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I know nothing about oral care or Colgate but here are a few things I would think about. First of all – do you need Colgate to get started? If you don’t then you might just want to get started. Colgate will be much more interested in something that has some market traction than something that is just a concept. Next – is your idea easily executed by Colgate? When I worked at IBM we had a phrase we used when we talked about startups that came with just an idea that we would also build – it was a “simple matter of programming”. If there was a patent, a customer base, a channel, or something else we couldn’t just code then we were much more interested. Lastly – I would never go into a meeting like that without really understanding Colgate’s motivations. Find other people who know them, have met with them. What do they need that you could provide? What are their strengths and weaknesses? Are there potential deal makers and breakers? Also – a provisional patent might be a good idea.