So, you had an idea....
Discussion
Say you were in the bath. Or having a shower after a pleasant afternoon with a Parisien hooker. Or putting the big brake kit on the M3 - and it suddenly came to you. An idea. That hasn't been done. That works with apps, websites and everything. What would you do? How would you get it to market without it being stolen?
WTD said:
Validate the idea by getting money before you spend any money on it.
Then consider a MVP the minimum viable product.
This. Read up on customer development and Lean Startup.Then consider a MVP the minimum viable product.
The idea is the thing worth protecting. Everyone has ideas.
Ideas are just a multiplier of execution
JohnnyJones said:
What would you do? How would you get it to market without it being stolen?
At some point, you're going to need to present your idea for market validation. As soon as you do, it's open to be stolen unless you've put the adequate protection in place.For me, Kickstarter done this job perfectly. I pitched my idea, offered people to buy in at a presale price with a funding goal that would but the equipment I needed to make the product, and 6 months later here I am working my arse off with my new equipment making all those products!
My idea can't be protected either, so I was taking a risk. There was nothing particularly novel about the idea of drawing bespoke blueprint artwork for peoples cars as it has been done by others in the past (though generally it was in the form of readily available vector artwork that could be downloaded for a fee), there's also nothing particularly novel about laser engraving artwork on to anodized aluminium (although it's not that common in the laser engraving industry).
What nobody was doing was combining those two to create bespoke laser engraved aluminium blueprints for any car, so that's what I marketed and that's what I now produce.
Kozy said:
At some point, you're going to need to present your idea for market validation. As soon as you do, it's open to be stolen unless you've put the adequate protection in place.
For me, Kickstarter done this job perfectly. I pitched my idea, offered people to buy in at a presale price with a funding goal that would but the equipment I needed to make the product, and 6 months later here I am working my arse off with my new equipment making all those products!
My idea can't be protected either, so I was taking a risk. There was nothing particularly novel about the idea of drawing bespoke blueprint artwork for peoples cars as it has been done by others in the past (though generally it was in the form of readily available vector artwork that could be downloaded for a fee), there's also nothing particularly novel about laser engraving artwork on to anodized aluminium (although it's not that common in the laser engraving industry).
What nobody was doing was combining those two to create bespoke laser engraved aluminium blueprints for any car, so that's what I marketed and that's what I now produce.
Your product looks really interesting. What sort of money do you charge and how big are the plates?For me, Kickstarter done this job perfectly. I pitched my idea, offered people to buy in at a presale price with a funding goal that would but the equipment I needed to make the product, and 6 months later here I am working my arse off with my new equipment making all those products!
My idea can't be protected either, so I was taking a risk. There was nothing particularly novel about the idea of drawing bespoke blueprint artwork for peoples cars as it has been done by others in the past (though generally it was in the form of readily available vector artwork that could be downloaded for a fee), there's also nothing particularly novel about laser engraving artwork on to anodized aluminium (although it's not that common in the laser engraving industry).
What nobody was doing was combining those two to create bespoke laser engraved aluminium blueprints for any car, so that's what I marketed and that's what I now produce.
Frimley111R said:
I'd google it first and find the company that already thought of it and marketed it! (Bit negative I know but realistic too often).
It's doubly depressing when that happens becausea)Your unique idea that was going to make you millions as been done already and
b)It so clearly didn't make the person who thought of it first more than about £30 and a lot of heartache.
voicey said:
Your product looks really interesting. What sort of money do you charge and how big are the plates?
Thank you! If you checked out the website in my sig, it's about to be replaced as it hasn't really been updated since before the Kickstarter campaign happened back in April. The work I am producing now is much better than what is depicted on the site at the moment, with better detail in the drawings, better contrast on the engraving and thicker plates too. New site is hosted here before it goes live at the weekend. Just need to fill in the missing content and get analytics sorted and it's ready to go!They are A3 size 3mm thick ally plates weighing 1kg, prices vary on what you want done and vary between £99 and £200 delivered, but typically average £125 with UK delivery for most common cars. In the link above you can browse the catalogue of existing stuff I've done and see the options available.
Kozy said:
The work I am producing now is much better than what is depicted on the site at the moment, with better detail in the drawings, better contrast on the engraving and thicker plates too. New site is hosted here before it goes live at the weekend.
That looks really gteat, love the idea! My inner geek would love to hear more about the laser machine Mr Bond... What sort of power do you need to engrave stuff like that?If you've got time, I'd like to hear more about your Kickstarter experience - how did you find it? Anything you'd do differently etc? I've mulled it over a few times for 'project' ideas but not had the time to follow through.
Kozy said:
Thank you! If you checked out the website in my sig, it's about to be replaced as it hasn't really been updated since before the Kickstarter campaign happened back in April. The work I am producing now is much better than what is depicted on the site at the moment, with better detail in the drawings, better contrast on the engraving and thicker plates too. New site is hosted here before it goes live at the weekend. Just need to fill in the missing content and get analytics sorted and it's ready to go!
They are A3 size 3mm thick ally plates weighing 1kg, prices vary on what you want done and vary between £99 and £200 delivered, but typically average £125 with UK delivery for most common cars. In the link above you can browse the catalogue of existing stuff I've done and see the options available.
I will PM you through PH to discuss this further.They are A3 size 3mm thick ally plates weighing 1kg, prices vary on what you want done and vary between £99 and £200 delivered, but typically average £125 with UK delivery for most common cars. In the link above you can browse the catalogue of existing stuff I've done and see the options available.
Pot Bellied Fool said:
That looks really gteat, love the idea! My inner geek would love to hear more about the laser machine Mr Bond... What sort of power do you need to engrave stuff like that?
Not that much actually, engraving anodised aluminium only takes about 15w. Naturally I couldn't make do with a measly 15w though so I did the respectable thing and got four times the power I actually needed to do the job! Here's my friggin' laserrrr.
Fantastic bit of kit, having lots of fun cutting and engraving all sorts at the moment, great for making personalised Christmas presents!
Pot Bellied Fool said:
If you've got time, I'd like to hear more about your Kickstarter experience - how did you find it? Anything you'd do differently etc? I've mulled it over a few times for 'project' ideas but not had the time to follow through.
How did I find it? In a word, difficult. Here's my project - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dkoz/engineer...My number one tip if you are going to run a funding campaign, is don't underestimate how much publicity you will need. Depending on your goal, you cannot simply rely on friends and family to back and share the project. Personally, I dropped £750 up front on print advertising in 4 car mags to get the thing in the product pages. Combined readership of about 110k people and about 1.5million facebook followers to whom the project was linked. I still struggled to hit target.
You might get lucky and get one of those ideas which just flies, but it's actually pretty rare and I think the people behind those projects still do a lot of work behind the scenes before the project launches to get it seen.
It's also a full time job while it's running. I got b
ked at my day job for under performing because I was constantly trying to promote this via anyone that would listen! Fortunately it all paid off in the end, and I didn't get fired.If I was going to do it again, I'd make a video (it's just a good idea, I know that now) and I would offer some different (lower priced) rewards. I didn't think about all the cool stuff that I can make with this laser when I did the project, and focussed solely on one thing, which limited the appeal quite heavily.
I am actually considering running another one once this one is complete. Well not considering, I am running another one. Not settled on what yet, but it may be related to the current one. One idea was to try and raise enough capital to buy a brand license for a big manufacturer like Ford, allowing me to use their logo on the artwork and sell it as official merchandise via their own lines! Ford have already given me the preliminary go ahead on this, so it could well happen next year!
Kozy said:
Not that much actually, engraving anodised aluminium only takes about 15w. Naturally I couldn't make do with a measly 15w though so I did the respectable thing and got four times the power I actually needed to do the job!
Love it it's the PH way!Thanks for the info, looks fascinating & something I might dabble with sometime with the cheapie 250mW machines. Duly added to my wish list for Santa but the chances of my wife buying me a laser is slim I suspect!!
Thanks for the kick starter info, much appreciated.
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