how does one pursue an invention idea?

Hi Mat,

> I have an idea for an invention. I'm trying
> to establish costs for pursuing it, i.e.,
> what costs are involved (patents etc.) and
> what would be a reasonable start up sum? I
> suppose I would have to at least create a
> prototype (are there other roads?). Once
> I've done that, if I don't want to begin a
> small business producing and distributing,
> is there a way to sell the invention?

> I would appreciate a brief rundown of what
> the process is from conception to profits,
> what the major choices are, and the general
> cost/effort.

Mat, I think the FIRST thing you should do is try to figure out if there's a market for your invention. That is, will anyone pay money to get it?

Don't make the big mistake of the dot-com boom - everybody wanted what was on offer, but only if it was free!

I think it's a common problem among inventors - spending thousands of dollars developing a prototype and patenting an invention, only to find that nobody wants to buy it anyway.

Does your invention fulfil a want, or solve a problem? Just an "improvement" on something which exists is not enough....

I've attended a couple of "inventors' societies" in the past.... An invention by one guy (99% of the members of these societies seem to be male) was a replacement for a "joystick" to use to play video games. His version was a "sit down" version - it was a whole chair, and by leaning back and forth on the chair, and swiveling it around, you could control the video game....

The reason why it was an "improvement" was it added greater "sensation" to the video game - you didn't play with your fingers and thumbs, but with with your whole body.

He had tried to get his invention into some retail stores, but he complained that he found it hard to get them to support his invention. Part of the problem I'm sure was that, in the computer games store, just a small stock of his product would take up all the floor space!

A couple more problems with this that I could see are....

• While a joystick costs $20 or $30, his invention retailed at around $500
• As in the computer store, it would take up a lot of floor space in the house

Anyhow, he had put in countless hours into creating this, and thousands of dollars of his own money. He was trying to market them himself (planning to build each one by hand, at least when he started).

While it was an "improvement" - it actually caused more problems than it solved for the average person, in my opinion. It costs more, and created storage problems. It MIGHT have succeeded if, instead of targeting the general public, he targeted the niche market of people with lots of money ($500 is nothing to them) and lots of floor space (big houses and no storage problems), instead of the general public. Who knows then?

The first step is to consider then is - is there a market for my invention? Does it solve an existing problem people have, which they would like solved (and be willing to PAY for)?

You'll save a lot of money and grief if you think about this now, rather than after you've already put countless hours and thousands of dollars into your invention....

Here are a couple very good books on inventing.

"Secrets from an Inventor's Notebook" by Maurice Kanbar. He's made a great living from inventing, and his book is the best I've ever read on inventing. Like every inventor, he's also had his flops, though he also had big successes like the "D-Fuzz-It Sweater Comb" and "Skyy Vodka" (vodka which, it's claimed, doesn't give you a hangover), and many others.

"Inventorship: The Art of Innovation," by Leonard M. Greene. He's more of an "engineering" type inventor, in that his inventions tend to be from technical insight. His most successful invention was a stall warning indicator for airplanes.... When the plane is about to stall, sensors on the wing pick this up from the airflow, and warns the pilot. The pilot can then correct for it before tragedy happens - all modern planes are fitted with his life-saving invention. It's quite different from the above book, but also quite good.

Anyhow, Mat, I hope that gives you a start.... All I ask is a 5% royalty (only kidding!). ;)

- Dien Rice


And if you want business ideas... click here