Invent a Product

Invent a Product
Many great businesses have been developed from new product ideas. You may have a new
business concept or a new product you feel would be viable in the marketplace. Be aware that the
process of taking a new idea product onto the marketplace can be lengthy and in some cases
difficult.
In his book, Successful Inventing, Norman Parrish (inventor, author, and mentor) states that product
development and business planning must be a concurrent process. "In order to have the financial
support necessary to accomplish all of the tasks required to take an idea from its conceptual state
through all of the subsequent stages, the inventor should have a realistic business plan and
understand the nature of cash flow and how to manage it."
• The first step in launching your product is to determine its feasibility. This will
let you know whether your new product is viable and help you determine the
potential of it becoming a commercial success. Determining feasibility is a very
important step and we suggest you take it seriously. You will need to make an
informed decision as to whether to proceed with your business idea before you
invest a lot of time and money only to find out it has no commercial value.
• If you have determined that your product has commercial viability, you will then
want to check to make sure there are no similar products on the market. More
importantly, there are no products that have intellectual property you may
infringe upon as this could result in lawsuits against you. To do this, go to the
United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) website (www.uspto.gov)
to conduct a patent search.
• Now that you have determined that your product has commercial viability and
know that there are no similar products out there with intellectual property
You will want to protect your product with a patent(s) or related intellectual
property rights. You can do this step on your own by going to the USPTO
website. You can also use the services of a patent attorney. While costly,
consulting with a patent attorney or patent agent at an early stage will provide
you with the best solution for protecting your product as well as your business.
• Once the product has been protected, you will need to develop a working
prototype of your invention. You can do this by buying the various components
that make up your invention and assemble them yourself. Alternatively, you can
work with a manufacturer in your area to build the prototype. At this stage you
will have to decide whether you want to license your invention to a company that
will manufacture and market the product or start a business of your own. In
making your decision, consider the costs associated with starting your own
business.