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How to invent stuff if you're not a maker-person

elk yinzer

elk yinzer

Well-Known Member
SH Member
Joined
Oct 23, 2017
Messages
2,925
Location
State College, PA
I have what I think is a great idea and I'm 99% sure it doesn't exist (not really hunting related fwiw).

How do I go about finding engineering and tinkering type people that will help me make prototypes without them stealing my idea or me going broke in the process? Asking here because I trust you guys and figuring there is some firsthand experience with how saddle hunting and that whole cottage industry blew up.

I think patents are mostly bulls-crap so I'm not really looking for advice in that particular.
 
elk yinzer said:
I have what I think is a great idea and I'm 99% sure it doesn't exist (not really hunting related fwiw).

How do I go about finding engineering and tinkering type people that will help me make prototypes without them stealing my idea or me going broke in the process? Asking here because I trust you guys and figuring there is some firsthand experience with how saddle hunting and that whole cottage industry blew up.

I think patents are mostly bulls-crap so I'm not really looking for advice in that particular.
Click to expand...
Here at the end of the work day and you bout ta make me use bad words.
 
An NDA(non-disclosure agreement) will for the most part give you some protection from idea theft for a period of time defined in the doc. The bigger problem is finding a place to prototype and then produce. That's assuming you can run CAD. If you cant, there is a whole nuther layer that needs Preparation H.
 
You should assume your idea is probably not as good as you think it is.

Not because it doesn’t solve a problem. But because it is really hard to be unique.

Patents just offer some protection. It isn’t black and white. The broader and more general the patent, the better off you are. The narrower it is, the less protection it offers. Lining up incentives with your lawyer can prove tough.

If it exists already, your patent won’t get approved(if your IP attorney does a good search and finds prior art). If he doesn’t find it, and you’re issued a patent, and it’s found later, you’re screwed.

Here’s a simple way to think through this: you’ll pay 5 figures to get IP protection. More for better, though it’s a correlation not a cause and effect.

If your idea can’t make you hundreds of thousands of dollars in profit(not revenue), it is unlikely to be worth the protection it offers.

I can’t offer you significant subject matter expertise in patent law. What I can offer is informed advice from being in your shoes several times, with friends in high places to help me through the process at low cost to arrive at the same conclusion each time: my ideas are great. But They’ll be copied easily and the protection patents would offer doesn’t do much to discourage it.

Happy to chat offline if you like.

Your default should be that you might have a good idea that can’t be monetized and protected well. Proving otherwise is truly the rare exception.
 
Yes unfortunately if you bring an item to market it’s only a matter of time before a certain group will steal the designs and sell it for less. The patent laws only apply to those who wish to follow them and acknowledge them
 
Anobody said:
Yes unfortunately if you bring an item to market it’s only a matter of time before a certain group will steal the designs and sell it for less. The patent laws only apply to those who wish to follow them and acknowledge them
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Kinda like the exact CGM Cobra saddle copy being sold on Amazon.....what a shame!
 
Wouldn't be a bad idea to do a patent search anyways just in case someone did already have that idea.

As far as prototyping, you really don't need to involve engineers yet. You can build non working versions with whatever you have at the house/shop or buy something cheap to work with at the store. Just because what the thing needs to be made of in the end, your prototypes do not need to be that material. These are your proof of concept prototypes.

Once you've reached the point where you can do real world testing, then you might want to consult with engineers to further the development.
 
You may need to become a maker type person. Hiring others to do the work of developing the physical object for you is fraught with challenges. The prototype development process often requires numerous renditions before achieving satisfactory outcomes. If you’re paying someone to do that you’ll be overly concerned with efficiency and that can really stifle a healthy creative development. Also if you hire someone to do the building of the prototypes, there will be kinks that need to be worked out. Inherently the person doing the making will help develop solutions and is then likely to and perhaps reasonably so, to feel as though they also developed the idea. If you’re truly not interested in being a maker, you may need to find yourself a collaborator. There’s a million people out there who have good ideas - but without a prototype or blueprint it’s just an idea.
 
Hard to answer without more details, or the level of prototyping/fabrication work needed. Feel free to PM, my dad's an inventor and does most of his own prototyping.
 
I gotta chime in and kinda stand up for maker's or trades people. Not everyone is trying to steal ideas or get in on them or whatever. Some people get into making stuff because they like it, but then it's a darn job. A project like this might be refreshing for that sort of person. It's definitely true there are a lot of shady people out there. The world isn't all bad though y'all.
 
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