Inventor needs business help

[Gemaeden]

I am a keen amateur tinkerer who has developed a way to make narrow tilting vehicles such as the Toyota iRoad http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/toyota/66422/toyota-i... work without the expensive electronics and or hydraulics. These are the costly things that I believe are preventing such vehicles coming to market.

Obviously I can't reveal the details.

If this was you how would you take this forward? Any business mentors or such like here?

Edited by Gemaeden on Tuesday 20th December 17:52

[trickywoo]

Worldwide patent before you discuss the details with anyone.

After that if it's good you'll have manufacturers falling over themselves to do a deal.

[Gemaeden]

trickywoo said:

Worldwide patent before you discuss the details with anyone.

After that if it's good you'll have manufacturers falling over themselves to do a deal.

Problem with patenting, as a small guy, is that it appears that companies or those in other countries will often take the IP and say sue me.

Tricky to do if I don't have bottomless pockets.

Just wondering about other potential options.

[Tuna]

Gemaeden said:

Problem with patenting, as a small guy, is that it appears that companies or those in other countries will often take the IP and say sue me.

Tricky to do if I don't have bottomless pockets.

Just wondering about other potential options.

The idea is worth nothing. You need to have tested it, worked out the 'kinks' in your design, it's operational limits and the optimal configuration. In the case of a vehicle, you probably need to have something with tens of thousands of miles on the clock to demonstrate that there aren't unexpected areas of weakness or stress. If you want to go further you probably need to have figured out novel, cheap or easy to manufacture ways of building a production version (i.e. parts with minimal machining, material or construction requirements).

It's worth reading Dyson's book (one of them covers the development of the vacuum). The idea of using a cyclone was a five minute flash of inspiration. Making it work in the small format of a domestic cleaner took years of prototyping and development. That's what makes the idea valuable. Note that it doesn't have to be expensive - he made a lot of prototypes on the kitchen table - but you do have to have done it.

Having done all of that, it seems to me you have two options - find a small manufacturer who fits, and work with them to develop it into a product, with patents and design copyrights and all that entails; or go through a patent lawyer to get basic protections before approaching a larger company. Note that it doesn't have to cost a fortune to get a patent, but doing so shows to a company that you have something that is protected and developed far enough to be interesting to them.

In the mean time, patents depend on you keeping your idea secret. Don't discuss it with anyone. You can also check to see if there are already patents in this area. Spend a couple of hours a day for a week or two searching the patent databases online for similar material. That will help you understand what is already protected and cover the basic requirement that you have actually had a 'new' idea. I believe that's the minimal 'due diligence' you need to do before taking it forward.

[trickywoo]

There isn't any justice in the world when an engineering idea is such a PIA to protect but you can come up with a poxy idea for a TV programme which makes Millions and nobody else can copy without being sued.

[ReaderScars]

As far as patent searches go, if you've got a 'BIPC' nearby or in the library of your nearest city, you should be able to have a patent search carried out for about £30 IIRC.

(BIPC=Business and Intellectual Property Centre)

[Gemaeden]

Thanks everyone for the advice so far including the PM (Not her, the private message). I have a friend who is a patent professional who has done the relevant searches, so I know it is a new invention. He can probably help with any patent too but it's just the bits there after that I need advice on. Finding investors, partners or whatever.

[Mark8303]

Consider approaching a reputable automotive innovator like Ricardo, perhaps a safer route than going straight to a car manufacturer?

[akirk]

I have owned an R&D / product development business and have taken products to market...
There is a lot of hard work / money / luck involved.

As others have said, you generally need to be further forward...
For our first product, we:
- had the patent started
- had computer modelled the product
- had done extensive testing at a university (computer modelled) to get materials sorted (critical to the product working as it was a safety product)
- had all the tooling files set up
- had the market interested
- had a licensee lined up
- had an impressive team set up of NEDs etc.

we then got VC investment to actually make it happen - however everything was already in place to make the business ready for that investment...
initial costs were lots of thousands - self-funded...

In that case, I was the business side, my partner was the inventor - similar to you.

I would suggest you might need to look for a partner - but be aware - it is a very long road, and you can have a brilliant idea and it might not be commercial... equally it can be brilliant and commercial - and still not work

[ReaderScars]

As akirk has pointed out, the key getting to the state of 'investor readiness' - it is something you can determine and achieve, and as you're probably aware it's definitely not as simple as having something in the bank, a five year cashflow forecast and a business plan.

If you google the phrase investor ready there's plenty of info available.

Have you thought about approaching your local university? They love stuff like this (commercial ventures with strong IP attached).