Okay, let’s face it we all have ideas we think are great and we want to see them get to market. For some reason when an Inventor has a bad idea they think if they explain it to you more and more it will make the idea better. It doesn’t. Just because your family and friends say they love your idea does not mean the rest of the country will want it.
Too often I have Inventors send me products/ideas for review that just will not pass the “Better Than” question. Meaning the idea has either been done to death and they bring nothing new to the market that could interest the consumer, their idea is not giving the consumer any advantage over current products, its cost to bring to market is more than the consumer is willing to pay or the idea is really just plain bad to the point no one will really want it. An example I like to use is “Edible Sneakers”. Sure you could patent it, you could have them made, but would anyone really want to purchase them?
This is why I am always pushing Inventors to do their due diligence on their idea long before they start spending money on it. Unfortunately you have a lot of Inventors that are in love with their idea and will proceed no matter what you tell them. I prefer to avoid learning the hard way, but that is just me. I have been fortunate to get my inventions licensed in the toy, tool, kitchen, eyewear and nuclear industry spending less than $100 on each and some as low as $8. I used a NDA and a sell sheet, no PPA and no patent. So it can be done. You just have to do your homework upfront.
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