Oftentimes, the inventor is so wrapped up with their creations that they fail to see the whether it is something that the market would actually buy.
What I did not expect to see from the show is how touching the back stories behind the inventions. Unlike American Idol (show is from the creators of that show so it follows the same elimination process) where I couldn’t care less if the person is not chosen to go to the next round, I find myself emotionally engaged with these people. Moreso if the inventor invested so much of their life, of their time and resources into turning their dreams into reality yet did not get a pass to the next round. You can just feel the pain of the ousted contestants as they walk away from the room. More than the fact that they were not able to get through, what hurts the most is that the judges are telling them that their product is a bust or does not stand a chance in the marketplace. Truth hurts sometimes, but it hurts more if you spent $80,000 of your money or sold everything you have to create a prototype of your invention.
Catch the show every Thursday. If you want to present your invention, sign up now at The American Inventor or call 1-877-255-8009 toll-free for more information.
Leave a Reply