Small inventors in electronic: How to get a fair market value for your ideas  - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: FreeLectron
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: September 28, 2013, 03:47:50 pm
content: So you think you've invented the Holy Graal in electronic technology?Say that you've checked and confirmed with an authority in the field (with great caution) that this idea is truly a disruptive one, say for the FPGA industry.If this idea has the potential to increase the size of this market segment by tens of % and maybe more.What would be your strategy to maximize your chance of getting a fair market value for your brilliant idea?You're currently a small fish with "out of the box" ideas and you don't want to be dicked by a large corporation or sharks?You've been there before because you're a creative one, but it still hurts when you think about it ...- Custommer end: You don't need manufacturer support to proove your concept from thie end. You can make a demo by yourself with a small investment.- Manufacturer end: You don't need help from a third party to show to the manufacturer what they have to do to crop these fruits at a very little cost.Suggestions are welcome.

author: mikeselectricstuff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 28, 2013, 04:06:48 pm
content: Kickstarter.

author: Stonent
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 28, 2013, 08:51:55 pm
content: Wait this is not free electron.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 28, 2013, 10:10:53 pm
content: Quote from: mikeselectricstuff on September 28, 2013, 04:06:48 pmEven Kickstarter knows that ideas are worth a dime a dozen.Indiegogo is the go to part gullible people from their hard earned money.Seriously to the OP, your idea alone is practically worthless, most likely not as original as you think, and your "authorities" opinion isn't worth as much as you think.All creative people (like practically everyone on this forum) have new idea every day. That's why they are a dime a dozen. No one will buy your ideas, you have to execute on them.Even if you have a patent granted on the idea, a huge company (in the FPGA field for example) would rather spend countless dollars invalidating your patent than spend one cent to buy your idea.Not that you'd be able to defend it anyway, because patent defense law suits costs millions, and they know that.Bottom line, people don't buy ideas, yet the myth with "inventors"seems to continue that they do somehow.

author: bilko
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 28, 2013, 10:41:27 pm
content: An idea is only worth something when its made its first million, until then it just an idea.

author: Corporate666
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 29, 2013, 05:42:05 am
content: Quote from: EEVblog on September 28, 2013, 10:10:53 pm+eleventyThere is another forum I am on that has a lot of very successful businessmen, and occasionally someone comes along with an idea and wonders how to cash in on it and make millions. There are always a group of hold-outs who refuse to accept that ideas are generally worthless and argue to the bitter end the counter point. They also often have their historical data points like the guy who invented post-it noted, or the guy who came up with the auto-delay windshield wiper (or others). Ideas are worthless. Execution is worth a lot. Every step - prototype, market research, alpha units, beta units, pre-production, production, sales, etc, all add value and increase the value, but all of those steps take the project beyond idea and towards something tangible.We ran a poll once on the other forum - every single investor would rather invest in a crappy idea with a great team than a brilliant idea with an unknown team.As for ideas being good/bad, I've had people looking for investment share ideas. I won't breach any NDA's, but a few that I can mention that inventors thought were billion-dollar ideas...-An arrow with built-in GPS tracker so you can find the animal you shot-Running shoes with a leaf spring in the sole that captures energy and "launches" you forward with each step-A Grand Theft Auto like game but with an accurate model of a real city, not just a fictional one-Under car lighting with a wireless remote to turn them on/off from inside the car-An app that broadcasts your location to cab companies that subscribe to the service and allows subscribers with close-by cabs to bid on your fare-A software that monitors if your packages were delivered and automatically requests refund on those that weren't-Fitness machines with electricity capturing devices that feed power back into the electric grid and generate $$ for the fitness center ownerEach of the people proposing those ideas felt they were worth millions - just for the idea. Most got no investment. None of the ideas were ever bought (and I don't know any idea that has ever been bought).

author: Bored@Work
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 29, 2013, 08:21:59 am
content: From previous discussions I know I am a bit in a unique position when it comes to making money from ideas.My employer is a bit patent crazy. By a combination of employment contract and law, my employer has first buying rights for any "invention" I make. I have to report any "invention" I make, they have to decide within a certain time if they want it.If they want it they pay a nice, fixed lump sum to me. I sign the papers, they pay the lawyers and all fees and organize the patent application. Not much work for me, and even if they screw it up I get to keep the lump sum. If the patent gets granted, and if they make real use of it I get some more money at more or less fair market value. And that's usually it.If they don't want it I have the right to do whatever I want with the "invention". In theory I could, for example, try to sell it, patent it on my own, etc. In practice I just bin the idea.So my strategy when it comes to ideas is very simple. Adhere to my contract and try to sell the idea to a particular "evil corporation", "shark", aka my employer. If they don't want it, I bin it and move on. Until now I never had the temptation to seriously invest my own money in one of my own ideas. When I was younger and naive I spent some time to find buyers for ideas, just to learn that ideas are dime a dozen. There are markets for inventors, e.g.http://www.inventions-geneva.ch/cgi-bin/gb-exposants.php, there are venture capitalists, startup, entrepreneur founder events. Lately there is stuff like kickstarter. But you have to be a special bread, up to the point to be a semi conman, to work that circus. And you still have to have a lot of luck.

author: Bored@Work
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 29, 2013, 08:42:38 am
content: Quote from: Corporate666 on September 29, 2013, 05:42:05 amI think I have seen that one implemented. IIRC they were quickly outperformed by cab companies who didn't want to bid on fares.These companies ganged up, and financed an own app for calling a near-by taxi. They integrated the app operation in their own radio taxi systems and agreed on a small fixed commission fee per actual fare. And that bid on fare system was dead.

author: smashedProton
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 30, 2013, 04:00:24 am
content: Dude delete your account and change usernames. nobody is going to appreciate you being an imposter of a guru.

author: Corporate666
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 30, 2013, 04:11:04 am
content: Quote from: Bored@Work on September 29, 2013, 08:42:38 amCould be. I know a company in San Francisco (IIRC?) did something almost identical with bike couriers and packages. You listed what you had and where it was going on the app and immediately couriers would fight for the business, so-to-speak and within a short time the winner would arrive to collect the fare.The big problem, as you point out, is that an idea is worthless. Execution is all that matters. If someone's idea was to have an online auction site (before eBay existed), we'd laugh them off and say the want-ads would just copy the idea and clean their clock. Same with the idea for Facebook, or the Elevation Dock, or Pebble Watch. Nobody cares about ideas because executing on them is where it's at.

author: madshaman
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 30, 2013, 08:23:01 am
content: Quote from: EEVblog on September 28, 2013, 10:10:53 pm+infinity plus oneI will add this: the world is *teaming* and *frothing* with people who want to live large off your hard work and they're not about to tell you that. It's also just as full of people who in a negotiation seek only an agreement where *both* parties walk away satisfied.Assume the following:1) there are at least one million people as smart as you as knowledgeable as you and as creative as you2) no-one will give you piles of money out of the kindness of their heart; the only option is to seek fair trade or be like one of those whom you fear3) there are people you can actually trust, it's up to your judgement to determine who those people are (you yourself are trustworthy and wouldn't steal from another right? You're not alone in this)Partnering with someone who knows business like you know engineering might be a good idea, and that person or persons also deserve fair reward for their skill and effort.If you're doing electronics to make big bucks you're being inefficient; going to law school is probably much easier.I hope you love what you do, once you can put a roof over your head and buy food, money doesn't add as much to your life as you might think :-), being happy and waking up each morning excited and happy is literally priceless.edit: typos and bad quoting

author: dcel
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 30, 2013, 10:07:31 am
content: The paper that the patent is printed on costs you thousands, and its worth nothing.If you pursue a patent, just make sure that its written carefully, your attorney knows what he/she is doing, and you have a butt load of cash you are willing to throw away both getting the patent and defending it. If you have not sat down and rewritten your own patent five times before the atty's get it right, you have nothing worth patenting. If you don't have a fully functional prototype, don't bother with the patent.If you do want to get a patent, write downeveryvariation of said project that you can think of, goto atty, plunk down $2500.00US and have a patent search done. You will find out just how many times that brilliant idea of yours had been applied for or patented.Been there, done that, have a empty bank acct to prove it.Chris