The World's Most Disrespected Inventor
How corporate xenophobia (aka the NIH syndrome) quashes American innovation. By Marko Hansen.
Laugh at it. Learn from it.
What happens when a hyper-manic, green-minded, plant-based bohemian businessman tries to bring a fitness machine to market solo, with no money and no credentials?
Thirty-four years, two patents, one Bowflex deal gone sideways, and enough stories to fill a screenplay. Marko's mistakes stung at the time. Now he thinks they're entertaining enough for the big screen, and useful for anyone who's ever been told "no" by a corporation that should have said "yes."
This eBook is a condensed adaptation of the inventor portion of Marko's memoir-in-progress, Inner Signals from the CycleClimber Dude at the Green Satori Inn, a red county, to be completed and published in 2027.
Read it right now as a PDFOpens in your browser. Easiest on a desktop or laptop."I think of adversity like a springboard that you must jump on hard right away, then bounce off and away, as if leaving adversity behind me. It is my way to reboot, turbocharge my energy and come back stronger."Marko Hansen, The World's Most Disrespected Inventor
"People who operate from outer signals will never understand those people who operate from inner signals."Wayne Dyer, the quote that became Marko's lifelong battle cry
Table of contents
- Intro: Literary preamble to a memoir-in-progress 4
- Birth of an idea 25
- Farewell to LA & the road to finding a licensee 29
- Defining moment at Arizona Stadium 35
- Thirteen months in the great northwest 37
- The IDEA FIT Trade Show & return to LA 44
- A choice of beach resorts 50
- A licensing agreement at last 52
- Australia, here I come! 55
- Evacuating the Arizona wildfires leads to Oregon 61
- The ladies of Bowflex 63
- Bowflex cancels, back to square one 65
- Asian adventures: Married in Kaifeng 71
- IHRSA trade show 76
- Finding the CycleClimber postcard models 79
- Soulless Cycle in Santa Monica 85
- Imprisoned by sunshine, good-bye Tucson 91
- Green Satori Inn: a red county 94
- Pitching reality TV is fun 98
- Confessions of an off-again social media dropout 106
- Intolerance to idiocy is high-functioning self-care 109
- If I had my druthers 130
- Random remembrances, rejections & regrets 163
- Remembering Larry 178