Dr. Robert Cade, the inventor of Gatorade, died Tuesday at the age of 80.  The story of Gatorade’s invention and subsequent commercialization is an amazing one and one of the mega-successes of a university technology commercialized to the market.  The technology costs approximately $45 in materials to make the first batch and was a favorite of then University of Florida quarterback, Steve Spurrier.  The story highlights an often overlooked part of the commercialization process – the power of the early adopter in influencing the overall success of the product.  In this case, the Florida Gators and Heisman Trophy winner Steve Spurrier were the early adopters and had they not been quite so powerful at the time, adoption in the greater market place may have been slow or non-existent.

Having reviewed almost 100 early stage technologies in my first year, my experience has taught me that great technologies can be presented poorly and poor technologies can be presented well, only to find out later that there is no market, the IP already exists or the product is, well… horrible.  In one case, university researchers brought us something that simply broke the laws of physics! 

Events like this keep commercialization fun.  Keeping with that spirit, one of my favorite diversions, The Onion, released an article on commercialization that really isn’t too far from some of the things I’ve seen real inventors pitch!  Enjoy…

Brookstone Scientists 10 Years Away From Towel Alarm Clock

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/brookstone_scientists_10_years