I've worked on a number of licensing deals on behalf of individual inventors and have contacted quite a few companies on behalf of the inventors as part of the licensing deal process. The first step is to identify the pipeline of companies you think might have an interest in licensing your product. The next step is to develop the value statement that you'll communicate to the companies you've identified.

After that, you'll want to find the right person at each company to contact and communicate the value proposition. If the company expresses an interest, you then may get into the details of a possible licensing arrangement.

In my experience, getting to the right person at each company and holding that person's attention long enough to make a decision is the key to getting to the go/no-go decision. It can also be one of the most difficult and time consuming steps in the pre-negotiation process, especially without an established network of contacts to draw from at the outset.

Remember that the person and the company has to invest and justify investing time and money in evaluating the opportunity you present. A couple tips I would offer is to make your initial offer as compelling and concise as possible, while making the job of the person at the company you are contacting as easy as possible. The less work that person has to do to evaluate the opportunity, the more likely it is that they might consider pursuing it. Another point to consider is when approaching the company, be careful not to put them on the defensive with your offer and make it clear that you're approaching them from the perspective of collaboration and not threat.

Hope that's helpful and happy to discuss further on a call.

Best of luck to you!