5 ms·

I've actually got a ton of ideas for inventions but I have no idea how to break into the business. Any advice? Any books I could read?

paulbaumgart 14y ago
Make a prototype, make a decent video of the prototype in action, collect pre-sales on kickstarter to fund a first manufacturing run, scale up production until your market is saturated, re-invest profits into the next invention.
ChuckMcM 14y ago
There isn't really a 'break into the business' there is a process for filing a patent. You can look it up at uspto.gov. There are filing fees etc, they have been reduced for 'small' inventors courtesy of the JOBS act. Generally the application in by registered mail, and then answering all the questions that come back is sufficient. If you pay an attorney to do that its about $20K these days but it can be done for much less than that on your own. The risk you take by doing it on your own is that you don't write claims in your patent that hold up when challenged, or allow people to avoid your patent while still implementing your idea.
- tocomment 14y ago
  What are your thoughts on provisional patents? Also I'm most confused what to do after getting a patent. How do you interest companies in licensing it?
  - ChuckMcM 14y ago
    Ok, lets separate two things. 1) There is no business where joe random person writes up a patent, gets it issued, and then BigCorp comes along and offers to buy it for eleventy billion dollars. That is a myth, a pipe dream, a fantasy. Doesn't happen (not that it can't happen, just that it doesn't) 2) You invent something to solve a problem, generally people who invent things are quite taken with their own inventions, so they build them. A provisional patent is a good way to establish patent protection for your idea before you've invested too much time and effort into it, and it can make it easier to talk to third parties about it because they can't "steal" it if you've already got a provisional filed. That said, you either self fund, or you convince folks of how great it is to fund you, and you convince them to help you build it. Then you find people who have the problem it solves and you try to sell it to them. If they buy it, you build more and continue. If nobody buys it, well you go on to your next idea. If you can't sell your idea you might partner with someone who is good at selling things. This is all basic stuff. Its not "easy" in that there aren't any "easy" roads to success, if there were it would be trampled by everyone using it.
zio99 14y ago
Hey Greg, if your problem is too many ideas and not being able to pick one to run with, there's a book on that: Ice Cream Startups http://bit.ly/icecreamstart http://bit.ly/icecreamstart Let me know if it helps.

paulbaumgart 14y ago

Make a prototype, make a decent video of the prototype in action, collect pre-sales on kickstarter to fund a first manufacturing run, scale up production until your market is saturated, re-invest profits into the next invention.

ChuckMcM 14y ago

There isn't really a 'break into the business' there is a process for filing a patent. You can look it up at uspto.gov. There are filing fees etc, they have been reduced for 'small' inventors courtesy of the JOBS act. Generally the application in by registered mail, and then answering all the questions that come back is sufficient. If you pay an attorney to do that its about $20K these days but it can be done for much less than that on your own. The risk you take by doing it on your own is that you don't write claims in your patent that hold up when challenged, or allow people to avoid your patent while still implementing your idea.

tocomment 14y ago
What are your thoughts on provisional patents? Also I'm most confused what to do after getting a patent. How do you interest companies in licensing it?
- ChuckMcM 14y ago
  Ok, lets separate two things. 1) There is no business where joe random person writes up a patent, gets it issued, and then BigCorp comes along and offers to buy it for eleventy billion dollars. That is a myth, a pipe dream, a fantasy. Doesn't happen (not that it can't happen, just that it doesn't) 2) You invent something to solve a problem, generally people who invent things are quite taken with their own inventions, so they build them. A provisional patent is a good way to establish patent protection for your idea before you've invested too much time and effort into it, and it can make it easier to talk to third parties about it because they can't "steal" it if you've already got a provisional filed. That said, you either self fund, or you convince folks of how great it is to fund you, and you convince them to help you build it. Then you find people who have the problem it solves and you try to sell it to them. If they buy it, you build more and continue. If nobody buys it, well you go on to your next idea. If you can't sell your idea you might partner with someone who is good at selling things. This is all basic stuff. Its not "easy" in that there aren't any "easy" roads to success, if there were it would be trampled by everyone using it.

zio99 14y ago

Hey Greg, if your problem is too many ideas and not being able to pick one to run with, there's a book on that: Ice Cream Startups http://bit.ly/icecreamstart http://bit.ly/icecreamstart Let me know if it helps.