One of my products that Fastcap is now producing was given serious consideration for a number of years by a very major tool manufacturer. It eventually took that company more than three years to tell me no. After that slow-motion courtship, I was fairly shocked when I first called Fastcap: the phone rang maybe one and a half rings before I heard, “Hi, this is Paul…” and I was talking with the real decision-maker.
And within just a few weeks of seeing my product idea, Paul had committed to building it. But this warp-speed action is not what I want to tell you about.
I was still on very good terms with the president of the big company I had first pitched, and Paul asked me to contact him regarding parts we might need and also to find out if that company would resist or support our efforts. On hearing that I would be renewing contact with the company, my wife expressed the strategic possibility that the big company might reconsider their decision, now that I had a bona fide manufacturer willing to take the product to market. She wondered, if that were to happen, what would I do? But I told her that there was no way I’d consider not sticking with Paul, since he was the one who had the vision and guts to make a commitment to me.
That night, I received an unexpected audio message from Paul that I will always remember. Without any knowledge that my wife or I had even fathomed the possibility, Paul volunteered his opinion that, given the circumstances, I had “done everything right” and that he foresaw that it could turn out that the big company might become re-motivated and make me an offer to take on the project, once they learned of Fastcap’s interest in it. Paul went on to say that if that would happen, he would have no ill feeling at all, that in fact he would be happy for me, because it is Fastcap’s mission to “always do the best on behalf of their innovators.” He finished by saying, “After all, if that big company would put their name on it, you couldn’t possibly do better than that.”
You can imagine how impressed I was that a busy guy like Paul would not only place my interest above his and his company’s, but even beyond that take the time to let me know in a timely fashion, so as to empower me and remove any indecisiveness that might have undercut me, had I wanted to pursue such an opportunity.
When I heard that message, I knew without doubt that my radar had been exactly right in determining that Paul Akers is a guy I wanted to do business with. And now that my product is just months away from reaching the market, I can say that all that followed has only confirmed that early impression.
Good luck with your innovation. If you work with Paul and do your part, you can count on it that he and his team will do theirs.
Michael Schuler
