Has anyone sold an idea?
Discussion
I’ve had an idea…
It’s not something you could patent. It’s more applying an old technique to a new industry.
If I spell out the idea there would be nothing to stop anyone saying ‘that’s a good idea, let’s do that’
Product would cost pennies to make but economies of scale mean I couldn’t even contemplate doing it myself.
How do you go about selling an idea, or even getting the chance to pitch your idea?
Is there anything, beyond the ‘word of a gentleman’ that you can do to prevent a company thanking you kindly for your idea which they have no interest in and then seeing them make money on your idea?
It’s not something you could patent. It’s more applying an old technique to a new industry.
If I spell out the idea there would be nothing to stop anyone saying ‘that’s a good idea, let’s do that’
Product would cost pennies to make but economies of scale mean I couldn’t even contemplate doing it myself.
How do you go about selling an idea, or even getting the chance to pitch your idea?
Is there anything, beyond the ‘word of a gentleman’ that you can do to prevent a company thanking you kindly for your idea which they have no interest in and then seeing them make money on your idea?
Voldemort said:
I’ve had an idea…
It’s not something you could patent. It’s more applying an old technique to a new industry.
If I spell out the idea there would be nothing to stop anyone saying ‘that’s a good idea, let’s do that’
Product would cost pennies to make but economies of scale mean I couldn’t even contemplate doing it myself.
How do you go about selling an idea, or even getting the chance to pitch your idea?
Is there anything, beyond the ‘word of a gentleman’ that you can do to prevent a company thanking you kindly for your idea which they have no interest in and then seeing them make money on your idea?
Are you sure it's not patentable? It’s not something you could patent. It’s more applying an old technique to a new industry.
If I spell out the idea there would be nothing to stop anyone saying ‘that’s a good idea, let’s do that’
Product would cost pennies to make but economies of scale mean I couldn’t even contemplate doing it myself.
How do you go about selling an idea, or even getting the chance to pitch your idea?
Is there anything, beyond the ‘word of a gentleman’ that you can do to prevent a company thanking you kindly for your idea which they have no interest in and then seeing them make money on your idea?
Before ruling it out I would recommend you speak with a patent Attorney. There are plenty of patents based on the application of known techniques from one technical fieled to another unrelated technical field.
Selling an idea
First you have to decide as to which category it fits into…
1 Patent
2 Registered design/trademark
3 Copywrite-able (I’m sure there’s a better word)
They are all different and all serve different purposes. See book below
If it’s a product it’s more likely to be a patent, but even that is not 75% certain
To pitch your idea, you need to know:
What is the current problem that this idea/product addresses? And does it do it successfully? Says who? How much experience do you/them have of this market/application?
Does it create any new problems due to its introduction? nanofibers are having some challenges here...
How big is the market, and how conservative is that market?
Is this product a real game changer for the world or just a niche application?
How much of that market will you attack, and how much will you receive?
Does anything like it currently exist/prior art?
Is this idea a novel step forward in thinking or is it something that anyone in the field could have come up with?
Can you afford to patent/copywrite it? For a patent - start at £3K and go upwards … rapidly… A patent lawyer/attorney was £175/hr +VAT for me…
Do you have a track record of coming up with great ideas? My uncle had 4 patents and died without any of them making it big- we were convinced 2 of them were going to be game changers. An ex work colleague has 11 patents and none of them have made him any money, 1 of those should have been a game changer for marine diesels – nothing.The reason why I ask is that with a good idea that been commercially successful (for someone, maybe not you) under your belt - you will be taken more seriously.
Do you know who you could sell the idea to, and do they have a reputation of playing ball, or just nicking it and saying “we’ll see you in court” …? Really big companies do this all the time… a famous vacuum cleaner manufacturer (often in the news) did this with some of “their” switched reluctance motor technology – it is alleged...
Does it save a bit of money, a great deal of money, or mega money – i.e. can you properly quantify the saving? Many people don’t fully understand this, and it’s a popular stumbling block.
Do you have a non-disclosure agreement (NDA)? Can you get hold of one?
Does the person/company you may wish to talk to have a track record of driving a cart and horses through NDAs?
Do you have a mentor with a track record who can help you get going in this area? – DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THIS.
Have you a figure in mind as to how much money you can afford to invest in this-if any? Can you afford to write this off?
Do you have the time to invest in this – if any? Again, with everything that goes on in our busy lives - can you afford to write this off?
Do you have an amount in mind it would cost to make this idea a reality? A plastic (read 3D printed look see) version, or a properly engineered proof of concept/product that would work well first go?
How long would it take to confirm this?
Can you afford to defend your patent/copyright-able idea? – as a private individual, the likelihood is no. You may be loaded – I don’t know… For a patent - defending starts at £25K and goes upwards … even more rapidly…
Do you know any “angel investors” or know someone who does?
Have you thought of cloud funding?
Could you get a grant for it?
Join your local business area support group - some areas/councils are far more productive in this than others. Buckinghamshire is rather good for this.
Can you link it into AI technology? Then the available funds are almost infinite- after a chat with a mate on Friday - it appears this isn’t that far from reality…
Etc… etc…
Obviously all the above are questions only you can answer, and PH doesn't need to know the answers either. Its just stuff for anyone going down this road to think about.
When it comes to patent/copyright-able ideas and money, there are no gentlemen….
The above comes across as a bit negative which I apologise for. It’s not meant to be, it’s more of a case of trying to understand the size of the problem and assessing the risks.
I’m going through this myself right now, a full-time job, trying to get a patent off the ground, and also serious thought (money is currently being spent) about starting a new business, which means I am genuinely self-employed instead of a scum bag contractor…
I’ve put this link up before, but it’s a really good start.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Patents-Copyrights-Tradem...
or this
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Against-Odds-Autobiograph...
General feedback I received from an ex MD (who was in the last category) was that out of every 1000 patents
900 patents aren’t that good anyway and would be unlikely to go anywhere.
90 patents will have interest in them, and you may get some sort of financial reward, this may cover your costs – say £5-10K.
9 will have a great deal of interest in them and some decent money will change hands – inventor receives usually less than <£100K
1 will be a game changer and the inventor may be a millionaire or multi-millionaire. but someone else will make even more.
Sorry for the long post, but this is all very real and very live for me right now!
First you have to decide as to which category it fits into…
1 Patent
2 Registered design/trademark
3 Copywrite-able (I’m sure there’s a better word)
They are all different and all serve different purposes. See book below
If it’s a product it’s more likely to be a patent, but even that is not 75% certain
To pitch your idea, you need to know:
What is the current problem that this idea/product addresses? And does it do it successfully? Says who? How much experience do you/them have of this market/application?
Does it create any new problems due to its introduction? nanofibers are having some challenges here...
How big is the market, and how conservative is that market?
Is this product a real game changer for the world or just a niche application?
How much of that market will you attack, and how much will you receive?
Does anything like it currently exist/prior art?
Is this idea a novel step forward in thinking or is it something that anyone in the field could have come up with?
Can you afford to patent/copywrite it? For a patent - start at £3K and go upwards … rapidly… A patent lawyer/attorney was £175/hr +VAT for me…
Do you have a track record of coming up with great ideas? My uncle had 4 patents and died without any of them making it big- we were convinced 2 of them were going to be game changers. An ex work colleague has 11 patents and none of them have made him any money, 1 of those should have been a game changer for marine diesels – nothing.The reason why I ask is that with a good idea that been commercially successful (for someone, maybe not you) under your belt - you will be taken more seriously.
Do you know who you could sell the idea to, and do they have a reputation of playing ball, or just nicking it and saying “we’ll see you in court” …? Really big companies do this all the time… a famous vacuum cleaner manufacturer (often in the news) did this with some of “their” switched reluctance motor technology – it is alleged...
Does it save a bit of money, a great deal of money, or mega money – i.e. can you properly quantify the saving? Many people don’t fully understand this, and it’s a popular stumbling block.
Do you have a non-disclosure agreement (NDA)? Can you get hold of one?
Does the person/company you may wish to talk to have a track record of driving a cart and horses through NDAs?
Do you have a mentor with a track record who can help you get going in this area? – DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THIS.
Have you a figure in mind as to how much money you can afford to invest in this-if any? Can you afford to write this off?
Do you have the time to invest in this – if any? Again, with everything that goes on in our busy lives - can you afford to write this off?
Do you have an amount in mind it would cost to make this idea a reality? A plastic (read 3D printed look see) version, or a properly engineered proof of concept/product that would work well first go?
How long would it take to confirm this?
Can you afford to defend your patent/copyright-able idea? – as a private individual, the likelihood is no. You may be loaded – I don’t know… For a patent - defending starts at £25K and goes upwards … even more rapidly…
Do you know any “angel investors” or know someone who does?
Have you thought of cloud funding?
Could you get a grant for it?
Join your local business area support group - some areas/councils are far more productive in this than others. Buckinghamshire is rather good for this.
Can you link it into AI technology? Then the available funds are almost infinite- after a chat with a mate on Friday - it appears this isn’t that far from reality…
Etc… etc…
Obviously all the above are questions only you can answer, and PH doesn't need to know the answers either. Its just stuff for anyone going down this road to think about.
When it comes to patent/copyright-able ideas and money, there are no gentlemen….
The above comes across as a bit negative which I apologise for. It’s not meant to be, it’s more of a case of trying to understand the size of the problem and assessing the risks.
I’m going through this myself right now, a full-time job, trying to get a patent off the ground, and also serious thought (money is currently being spent) about starting a new business, which means I am genuinely self-employed instead of a scum bag contractor…
I’ve put this link up before, but it’s a really good start.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Patents-Copyrights-Tradem...
or this
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Against-Odds-Autobiograph...
General feedback I received from an ex MD (who was in the last category) was that out of every 1000 patents
900 patents aren’t that good anyway and would be unlikely to go anywhere.
90 patents will have interest in them, and you may get some sort of financial reward, this may cover your costs – say £5-10K.
9 will have a great deal of interest in them and some decent money will change hands – inventor receives usually less than <£100K
1 will be a game changer and the inventor may be a millionaire or multi-millionaire. but someone else will make even more.
Sorry for the long post, but this is all very real and very live for me right now!
p4cks said:
You could always start a consultancy business and consult the companies on how they could do things better. That way you can sell the solution to many different companies, who presumably won't be sharing your solutions with each other
Interesting idea; they certainly wouldn't tell their competitors.May not be what you want to hear, but in my experience ideas aren’t worth much. What’s valuable is an end result.
To get from any idea to successful execution involves a lot of factors (buy in, funding, prioritisation, problem solving, delivery, etc). Most of those other factors require close coupling with the business for success, so an unproven idea from an independent person outside the business is going to have a very low success rate. As a result, it’s really not worth most businesses investing the time or effort to screen and consider a pure idea with no execution evidence or capability behind it.
I’d agree with the earlier poster that if you’re the sort of person who has a lot of expertise and ideas for a certain type of business, then your best bet is to offer consultancy. Alternatively, build the capability yourself and then sell it. If that’s very hard to do, then you’ve kind of got your answer.
To get from any idea to successful execution involves a lot of factors (buy in, funding, prioritisation, problem solving, delivery, etc). Most of those other factors require close coupling with the business for success, so an unproven idea from an independent person outside the business is going to have a very low success rate. As a result, it’s really not worth most businesses investing the time or effort to screen and consider a pure idea with no execution evidence or capability behind it.
I’d agree with the earlier poster that if you’re the sort of person who has a lot of expertise and ideas for a certain type of business, then your best bet is to offer consultancy. Alternatively, build the capability yourself and then sell it. If that’s very hard to do, then you’ve kind of got your answer.
Voldemort said:
I’ve had an idea…
It’s not something you could patent. It’s more applying an old technique to a new industry.
Applying an existing technique to a new application could well be patentable. So don’t be put off by that. The two books linked above are both interesting. From memory (from when I read the Dyson book ages ago) Dyson’s cyclone vacuum idea was itself copied from an industrial paint machine (I might have got the details wrong, but it was something like that). Yet he managed to get his patents and ultimately enforced them. Good. It’s not something you could patent. It’s more applying an old technique to a new industry.
Most inventions are merely iterations of existing ideas. I won an FT Innovation award a few years back for something I supposedly came up with. All I did was see something over there, and apply it over here. It’s called having a “low associative barrier”, I believe. Which turns out to be a good thing, apparently!
The Dummies book is a good idea to read. Will give you a better idea of what type of IP protection you need.
Don’t go round telling your mates about your idea. If you do, you’ll loose the ability to patent it. Be extremely careful about confidentiality.
“I’m going through this myself right now, a full-time job, trying to get a patent off the ground, and also serious thought (money is currently being spent) about starting a new business, which means I am genuinely self-employed instead of a scum bag contractor…”
Do it. We are 1 year into our new business and it’s been brilliant - very fulfilling. Hard work. I have a full time job, but have a superb team around me who are doing all the real work. The things I’ve learned in one year, it beats 20 years of my main job.
The business might yet flounder. Even if it does it’s been the best experience.
Do it. We are 1 year into our new business and it’s been brilliant - very fulfilling. Hard work. I have a full time job, but have a superb team around me who are doing all the real work. The things I’ve learned in one year, it beats 20 years of my main job.
The business might yet flounder. Even if it does it’s been the best experience.
simonpieman said:
“I’m going through this myself right now, a full-time job, trying to get a patent off the ground, and also serious thought (money is currently being spent) about starting a new business, which means I am genuinely self-employed instead of a scum bag contractor…”
Do it. We are 1 year into our new business and it’s been brilliant - very fulfilling. Hard work. I have a full time job, but have a superb team around me who are doing all the real work. The things I’ve learned in one year, it beats 20 years of my main job.
The business might yet flounder. Even if it does it’s been the best experience.
OK to PM?Do it. We are 1 year into our new business and it’s been brilliant - very fulfilling. Hard work. I have a full time job, but have a superb team around me who are doing all the real work. The things I’ve learned in one year, it beats 20 years of my main job.
The business might yet flounder. Even if it does it’s been the best experience.
I have some questions with regards web sites etc...
Gassing Station | Business | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff