Sunday was my big chance at The Big Idea.
It was a roller-coaster of a day. I got through the first round but sadly fell at the next.
Lord Bilimoria was quite charming and seemed very taken with the concept. I showed how his beer bottle caps could be made into a waste bin, and he noted the one I had chosen was from his wife's homeland.
Ruth Badger was surprisingly supportive as I'd been told she could be pretty fierce. She was the only one to ask a question about revenue, and seemed satisfied. So I had two votes.
Craig Johnston loved the idea, but reckoned it could not count as an invention, so it was looking like he would defer. But then he changed his mind, which was nice... and a relief.
At this point I was over the moon. They had all been very positive and as the day progressed it seemed I was one of the few to get 3 votes.
I was then called to the next round, with a shortlist of nine from whom six were chosen. Sadly this was where I didn't make it any further. It was a bit odd, as there had not been any further opportunity to present, so I am not sure what they did subsequently to decide one way or the other. As I was the only one who didn't have a patentable device I fear that may have been it. I'm now wishing I'd shown an invention I'd created via Junkk.com, but as the patent is not registered I couldn't. Know any cheap IP lawyers?
I can't pretend it was not a huge disappointment. In addition to the money, I was looking forward to working with some business brains to complement my creative talents. Junkk.com flounders a lot for the lack of such a team. Most others had the inventor, money man and sales brain. Plus of course the public exposure of the series as it progressed wouldn't hurt build our audience.
We will get some I hope with the first episode (maybe all, as I wore a lab coat and they asked me to do a series of thoughts on life in the future - see pix), as the crew really took to the idea, me and the family and filmed a lot of vox-pops. Whether they make the final edit is another matter.
For Junkk.com all I have left to target in the near future is the Guardian Social Entrepreneur of the Year Awards. Fingers crossed!
