Selling an idea safely?

[kawasakirider]

Hi everyone, my name's Trent. I'm 20 and I'm located in Queensland, Australia.

I've been trying to find something in life that will make me financially free and successful. I know that becoming wealthy through entrepreneurship isn't a sure thing, I also know that it's a long and hard road, full of disappointment. However, I'll be damned if I sit back and work like a slave for someone else for the next 50 years to earn 50K a year and not have enough to retire, I'd rather give it a go than wonder "what if".

So, I've explored a few (small time, just for a bit of cashflow until something good comes along) business ideas, from drop shipping things[FONT=&quot][/FONT] to starting my own freelance businesses. But I have come up with an idea that I believe will be extremely successful.

I have searched for it all over the net, it has never been done before. I made a prototype of it today and it worked like an absolute charm. I know what needs to be done to improve it, but I don't have the resources to do so.

So what I want/need to do, is sell the idea to a company. I need to know the best way to go about doing this.

So here are my questions:

How much do worldwide patents cost? I am looking around 100k, aren't I?

Is there anything else I can do, other than shelling out 100K, to protect my idea and be able to safely present it to a company without it getting stolen?

How much could I expect to sell an idea for (obviously it depends on what the idea is, so this will be a bit of a BS question)?

My plan is to refine my prototype, come up with a list of what it needs to be better, then sell the idea to a company or try to somehow obtain royalties from the product.

What I want to do is make a prototype, get a video of it in action (which I already have done today) and then sell the idea, for either a lump sum or royalties.

What I am worried about, though, is showing a company the idea and having it stolen. I don't know how to get something patented and even if I did, I don't think I'd have the money.

Is there a way around this?

What would be the smartest way to go, royalties or just selling the idea?

How do I go about selling the idea safely?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!!!!

 

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[Rickson9]

Provisional patents are far cheaper and allow you to test your idea before spending a lot of money on something that won't sell.

I wouldn't worry about protecting your idea. I would worry more about securing a customer. If you can't secure a customer, the idea is not worth protecting anyway.

 

[kawasakirider]

Provisional patents are far cheaper and allow you to test your idea before spending a lot of money on something that won't sell.

I wouldn't worry about protecting your idea. I would worry more about securing a customer. If you can't secure a customer, the idea is not worth protecting anyway.

I know that this would sell, but how do I go about securing a provisional patent? I can't secure customers if I don't have the means to produce the product.

Thanks for your help.

 

[minamo]

I know it is a slightly different niche, but why not execute the idea yourself?. You can always sell manufacturing rights once it is succesful.

 

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[Likwid24]

Read "One Simple Idea" by Stephen Key. You'll find the answers to all your questions in his book.

 

[kawasakirider]

I know it is a slightly different niche, but why not execute the idea yourself?. You can always sell manufacturing rights once it is succesful.

Because I'm a broke university student, I really wouldn't have the funds to make them and sell them. If I was selling them, I'd still need to pay for a patent to protect them, and I'd only be able to make more once the first one sold, until it got bigger, obviously. But I couldn't dump 20K into a patent and have it take years to get the remuneration. At the moment I'm unemployed and 20, not a really great start to my life. I don't know how I could execute this?

It would be great if I could.

 

[kawasakirider]

Read "One Simple Idea" by Stephen Key. You'll find the answers to all your questions in his book.

I'll get onto that, thank you!

 

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[evanwebb]

Here's the One Simple Idea thread on this forum.

 

[kawasakirider]

Here's the One Simple Idea thread on this forum.

Thank you, I am about 15 minutes away from being able to read the book

 

[Rickson9]

Can you use kickstarter.com?

 

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[kawasakirider]

Can you use kickstarter.com?

I've got no idea I'm new to all this and the amount of resources available to entrepreneurs is overwhelming, picking the right one is a task in itself. I've never heard of that site before and it doesn't clearly outline what it does. Am I supposed to just put my idea up on the internet and hope that someone who has the funds can help make it a reality, without stealing it?

 

[Amail]

Seriously - there are, by actual count, eight bazillion (with a "B") good ideas out there. If your idea is seriously that good, sit on it a while and develop another idea that you don't mind gettin stolen. It will be a "dry run" to get you into the game and battered around a bit without risking The Idea.

Besides, you can get all the patent protection you want. You CANNOT afford to enforce it. There is no worldwide patent police force. You'd need to find out who was stealing the idea and then hope to sue them into oblivion in their country.

I think you'll find, as almost everyone else who's been in the game a while has, that it's never the idea - it's the execution. Show me the guy with next iPhone idea but no idea how to execute, and I'll show you a guy who can make more money starting a window washing business. Unless the iPhone guy knows how to execute, he won't leave the starting blocks.

The point is not to discourage you from trying. Just don't go into this thinking:
1- a patent will offer much protection
2- you should stay on square one until you have adequate protection.
Have at it. Roll out the idea and crush the execution. Let pirates do their thing - you can't stop em. Just do a better job of delivering.

 

[kawasakirider]

Seriously - there are, by actual count, eight bazillion (with a "B") good ideas out there. If your idea is seriously that good, sit on it a while and develop another idea that you don't mind gettin stolen. It will be a "dry run" to get you into the game and battered around a bit without risking The Idea.

Besides, you can get all the patent protection you want. You CANNOT afford to enforce it. There is no worldwide patent police force. You'd need to find out who was stealing the idea and then hope to sue them into oblivion in their country.

I think you'll find, as almost everyone else who's been in the game a while has, that it's never the idea - it's the execution. Show me the guy with next iPhone idea but no idea how to execute, and I'll show you a guy who can make more money starting a window washing business. Unless the iPhone guy knows how to execute, he won't leave the starting blocks.

The point is not to discourage you from trying. Just don't go into this thinking:
1- a patent will offer much protection
2- you should stay on square one until you have adequate protection.
Have at it. Roll out the idea and crush the execution. Let pirates do their thing - you can't stop em. Just do a better job of delivering.

Thanks for your reply. I am 100% positive that this item has NEVER been made anywhere before. I am reading Stephen Key's "One Simple Idea" now, do you think that licensing would be a better option for someone like me? I could get a provisional patent, test the waters to see if it works and if it does, making it happen isn't up to me. If it doesn't, well stiff sh1t, it's a learning curve?

Although I get what you're saying about another idea that I'm not so partial towards. I think shelling out the $110 for a provisional patent in my company and learning would be a good way to go. I have a few other ideas that I could probably work on and see how they work out. Is it possible to license an iPhone app (keep in mind, I'm in Australia)? I just have the idea, no way of developing it.

 

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[Rickson9]

I've got no idea I'm new to all this and the amount of resources available to entrepreneurs is overwhelming, picking the right one is a task in itself. I've never heard of that site before and it doesn't clearly outline what it does. Am I supposed to just put my idea up on the internet and hope that someone who has the funds can help make it a reality, without stealing it?

An idea with no paying customers is not worth stealing.

"Most people put a lot of stock in their ideas, but the fact is, an idea by itself is worth nothing. The sooner you understand this, the faster you'll move along the path to success."
Entrepreneur.com

If your idea has NEVER been done before - that's a NEGATIVE.

"When I ask entrepreneurs why someone should invest in their company I often here this response, “Because we have no competition, no one is doing what we can do.” Then, I have to break the news to them that in 99% of cases this is going to be a major turn off to investors. If you have no competition at all, the question is why not?"
4 Most Common Myths

"Here’s how founders get good ideas for companies. You start with an idea, and you tell a friend. Your friend immediately tells you why it’s a bad idea. You do this 20 times until your friend says, hmmm. That’s a good idea. Then you tell your idea to a serial entrepreneur or an active angel investor. And that person tells you why your idea is terrible. This happens 30 times. You will have to find a bunch of different people to harass in this way. A friend will put up with 20 bad pitches. Someone who is not a friend can deal with five to 10 ideas before they start to find you annoying."
How To Tell If you Have A Great Idea

The answer you have received is correct. All ideas, including yours, isn't worth anything. Seriously.

 

[H. Palmer]

I second that.

A 20 year old student with an idea who has no sales experience but knows for sure that his idea will sell and already wants to protect it by a patent is giving off this loud statement: I have no clue.

Kawasakirider, the best thing you can do is first make a very simple app, of any kind, create a website and start selling it. This is the test phase of your entrepeneurship.

If it's a success, you haven't proven that the app is a success, but that YOU are a success in the sense of being an entrepeneur. This is critical.

THEN go back to your 10 million dollar app, create a new website and apply the principles you have found to work on your test app.

As soon as it gets the same traction, file for a provisional patent and go sell the technology. With proven commercial success in your basket, you now stand a fair chance of a good sale.

 

[kawasakirider]

When I say it hasn't been done before, that's actually incorrect. I am bringing two different products together. I've already made a prototype and tested it in a real world application and it actually works and it works really well.

They're two completely different things from two completely different industries put together! It's hard to explain without giving too much away, lol. Since I've had the idea, I've asked questions on forums and even seen Internet posts (and joke memes) about the thing that is already available, but how it needs two participants to work. I've invented a way to make it work with one.

 

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[PatrickP]

Provisional patent is just $125

Get this book. This guy is a member here and he shows you step by step.

inventRight - Successful inventor Stephen Key helps you bring your invention or product idea to market through licensing.

 

[kawasakirider]

Provisional patent is just $125

Get this book. This guy is a member here and he shows you step by step.

inventRight - Successful inventor Stephen Key helps you bring your invention or product idea to market through licensing.

I'm 100 pages through it

Stephen mentions on page 72 that you have to find out whether or not it will be feasible from a cost perspective to produce the item, the answer for mine is YES, because I am essentially only merging two readily available (and MASS produced) products from completely different industries together.

Well, I'm actually merging 4 readily available products together. They are the same thing, just a different size scale for two different applications (indoor and outdoor and their users).

It definitely fills a niche, it is being done, but this makes it easier and possible to be done without the customer being present, which isn't possible now.

I've joined other forums and put up polls, it's very early days yet, but the polls are in my favor so far, these people already use this technology, it's just no one has found a way to better it. I have.

 

[CommonCents]

best you can do if presenting your idea is get a non disclosure/confidentiality agreement with firms you disclose to. Add clause that says when you divulge info that they may say is not proprietary to them, they must provide you some written proof/facts that they already have that idea. It helps in preventing someone just telling you "oh yeah, we're already working on that, thanks!"

 

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[kawasakirider]

best you can do if presenting your idea is get a non disclosure/confidentiality agreement with firms you disclose to. Add clause that says when you divulge info that they may say is not proprietary to them, they must provide you some written proof/facts that they already have that idea. It helps in preventing someone just telling you "oh yeah, we're already working on that, thanks!"

Thanks for the info! Once I get the ball rolling with this thing, I'll have to speak to a lawyer about drawing up an NDA.