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I'm pulling the trigger on my invention

Z5 FILMS

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I got an idea a while back for an invention when the product I bought was not doing nearly what it claimed. I messed with a few homemade prototypes that made some improvement. For whatever reason I did not follow through with it, but constantly have had it in the back of my mind knowing it can be made a lot better.

Today I'm at the store looking at stuff where they sell this item. I look over and I see someone at the store buying 4 of them, and instantly my blood started to boil. I found myself getting totally pissed off, and I wanted to walk up to the guy and tell him "That thing totally sucks a** and does not do what it says at all".

Instead I turned my anger into a positive. I said nothing to the guy, and walked out of the store. I immediately went around to a couple different stores that sell the item to see if there's anyone trying to compete with them or if there's anything remotely close on the shelf. Nope. Just that same "junky" product on every shelf with big bold letters claiming the product does something that I know for a fact it doesn't.

I went home and immediately called T2 Design and set up an appointment. I'm flying out to Santa Monica next Wednesday to talk with them about how we can fix this problem and put that junky product to bed.
 
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MJ DeMarco

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Great that you are taking action ... what is T2 Design?
 

Z5 FILMS

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Great that you are taking action ... what is T2 Design?


They help you with product design, they build your prototypes, draw the engineering drawings, help with patents, help with packaging design, etc.

http://www.t2design.com/


This is not to be confused with those scams you see on TV such as "Invent Help" and "Invention Submission Corp"

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4863987
 
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MJ DeMarco

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Syphonius

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Please keep us updated on T2 Design. I'm very interested to see how they handle things.

And I'm dying to know what you've invented.... ;)
 

HenkHolland

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Did you check whether there is no existing patent that can make your life difficult when you start to sell your invention?
 
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carlhuber

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I freaking love your drive and ambition.

I'm just throwing out there that I wouldn't buy a single product on the T2 products page. Is their site just really, really old for some reason? I mean, it says copyright 2006 which is ancient for the internet, but beside that everything there looks like it's from decades ago. A motorized tie rack? :rofl: Why nothing more recent?

Can't wait for your report on how it goes. Reading the "articles about T2 design" page gives a lot of positive info.:cheers:
 

Z5 FILMS

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Did you check whether there is no existing patent that can make your life difficult when you start to sell your invention?

T2 designs helps with patent searches. I have not looked, but it's not going to be a problem I don't think. It's hard to explain why without telling you what the item is.

It not like a dinner fork where there's only so many ways you can redesign it to make it better. It's more like a shoe, where there's thousands designs and materials you can use if you were trying to produce a more comfortable shoe, and in the end with all those combinations, it's still a shoe.
 

Redshft

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Good luck!! I'm also curious to hear about T2's credibility and effectiveness. I remember seeing an ad for them in an "Entrepreneur" magazine but just overlooked them thinking they were another "Invent Help" company.

Do they JUST accept an initial fee of start-up/development/testing/etc. of the product or will they also hold a share of the profits? Companies like this CAN be a good thing...but you gotta read the small print.
 
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dbeck29

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good luck with your invention. I too would like to hear about your experience with T2. I too am currently working on an invention that will be brought to market very soon. While you are out here, you might want to check out http://www.designplusvision.com/landing.php as well. Design + would be direct competition with T2. I interviewed them last week and really liked what they had to say. They are roughly 1 hour from Santa Monica.
 

Rawr

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Good luck Adam.


http://www.google.com/patents for anyone looking.


I myself have an idea that needs to be prototyped - so I am very interested in t2 as well, please keep us updates as far as how easy they are to deal with - NDA, etc..
 

Z5 FILMS

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Do they JUST accept an initial fee of start-up/development/testing/etc. of the product or will they also hold a share of the profits? Companies like this CAN be a good thing...but you gotta read the small print.

I'm not positive, but I THINK if you don't agree to give them royalties, they charge you more for development costs. This is something I will ask about.

dbeck29, did Design + Vision say anything about this?
 

dbeck29

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I'm not positive, but I THINK if you don't agree to give them royalties, they charge you more for development costs. This is something I will ask about.

dbeck29, did Design + Vision say anything about this?

D+V does not take a royalty. They are expensive, a bit more than T2 from what the website says, but at the end of the day, its your idea, your product, your money.
 

Z5 FILMS

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I'm off!

I'm going to Houston today to visit siblings for the day, then leaving for California in the AM out of Houston. My meeting with T2 is Thursday. I return Friday night. Will be back to report on Saturday.
 
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MJ DeMarco

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Rawr

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It's Friday MJ, give the guy a break :)
 

Z5 FILMS

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Ok, flew to LA on Wed and stayed in Santa Monica at the Fairmont on Wilshire & Ocean Dr. Really nice hotel, good location, good views. Rooms were pretty nice with decent views. I quicky found the 3rd Street Prominade. Really cool street with lots of stores. There seemed to be a movie theater and a ATM about every 100 feet on 3rd street for whatever reason. Then I discovered the best thing ever. Fat Burger!!! Best little greasy burger I have had in a while. Not good in a Fudruckers way, but in a cheap, quick, greasy way. I wanted to test it against In & Out, but I did not rent a car, so I did not get to try In & Out.

Thursday I just walked around a bit, and then met with Paul at T2. I told him my idea and how I came up with it. I explained how I tested my cheap prototype against the leading brand and how mine worked better and what the leading brand is lacking. He was really interested and agreed. He explained some things about how the product works, and we brainstormed some ideas for what materials could be used to make it better, and we narrowed it down to a few. He gave me some new ideas for materials I had not thought of for me to go home and test. He went over licensing Vs going it alone with costs and benefits of each. He explained patents, how to read them and what to watch out for. We did a brief search for patents and found something similar to my idea. It's no means to deal killer because I'm obviously not the only one in the market, but just something to consider and watch out for. Then we got into costs. He estimated that it will cost $150K to have it manufactured. It was a little discouraging hearing that, but not a deal killer. I was thinking along the lines of $75K. This number can vary depend on final design, materials and if it's tooling and manufacturing is domestic or overseas. I'm still convinced the the $150K number is high. There's a company in my town that does tooling and has local capabilities and they also have a facility in China. I'm going to take the competition product to them and have them look at it and tell me what they think it costs to tool up for it locally and in China. This would give me a really good idea about production costs.

In the end Paul gave me the option of going forward with with a detailed patent search @ $125/hr at approx 10 hours, or the option of thinking about things. I chose the later. T2 was cool but I'm going to weigh all my options first.
I just want to make sure of the final materials and design. Then get a good looking working prototype in front of the target market eyeballs to get unbiased feedback. I also want to talk to distributors and retailers. I want to make sure consumers like it and the distributors and retailers don't say "No thanks, we already carry something similar". That would be the death blow. I can absorb a $15K loss if I get a prototype made and the consumers think it sucks or retailers won't carry it. That's no problem. If I went into full production and dumped $150K into this and plus more for marketing & advertising, and found out nobody wanted it, I would have to jump out the window like an options trader.

I'll let the consumers decide if this thing gets made or not

Next step is to try to get a real idea on what tooling and manufacturing costs will be. That company in Austin should be able to do that I think, and I will try to talk to them before Wed. I'm not worried about costs. But I would like to have a good idea so I can calculate my risk better.

Next steps:

1. Talk to Austin tooling company this week.
2. Decide on final design style and materials.
3. Have T2 or someone similar do patent research.
4. Get a good working prototype made.
5. Get consumer feedback on prototype, talk to distributors and retailers.
 

Z5 FILMS

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While you are out here, you might want to check out http://www.designplusvision.com/landing.php as well. Design + would be direct competition with T2. I interviewed them last week and really liked what they had to say. They are roughly 1 hour from Santa Monica.

What was your impression of Design + Vision? I'm thinking of going back out and speaking with them also. I prolly should have while I was there, but did not plan for it.
 
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fanocks2003

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Mar 31, 2008
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I got an idea a while back for an invention when the product I bought was not doing nearly what it claimed. I messed with a few homemade prototypes that made some improvement. For whatever reason I did not follow through with it, but constantly have had it in the back of my mind knowing it can be made a lot better.

Today I'm at the store looking at stuff where they sell this item. I look over and I see someone at the store buying 4 of them, and instantly my blood started to boil. I found myself getting totally pissed off, and I wanted to walk up to the guy and tell him "That thing totally sucks a** and does not do what it says at all".

Instead I turned my anger into a positive. I said nothing to the guy, and walked out of the store. I immediately went around to a couple different stores that sell the item to see if there's anyone trying to compete with them or if there's anything remotely close on the shelf. Nope. Just that same "junky" product on every shelf with big bold letters claiming the product does something that I know for a fact it doesn't.

I went home and immediately called T2 Design and set up an appointment. I'm flying out to Santa Monica next Wednesday to talk with them about how we can fix this problem and put that junky product to bed.

That's the spirit. Though, test the market for your invention before embarking on building a prototype on it. No reason building a new and better thing if there is no buyers. Even if the market might be crowded for the old model it might not be so automaticly for the new and more improved one.
 

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