Great idea...but what to do?

JohnP199

I have an idea for an electronic device. It is something completely new (I think!) which could save households money. Obviously I dont want to say much about it.

Anyways I havent a clue what to do. How or where would I go to get it made, patent it etc. I have never done anything like this before but have this one very good idea which could prove a huge financial earner for me. So what do I do? I need advice!

GroupDeals

First make sure it actually is completely new idea. If it is, then speak to an engineer about getting a prototype made up. Something that looks good on paper might not work out in practice.
If the idea isn't new, and someone else is making these devices elsewhere in the world, maybe contact them about giving you rights to sell their device in Ireland.

JohnP199

As a household device it is new as far as I know. There is similar techologies used in other areas. It wouldnt be a simple device. If it can be made I think it would be a brilliant device. But I believe it will take a far bit of work to make a prototype

micdug

So first thing you have to get out of your head is this "top secret idea" can't tell anyone. You are going to have to tell people! Great ideas are ten a penny and pretty useless. It's rare that the guy with the idea in the first place makes the money. It's whoever can bring the product to market that wins everytime. Even if you patent it, unless it's watertight big companies can usually find a way around it. From the sounds of it, it's yet another water/elec saving device which is a fairly saturated market.

If you are 99.999% certain that nobody else makes it, you're next step is to make a working prototype. You make a comment that "as a household product" it's new so I am presuming that it is in fact not new - just it's use. Thats not really patentable if thats the case. Do you have a company?

1. Get a solicitor to draw up an NDA agreement.
2. Find an engineer that does this kind of thing for a living and get him to sign NDA. You'll probably need to offer this guy a little bit of equity to make the prototype for as little as possible.
3. Presuming you are not independently wealthy, you'll need to talk to a few angel investors to fund the setting up of a company and a patent trawl which is really expensive.
4. Unless the product has serious market appeal and you are in for a very long haul, probably best to hawk it to household goods manufactuers. If it's a gadget try JML or the likes. They will have contract manufacturers to make them and a channel to sell through! You investors will push you in the appropriate direction.

Don't get too excited - as I said it's the ability to bring to market, not the idea no matter how good, that matters. You are a long long way from there.

monzadesigner

visit www.advanceddesign.ie they can build you a prototype.