p&g seeks path to future prosperity, page-8

Hi Combi,

“I think it was abdm who noted some time ago that the legal folk doing the work on OBJ's current EU Patent application have a significant working relationship with P&G. I think that reminder ties in nicely with what P&G are postulating. The Relationship is rock solid from what I can see, and there is more to it than meets the eye”


I believe that both you and abdm are right, the comments below are from -

Jeff Weedman, Vice President, External Business Development P&G

“We are looking for things that are IP-protected, ideas that already have patents. We don’t really want to talk to you until you have patented those ideas. The intellectual property is important, but if someone does not have (iron-clad) intellectual rights, we can help them with that”

“It’s not just about making a return on the investment, it’s about whether their company and technology capability can actually be used in P&G products and services to help improve those things—so we are best when we are “strategically aligned”

We don’t have a fund to say “go out and find ten companies”, conversely if we find a company that is of strategic interest to us, we have no hesitation and there is “no limitation” on how we choose to participate. [It could be a question of what] can P&G bring to the party that will help enable the partner company get to their “next milestone”? And what is P&G’s role in helping them do that? “Sometimes it is investing, sometimes it’s being a BETA customer, and sometimes it’s being part of their advisory board. Everyone is an individual consideration”

“I think the third thing is that we really like companies that either currently have strong IP or the potential to have strong IP. Sometimes there is an amazing lack of understanding and companies are scared of talking to P&G and they assume that they are at risk. Our reputation to connect and develop goes away pretty quickly if we are not fair when it has to do with IP. And the reality is “we favor and really like strong IP, because it allows us to make investments with a more sure chance of getting a really strong return versus trying to develop something that anybody can copy. If small companies have strong IP, we like them”

The last point is that small companies have got to be “patient” when they are selling big companies—and mine is no exception. However, one of the things that we monitor internally is that we want to be seen as the partner of choice, but the speed at which a big company can operate is a lot slower than small entrepreneurs, so if people don’t have “patience” it’s unlikely that we will get things done”

From these few comments we can see that P&G will try to help their partners to ”succeed” as it is in their best interests to.


As always please D Y O R