It has been said that “Necessity is the mother of invention”, but in reality, technology (invention) is a continual chain of improved problem solving with the inventor/problem solver being a “lazy” person. Example: Someone looked at cooking in an open fireplace and thought that there had to be a safer, easier method. And so the wood fired stove was invented. Someone later got tired of chopping, stacking wood and cleaning out messy ashes from the stove, so the gas stove was invented. You get the idea, solutions (technology/inventions) are in a constant flux of improving. However there is a massive chasm between a successful technology and an inventors idea. History is strewn with “good” ideas that never came to fruition. It takes, in many instances, a singular dogged pursuit to make an idea a reality. As the saying goes, “Success is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration”.

I created a training aid to improve my putting accuracy and use the prototype to practice my putting during winter. There is nothing on the market like it, but I don’t have the inclination to spend the money or time to mass produce and sell the gizmo. Twenty years ago I helped a man solve a problem on an invention that he had already obtained a patent for. Offered me a partnership, but I declined. I still have not seen his technology on the market.

Eighteen years ago a company called Antigen Express filed for a patent and 4 ½ years later it was granted for the Ii-Key technology. Until recently, that technology has been withering on the vine. It has been Joe’s dogged pursuit that has gotten Ii-Key where it is today. While an obsession can have quirky personality side effects, it is the obsessed person that will get things done. As long as Joe continues to make NGIO/GNBT his obsession, I will have faith in the eventual success story.