So it's been super busy for my work project leading up to Toy Fair - which is the huge annual convention where the big toy companies and media conglomerates get together and make deals.

We've made a technological breakthrough on on our patent (related to the Giapetta thing I wrote) that could be a game changer. And at the same time we developed a new item to sell that takes advantage of stochastic printing and magnification. The first thing is called MPT, the second is Nanex.

Of course after weeks of work we get to the final prototype image for Nanex and it doesn't work. Even at the highest DPI resolution we can't get all our embedded imagery to function.

So scramble scramble scramble, find a better printing place with super high rez and get it fixed.

And then, our new prototype for MPT started crapping out. 20 minutes before meeting with our main contact at the Major Media Empire. We were on the point of canceling which would have been disastrous because they're such a megalith that it takes months and months to reschedule anything.

But we winged it and my partners Fred and (especially) Ellen made it work. So we got sent to a toymaker licensor the next day and they look like they want to buy Nanex. Which would be great. No contract or even a firm commitment, but definitely more than "interested." They said they wanted it. That's further than we've gotten before through all of this.

And then, we pitched at Major Media Headquarters today with ten people in the room that each run big megadivisions. And it went over very well. But only so far as generating new meetings and not an immediate buy.

And the reason I have been working on this thing for a couple years with only a percentage and tearing my hair out every time we have to generate pitch materials is because this is the guy that's in the room with us and likes our work and wants to find a place to make a deal: [link]

But after the many ups and downs on this project so far I'm sticking to my one bit of hard-won wisdom from all this: Nothing Means Nothing Until The Check Clears.

That is both awesome and fearsome, David.

Our theatre is being rented for a corporate meeting today. These people have walk-up music. It does break up the dryness of financial reports I guess.

May there soon be a check that clears, Hec. That's awesome.

DH has been covering Toy Fair all weekend - I should have sent him to check you guys out!

Good luck, Hec!

These people have walk-up music.

Ooh, I should do that for my next presentation.

David's been in the room where it is probably beginning to happen! Fingers crossed for awesome momentum!

Timelies all!

Good luck Hec!

May there soon be a check that clears, Hec. That's awesome.

It's hard to pay the rent on 12% of nothing, but if it turns into Something that'd be a mighty nice slice of pie to have.

DH has been covering Toy Fair all weekend - I should have sent him to check you guys out!

Oh, we didn't have a booth or exhibition space. Just a tiny shared meeting room. But Toy Fair is useful because it pulls all the far flung execs together in one place which makes it easier to have a consequential sit-down.

Actual conversation that happened two weeks ago:

Ellen: "Fred wants you to do [onerous but useless task]."
Me: "Fred can go eat shit! [long rantypants about them wasting a week of my work blah blah fucked up the printing blah not getting paid for this aggravation blah!]
Ellen: "Yeah, I'm not telling him that. Will you do it?"
Me: "Yeah."

A good friend owns the lighting company that lights most of the Mattel booths at Toy Fair, it's been a big contract for him for years.