New Business Idea

beya2009

Hi Eeveryone,

I would be grateful if anyone would give me an insight on how to go about potentially starting a new business. I only thought about this the other day and I really feel it would meet a growring demand for what the product has to offer.

My predicament is this exactly;

I came up with a product idea and have come up with a few ideas as to how I would want it to be designed however I am not an engineer and specifically I would require an electrical technical engineer or perhaps a software engineer to discuss my product idea with so I could put some sort of reality into it.

I believe this is would be a unque product not in what it is offering but how it does it. Obviously I cant say too much. So my problem is how do I go about trying to talk to someone competent about it as obviously I would be reluctant as I dont want my idea to be stolen.

Obviously I know the logical step is to apply for a patent but is that even possible considering I haven't actually created the physical product yet. I doubt there is anyway of actually protecting a product concept that is tangible?

Ireland might be in a state of recession but there is still pltenty of money to be made in business. The average disposable income per capita last year stood at approximately €22, 300 and when you compare that to a country like Moldova which only stands at €744 per capita in disposable income in the same year period is only then you really realize the massive gap between the rich and the poor.

I am currently conducting a business plan for another business in the service industry which again I feel there would be a strong demand for. I dont want to get too carried away though with this new product idea I came up with yet and as my mother said...many businesses ideas are pipe dreams that never take off.

Your thoughts and advice in this matter would be much appreciated.

Oh yea my background is that I am 26 years of age and recently graduated with a primary degree in business in WIT in 2008 and im originally from Nigeria.

conolan

You can't patent something that hasn't been designed or created. You have to risk showing the idea to someone.

unnameduser

You should have a non-disclosure agreement drawn up. It's standard practice I believe.

conolan

unnameduser wrote: »

You should have a non-disclosure agreement drawn up. It's standard practice I believe.

It is standard practice, BUT not worth much because it's impossible to prove that someone disclosed your idea, plus high court cases cost thousands and thousands.

I came across the practice in the games business whereby the company you showed your idea to required you to sign a reverse non-disclosure. You agreed that they (games company) might have an idea in the works that's like yours and that if they came out with something similar to yours you had no right to sue them. OUCH!

beya2009

thanks a lot for the help everyone. I will just try and do a lot of the idea conception as I can before deciding to talk to some sort of technical or software engineer about my proposed product. I so wish I could do it myself but I just wouldn't have the technical ability to do that.

frag420

HI,

I can totally get where your coming from. I often have great ideas but dont know who to approach to develop them.

Anyways may I suggest you talk to someone in WIT( a lecturer ) or fellow student that has a background in elec engineering or similar. Or id there is a BIC (business innovation centre) at the college you could call in there.

frAg

amen

get a note book and start writing down your idea, dates etc
can be used as proof in court one reason why lab books are used

MovieExtras.ie: Derek

after writing up all you notes, make a copy of them and send them to yourself via registered mail in the Registered Post envolopes that An Post provide.

Make sure that the date stamp is clear on the front and on the seal of the envolope

PK2008

MovieExtras.ie: Derek wrote: »

after writing up all you notes, make a copy of them and send them to yourself via registered mail in the Registered Post envolopes that An Post provide.

Make sure that the date stamp is clear on the front and on the seal of the envolope

Haha, no way could that be proof of ownership of IP, thats an urban myth surely.

beya2009

Hi frag420

Thanks for your advice. I know WIT well so I will arrange an informal meeting with one of my old lecturers that taught me marketing for my masters as he's the head of marketing and might be able to give me valuable advice. I will also contact the innovation centre to get any advice.

Hi Amen, I will follow your advice and start jotting down ideas for it. I want to keep it as basic as possible as I know thats the way forward and the costs of creating something like this would be between €4, 000 to €8, 000 i'd say.

Hi MovieExtras.ie: Derek, yea I heard something about the post thing and I suppose I may as well do that as its better than doing nothing. I will just make sure all my notes are clearly dated. Im so excited thinking bout this every second because I know the target market and know something like this would be in great demand.

Funnily enough I have booked a meeting for the information clinic in Waterford City Enterprise on the 4th of May for my other business venture in the business industry. After all the comments I have been reading about Waterford City Enterprise, I wont be exactly going in there with confidence but am always happy to keep learning and see what services are available to start up businesses. Im pretty sure there's no financial assistance granted to services in the retail industry but even getting assistance on my business plan would be a bonus which is 80% completed. I want to get the finance side of it finished so it will be investor ready.

Thanks a lot for your help everyone. Im gonna keep working hard and keep learning.

Curry Addict

hi beya, i sent you a Private message.

amen

Haha, no way could that be proof of ownership of IP, thats an urban myth surely.

nope it is true. Normally if you were sending you notes/design to someone else you send to yourself at the same time. You do not open you copy.

If you need to court in later years it is accepted as proof.

Thats what really annoys me about An Post. No post marks/dates on a lot of their post. They are meant to mark them but never do

beya2009

Hi Curry Addict,

I just sent you a private message. Please let me know if you got it as its not showing up under sent messages for me. Cheers

Curry Addict

i got your message, thanks. ill send you a reply tomorrow.

Southsider1

MovieExtras.ie: Derek wrote: »

after writing up all you notes, make a copy of them and send them to yourself via registered mail in the Registered Post envolopes that An Post provide.

Make sure that the date stamp is clear on the front and on the seal of the envolope

For what exactly?? Copyright? Old wives tale!

jerryob

Derek may be referring to the 'first to invent' concept in US patent law. Should two parties claim priority, then whoever can prove they invented it first through lab books, notes, etc. is assigned the invention, even though the other may have filed first. These notes etc. can only be considered for 12 months before the provisional filing of a (US) patent. Europe uses the 'first to file' concept, so I don't think such notes can help, although I'm not an expert.

Beya, spend as much time extracting product requirements from the market. In general (but not always), the market is only interested in the black-box solution, not necessary what's in the box. But as conolan says, you have to risk opening up the fringes to hook the lead customer. Definitely, do not pay a designer cent until these requirements are validated - design is the (relatively) easy job to do.

Re: NDA's, do get them in place before you delve too deeply. Yes, you will not have the pockets to process an infringement suit against a guerilla, but think of your exit Unless your IP is clean, no acquirer will touch you; and they will have the pockets to enforce NDA's.

One final point, make your Enterprise Board your best friend. When I started up in '08, they gave me significant assistance, but not before I updated them every ~4-6 weeks.

Good luck

The enterprise board like most people in this country don't have a ****ing clue about digital so if you intend to take this business online, don't rely on them. Well, they will give you a web grant but don't expect their expertise to help you.

I know because before I knew as much as I did now about digital, they were willing to back me and support me. Of course I'm grateful but I didn't want their grant, I wanted a digital expert to help me out...

beya2009

Funny you should mention the enterprise board as I was at one of their information clinics with Waterford City Enterprise Board for my other business venture. Everything went well however the manager informed me prior to the meeting that we would have the flexibility of discussing our business venture in a group or on a 1 to 1 basis however there was no 1 to 1 offered and the presenter at the end of his presentation simply just went around asking each one of us what our business was and what stage we were at in and would then offer advice as to what service would be in our highest priority that they offered.

I just didn't feel too comfortable talking about my business in front of 9 other ppl so I didn't say much. Whilst the presenter came accross as very knowledgable, he striked ma as the type that had no primary business experience and was just handy at the theory side of things. For instance he told me that he would worry for my business not being able to make enough money even though he hadn't a notion of the industry my business will be operating and told me to book a mentor to go through my financing which I was happy to do. He came up with a relatively poor figure off the top of his head saying the business would be making around €500 a day which was way off as it would be at least double that.

Obviously he was only doing his job and part of that is to ask you crucial questions and push you; no point for him just saying "yes" or "ok" all the time lol

With regards to putting the notes for my business idea and then sending it to myself; im going to do it as I may as well. Thanks for the advice everyone. I suppose everyone's worry when coming up with a new creative idea for a product is that they fear that they could tell someone who could just go out on their own and do it themselves and then its just like a race then and you end up getting no credit and no proper protection.

I know that I have to talk to a technical engineer with a background on software development and simply start working on building the physical product so a patent can be applied. I have not informed Waterford City Enterprise Board with this idea yet as I want to take one thing at a time as my other business venture is my primary focus as of now.