Word: Rejectamenta

 

rejectamenta

\ ri-jek-tuh-MEN-tuh \  , noun;

1. things or matter rejected as useless or worthless.

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“And that’s why I feel my machine deserves funding from your wonderful company for further development and eventual distribution.”  Will said, finishing his presentation.  It had only been ten minutes, but to him, it felt much, much longer.  He just hoped the people watching him didn’t see how very nervous he was.

                The group of five older people just looked at him.  Will wasn’t able to figure out what any of them were thinking.  For several seconds he waited, expecting feedback from them.  Eventually, it came.

                “Oh, I’m sorry, were you finished?”  Said one of them board members.

                “Uh, yes?”

                “Ah.  I see.  It’s just that we were waiting for more.”

                “May I ask why?”

                “Well, it’s just that your presentation seemed a bit…”  The older man made a gesture saying that he was searching for the right word.

                “Incomplete?”  Another board member picked up.

                “Yes, incomplete, thank you.”  The first man said.

                “I don’t see why.  I told you everything I could about my design.”  Will said, losing quite a bit of hope for his future funding.

                “Yes, I’m sure.  You see, you’re prospective product here can’t be developed any further.”

                “Really? You mean its good as is?”  Will asked, suddenly becoming much more hopeful.

                “No, not exactly.”  The board member said, “I mean it has nowhere to go.  You see, there’s quite simply no future for what you have here.”

                “What?  But there’s always room for more exercise equipment, isn’t there.”

                “Good exercise equipment, yes.”  Said another member, this time the youngest of the bunch.  “What you have here is effectively worthless.”

                “But it’s…”

                “It’s a machine that works the calves, and only the calves.  There’s quite simply no market for something so…specific.”

                “But there’s nothing on the market with this focus.”  Will said, desperately trying to salvage his funding.

                “Are you kidding?”  Asked the first board member, “There’s plenty of stuff out there for what you have.  Anything that works the legs hits what yours does and many do so better.”

                “Well, yeah, now.  But that’s why I need funding.  With some additional capital, I can make this thing much better.”

                “Look, Mr. Chambers, I’m sure we all appreciate what you’re trying to do.”  Said the only woman on the board, “But it’s just not worth it.  Such a narrow focus on home exercise equipment just isn’t worth any investment at all.  It works one very small area of the body, and that’s all it’ll ever do.”

                “But it works that area really, really well.”

                “Oh, I’m sure it does.  But, frankly, so what?  From what I’ve seen it doesn’t give anything a good pair of heels doesn’t do with less time and effort.  And I don’t see many men having interest in something like this.  It is, quite simply, worthless, both as an exercise machine and a saleable product.”

                “Agreed.”  Said the youngest board member, “I’m afraid anything we give you to develop it would be wasted almost immediately.  If we sell a few dozen units, it would be good for something like this, but not so good for the company.  How much would we need to sell to be profitable?”  He looked at the older members of the board.

                “After initial investment, development, production, advertisement, distribution, and general time costs, then I’d say we’d have to sell no less than a thousand to be even slightly profitable.  And that’s a conservative estimate.”  Said one of them.

                “Right, a thousand.  And what you’ve got here is unlikely to hit that mark.  No matter how good you make it, it’s still far too limited to be viable.  It’s useless for pretty much anyone.  If someone wants to work their calves at home, they’d either just buy a more complete home gym, or do bodyweight stuff.  It’s not exactly hard, after all.”

                “B-but…”  Will said, desperately trying to figure something out.  “Maybe with enough funding, I can expand it?”

                “And make it just like a dozen other things out there?  That’s just as useless.”  The first board member said.  “I’m sorry, but I don’t think we need to discuss this any further.  There simply isn’t room anywhere for your device, no matter how much you development.”

                “But, I…I…” Will looked around the room.  Not one sympathetic face amongst them.  Judging from the looks they were giving him, he wouldn’t be able to change any minds no matter what he did.  He hung his head and slumped his shoulders in defeat.  “I understand.”  He said with his defeat dripping from his words.  “I’ll just be going then.”

                “Indeed.  If you have any other ideas, make sure they could actually bring in some revenue before presenting them to us.”

                “Yes, sir.”  He closed out of the presentation and removed the small flash drive that contained it.  He hadn’t brought anything else, thinking that the videos and graphics would be enough.  He slunk out of the room, feeling the eyes of the board members on him all the way out.  

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With all the home gym stuff going around today, I'm sure something like this happens quite often.  In fact, it probably happens if other fields as well.  I'm sure that for every item gets made, many, many more don't.  It sucks, but hey, not everyone can have a good idea, right?