Not sure what my next step forward should be.

bayles

Hi Folks

Im just looking for opinions on what you reckon my next move should be. Firstly , Im currently bankrupt .. not as a result of any business dealings but as a result of Ulster Bank selling my mortgage to a vulture fund without telling me, Im one of the people you hear about on the news. The result was having to sell the house in negative equity and going bankrupt in order to move forward with my life, an extremely difficult decision to have to make but a necessary one. I will be exiting bankruptcy next March.

I have been developing a brand new product over the last few years , It formed part of my business degree (I went back to college as a mature student) and I just followed through with it after I graduated. It won a few awards while i was in college and got me shortlisted for the student entrepreneur of the year. I dont want to give too much away here but it has all the hallmarks of being a huge success. I have a fully functioning pre production prototype that i had made and a full EU design patent in place. I went public with the product after I got the patent in place and the Industry it is aimed at went nuts for it. I ended up having to take all the videos and images of it off line as people were trying to pre order through my FB page. I was even contacted by online magazines who were looking to run a feature on it. It all just proved a bit too much at the time so it was easier to close the whole thing down online until i was ready.

I feel as though I am in a bit of a limbo, I feel like I should be still trying to do things even while in bankruptcy .. I would like to bring in an Investor to help move it along .. I dont want to go near banks if at all possible , they probably wouldn't entertain me now anyway. Would an Investor be the best way forward !! . Ideally I would like to be manufacturing in China and distributing from Ireland into the EU. There is also a huge market in the US and Interest has been shown over there from companies with regards a licensing agreement however I let all that go cold after the bankruptcy kicked in so contact would have to be made again and Im also not sure what I would say to them....

Id love to hear any and all opinions , Thanks.

jimmii

Fair play for coming up with something unique despite going through all that too.

How big a market is there for it? If it's big how easily would one if the big boys be able to come up with a competing product that just blows you out of the water? If this really is the best option then licensing might be the best route then you can just take the money and not have to worry about running a business from it. Unless you can protect your patent it's fairly worthless if a large multi national just ripped it off you're going to need a lot of money to try take them on.

bayles

jimmii wrote: »

Fair play for coming up with something unique despite going through all that too.

How big a market is there for it? If it's big how easily would one if the big boys be able to come up with a competing product that just blows you out of the water? If this really is the best option then licensing might be the best route then you can just take the money and not have to worry about running a business from it. Unless you can protect your patent it's fairly worthless if a large multi national just ripped it off you're going to need a lot of money to try take them on.

Thanks ,
The market is massive. I didint pursue a patent in the US as it would have proved very costly however that is where the licensing interest lies , not in the EU (at the moment) .. Like any product it could be easily copied , I know my design patent will only go so far.

jimmii

bayles wrote: »

Thanks ,
The market is massive. I didint pursue a patent in the US as it would have proved very costly however that is where the licensing interest lies , not in the EU (at the moment) .. Like any product it could be easily copied , I know my design patent will only go so far.

Definitely worth looking at licensing then. Do you even want to be launching a product/starting a business?

Baby01032012

If there’s export potential maybe talk to enterprise Ireland.

daithi7

Definitely try to licence it. Get it to market asap. Identify the top 5 players in the target markets and approach them.

Try to get the best advisors you can on board. I suspect you won't be able to afford them so you'll probably have to structure fees on a no foal no (or less) fee basis. This can be expensive so ensure you shop around you'll need good legal & commercial /financial advice minimum.

Good luck.

P.s. You didn't go bankrupt cos Ub sold your mortgage. You had to go backrupt cos you couldn't afford your mortgage repayments in a loan agreement that you signed up to, and the house you bought depreciated. That's tough, but b budgeting to pay your debts was & is your responsibility.

Sorry this may be a little blunt but it is a pet hate to see someone practising denial.

Lesson number 1 in life & business , take responsibility for your own actions and outcomes.... Leave the blame /moan game to others

P.p.s. Well done on rebooting your life after making this major mistake, not at all easy to do.

whomitconcerns

As per the previous poster if you go around blaming the bank for your bankruptcy it will be difficult to get someone to invest. I mean if you just blame everyone else for no success then why would I risk my money with you?

On the flipside, get your patent sorted and licence it. If the demand is how you say then you will have success and won't need as much investment!

daithi7

daithi7 wrote: »

Definitely try to licence it. .

it takes a lot of time and money to bring a product to market, so this above is the best advice in my opinion. Trying to get yourself a license fee upfront and a royalty fee of 5-10%. At worst settle on a royalty fee of 5%. Find the person you need to meet on LinkedIn, bring along your patent approval, all your media and previous demand, and make a very nice power point proposal that you have practiced 50 times before you meet them. This is likely your best shot and making something happen.

pedroeibar1

If this is such a huge idea/invention, why is it not an asset of your estate and where does the bankruptcy trustee stand on it?