Since we licensed our first product, Star Bird, to Milton Bradley, January 1, 1978, 
the toy industry has changed, pushed by technology and economics, in a restless, 
volatile atmosphere. A dramatic paradigm shift has taken place, and inventors who 
don't understand and adapt will be left behind like last Christmas' toys. Just as 
companies and retailers are re-inventing themselves, we inventors must do likewise 
or risk perishing. 

The skill sets required to succeed today involve much more than technical talents. 
Manufacturers are no longer dependent upon the same kinds of products. Witness the 
explosion of licensing, interactive media and new technologies. Business models 
have changed. The marketing departments, not R&D, drive product. (Actually, it's 
the trade that's the gating authority.) Wal-Mart sells more toys than Toys R Us. 
There are uncertain executive hierarchies. Hasbro and Mattel, once toymakers, are 
global entertainment conglomerates. 

While inventiveness remains a very critical element, I find myself depending more 
and more on business skills I learned and honed, and contacts I made as an executive 
and producer in the feature film and television industries, respectively. 

We must give more consideration to developing extensions to existing lines or product 
based upon brands. Except for Furby, which, as Kipling would say, "is another story," 
our recent products are based upon marquee brands: Men Are From Mars, Women Are 
From Venus (Mattel); Chicken Soup for the Soul (Cardinal); Warner Brother's Trivial 
Pursuit (Hasbro); Uncle Milton's Ant Farm Game (Great American Puzzle Factory) and 
the Duncan Yo-Yo key chain line (Basic Fun). 

We must work closer with our licensees, doing whatever is required to bring product 
to market. This can range from being a de facto project manager to writing and editing 
instruction manuals, etc. In my case, it has meant less ideas generated and prototyped, 
but a higher percentage of placements and introductions because, I believe, of this 
value add I give with every product. It comes under the heading of taking care of your 
customers. 

It is the cross-pollination and synergism of corporate intrapreneurs and entrepreneurs 
that results in commercialized product. If any link in this often complex and serpentine 
chain breaks, projects can flag. Positioned inside, an inventor can often be the adhesive
that holds things together when problems arise, people lose focus or worse, confidence. 

To further complicate matters, we once created concepts for people with a nose for 
product, risk takers passionate and genuinely excited by innovation. Today we see more 
and more companies run by financial types and MBAs whose logic and over-analysis deftly 
immobilizes and sterilizes ideas. They spend less time with the inventor community and 
more time with the investment community. They can't grow evergreens, because each year 
they plant a new forest. It's a pump-and-dump, day trader mentality. 

In 1998, I addressed a prestigious business school. In the audience were 130 graduate 
students and professors. I asked the future MBAs: "How many of you have an idea you'd 
like to see commercialized, something for which you have passion?" Not a single hand 
was raised. A few weeks later, a toy inventor to whom I told this story was talking 
to his son's fourth grade class. He asked the group of thirty-six, 9-10 year olds the 
same question. Every hand went up. What happens between elementary and business 
school, I may make the subject of a future essay but, suffice it to say, for better 
or worse, it has changed the way our industry does business. 

Richard C. Levy has created and/or developed and licensed over 150 concepts, and 
authored numerous books, including the critically-acclaimed Inventor's Desktop 
Companion.



Another recommended book is one co-authored with Ron Weingartner, "Inside Santa's 
Workshop: How Toy Inventors Develop, Sell and Cash In on Their Ideas" 
(Henry Holt, 1990) is out of print, but still available through Amazon in the 
DiscoverGames.com bookstore.