The Independent Inventor

I suspect that today's independent inventor has the same if not more prominence as inventors of the past. We skew our perspective because the known independent inventors of the past were the successful ones. Many hopeful unsuccessful inventors of the past just disappeared into obscurity.

An independent inventor must first do a hard reality check. Moving from proof-of-concept, to prototype, to finished product, and then looking at marketing/manufacturing issues requires lots of investment. Most likely a "little guy" will need investors and some talented people to navigate the process. This usually means giving up a large portion of ownership. If you are greedy, you will not be successful. This strategy is presently working well for myself. Also, I have been very lucky to find and associate myself with people who know the playing field.

First of all, let us define "success" from the standpoint of the inventor. Is the "inventor" only interested in products he can visualize as being big commercial success, or is he motivated by the idea that he can figure out how to make this thing work? Once it's working, maybe he'll have a look at whether there has any commercial value...

Needless to say, most of category 2 inventors are going to be doomed to obscurity. A very, very large portion of Category 1 inventors are doomed to failure...

Now, let us have a look at everyone's favorite inventor, T. Edison. How many of the things that he patented did he actually invent? Edison had an army of "inventors" working for him, while he looked after the paper (especially the green variety). I do not mean to belittle Mr. Edison's accomplishments- but it is almost assured that his business accumen had more to do with his success than his personal scientific knowledge base...

By any stretch, I would not call Edison everyone's favorite inventor. He also would not be considered an independent "little guy". Apples and oranges.

People seem to have forgotten that many, many of the world's transforming inventions, came from the mind and the efforts of single persons, working alone (the telephone, wireless radio, vulcanized rubber, the phonograph, the polyphase motor, etc, etc).

Good words of reality about independent inventors. Being in the same boat I would like to add some views of mine.

* The independent inventor has total freedom of operation as well as total responsibility towards the success of the invention as well as the innovation, the commercialization of the invention.

* The invention got to have a motto and improved utility than the existing ones.

*Keeping oneself tight lipped and applying for a patent is the first job one got to do. If one is not shrewd enough in this aspect, then your claims are lost.

*Development of working proof and scientific verification of facts are very essential. Many people keep boasting " I have a great idea and gossip a lot on over estimation.

*The real problem starts for a an independent inventor while going for a international patents. One should atleast manage Upton the PCT process and proceed with external helps with the help of patent documents. The search report from international patent office is another valuable reference about similar inventions and keep the inventor informed well on status of the novelty, industrial applicability and claims aspects of his patents.

If the inventor holds up himself in the tempo of composure, keen observations on opportunities, market value, venturing or licensing decisions the journey should not be tough enough. Perseverance and cool composure should be the additional traits of inventor.

Independent inventors with good motives and social skills should contribute more. A policy of If you can earn better we can share the benefits on a pre determined basis. Too much of monitory expectations of the inventors probably would have spoiled the development so many inventions.

* It is all about smartness after the invention on the innovation journey that one is pursuing. One got to prove and succeed with lot of hurdles and of course you got no other way out.

Believe in your invention, have no bias, check for defaults and genuinely of claims, work hard optimistically to reality.

Use low cost simulation tests, low budget proto models, seek inventor support programmes , invention exhibitions and keep as far as possible the secrets and only demonstrate.

lot of SME support programmes are available which could be capitalized. Google search is another information ocean and chose the genuine ones.

Patent is the trump card, never go without that.

I agree and support the independent inventor program referred to in this post and other ones. The inventor dependent conducts its creation in trouble, under control, or functional rules of the Corporation, where he is employed. This kind of inventor must overcome on the Company name in the market, its norms, traditions, biases and prejudices of work, human vanity of his team, his boss and superiors. In a Corporation, many people seek differents and better results, but always breaking paradigms already established, actions already planned and regulated. Vanity and pride to show good individual performance, combined with pressure from the Corporation to be a rapid return on invested capital, become priority in relation to the evolution of invention! Very difficult goal to be attained, in spite of the extensive benefits of robustness of budget funding and lack of personal financial risk. At worst hypothesis, the inventor will perform other work in the Corporation.

An independent inventor, from his own capital, presumably modest, performs Proof of Concept. Then, he seeks investor with venture capital to design, assemble and test the Prototype. Requires technical expertise, business skill, initiative, creativity, total secrecy for specifications of the invention in progress, perseverance and patience. In addition, it is very necessary to maintain consistent focus on what he BELIEVE WITH TOTAL CONVICTION with rigorous planning their GOALS AND FUTURE PROFITS. The next step refers to Market Development. Requires: Ability to businesses, entrepreneurial courage, risk acceptance for working with people and capital originated from partner(s) and linked to product liability. Expertise in marketing, finance and administration contribute to business success of the invention. The rapid evolution of the project will be a consequence of the ability of the inventor, his effort and his team. If asked, i hope to be able to post some ideas on simplified physical and financial schedule applicable, designed in the form of STAKES POINTS.

Vasco,

Nice of meeting you in CR4. GA to you. If invention is possible, innovation should also be made possible. The un shattered optimism of the inventor-a passion like ' Anything under the sky should be possible.' As you have suggested, please post the simplified physical and financial schedule prepared by you, so that it could be of wide reference to all the interested members. Cheers

Hi GA. Hi KY. Cheers for you too. I'm pleased to find people like you. I believe that invention only exists if get merit by itself and have relative value for humanity. That means, if it can be transformed into SYSTEM, process, equipment, device, PRODUCT at least. I propose some fundamentals ACTIVITIES / STAKES POINTS and presume invention conceived, with preliminary research conducted through mounts and bench tests, either in total or partial way. If so, invention exists and independent inventor may go ahead:

Phase of technical development: Growing with own physical and financial resources he makes a pilot to do a PROOF OF CONCEPT. It aims to show in an orthodox manner (no tricks) the nature of the invention for all interested. "The Proof of Concept shows skeptics that the impossible only costs a little more and takes longer to be done". Then, search Partial Venture Capital, to build and TEST a PROTOTYPE that means a utility device, in continuous and functional running way during scheduled period of time, with technical specifications previous defined and measured several times. Cost / Benefit must be evaluated. If tests and costs are approved they will recommend the development of a future enterprise.

Phase of commercial development: Get Joint Venture Capital to design and build 3 or 4 SEEDED DEVICES. Then SEEDED DEVICES TESTS following technical specifications and commercial recommendation aiming to approach MARKET TEST (final consumers).

Another fundamentals keys events and activities may be performed simultaneously with the technical and commercial phases, like as: patent registration, evaluation, demand and scale of market, logistic plan, industrial and commercial plans ( land built area, with easy access to the site, transportation, budgets, industrial costs, sales costs, regional socio-economic conditions, taxes, standards and governments regulations, technical assistance ), seeking partners for future business, marketing strategies, market tests. Of course, this is a partial list. Please remember that I am talking just about ideas of simplified and generic planning and not about a specific "Business Plan", totally outside the context of this Forum. So, suggestions and criticism for discussion are welcome from all CR4 members.

Bellow, schedules for basic physical and financial invention of a product. The budget was shown as percentage of the amount suggested, from the Proof of Concept until deadline for early

Vasco,

Thanks for the additional information. It is all like brushing up old lessons. Good reminder points of course. If at all one got to aspire doing greatest things there can be two ways.

* Invent something of superb and long term value to humanity.

*The second best thing for others to do is to " Support with hands of help for the inventor to materialize a worthwhile invention.

AtLeast words of recommendations without challenging inventors. It calls for impressing upon all stakeholders involved in the game.

History had recorded lot of later hands of support to many inventors , say for example- with the help of Royal Society personnel who have sensed the gene unity of many worthy inventions and helped promotions.

God Fathers keep helping all ingenuity inventors

Thanks GA. I do a second posting of the "stakes points - budget " image in an attempt to correct distortions inserted in posting ≠ 18. Was my first inserting file.jpeg. My clumsiness. Sorry.

.

G.A in CR4 denotes Good Answer. My name in S.Udhayamarthandan and I am not G.A.

See you again.

designed in the form of STAKES POINTS.

I would appreciate that as well. The more the merrier, Ky.

Regratably the USA is going to become a socialist country with a colectivistic society where inventors will no longer have any chance. Old Popular Mechanic editions demonstrate that the 50' were the best years of the USA.

Jaime Soto Figueroa

Chile

I agree that the "best years" of the USA maybe behind us. But the political saving grace is that there are social forces on the left and the right here. This does magnify the discourse between the two factions, but it also means that neither group can run amok for very long.

Everyone ignored me. Don't be so gloomy.

When I said, "There's an app for that," I was citing the incredible churn of ingenuity represented in the AppStore, and by vast indirection the information technology industry here in the US. Small-time inventors today are geeks who don't get their hands dirty like they used to, but they are just as inventive. There is a satisfying number of basement "inventors" (coders) who got rich quick - and revolutionized a small or large part of the world - based only on their ideas and efforts.

While there are serious competitors out there, the US is very well-represented at the leading edge of computer technology and the leveraging of data to add value.

does the "little guy" stand a chance besting large companies in the race to innovate?

Not likely! A successful inventor is not a mediocre person. He has a special talent for inventing. He has to be able to "look outside the box", something the average Joe doesn't do. I guess the ultimate prize is recognition and money is secondary. Go back 100 years and there were thousands of ideas that were new then. Today the field of new ideas is much narrower. I would venture to say that the really big inventions like the wheel, airplane, automobile, computer have been invented. I don't see any new earth shattering inventions in the future. The inventions of 100+ years ago were of the "basic" variety. Any new inventions will be offshoots of the basic.

I agree with the first part of your comment but differ on your vision that not much is left to work on. It is the same as before. When the Wright brothers worked on their airplane, they thought that the internal combustion engine was the ultimate. They spent a lot of time optimizing the existing design to make it lighter but didn't add any direct injection or replace the pistons with turbines.

These days we use a lot of silicon based electronics to control devices but nobody that I know of, has trained viruses to do the job. It might be done someday but the edge of technology isn't there yet. Even if somebody think of a way, it is still impracticable. While Jules Verne imagined a submarine and diving gears, he didn't make working prototypes with valid technologies. Therefore he didn't invent them. He just dreamed of them. There is a big difference. Dreaming of a solution is the easy part, solving the problems to make it work is where the sweat is poored.

The reason for your sense of "everything has already been invented" is that inventors are working at the border of the knowledge, bulding up on what already exist. It is very rare that somebody will come up with a totally new branch of technology, a quantum leap. These leaps are not necessarily needed. The progress will continue and the bounds of technology will progressively expand making today's impossibilities a child play for the next generation.

I believe the last time the discussion about "everything has already been invented" was back in the 1790's or so, when the need for a US patent office was being discussed. Obviously, the pundits back then were a bit off the mark. I suspect the same is true today.

does the "little guy" stand a chance besting large companies in the race to innovate?

The answer must be a clear NO!

The following is written for the advanced dreamers

There is an Elephant in the room and his moves are dictated by the patent industry. When it moves, every body has to get out of the way and not cause any friction. Even after inventing is finished and all is working as expected and a market has been identified and cosmetic design aspects have been introduced and implemented the inventor has to see a patent attorney. In large companies they are in-house and the cost is transferred to the product/end user.

This must happen way before asking third parties to invest. With out a patent application (at least a priority date has to be in place) one will not be able to communicate any idea, concept, system or anything else. NDA's are not worth the space they take up on this screen and anyone having one signed is kidding them selves. Not the inventing part but the conforming with the patent law is the biggest problem for a single identity inventor. That is the bottom line, end of story, or almost.

I have in the last years tried to get funding from many organizations and Angel investors but without a patent in place they will not even talk to you. One requirement when asking for a government grant is just that little priority date on the patent application. With out it, is like being on a train with no ticket and not knowing were this train is going besides the conductor could turn up any minute and just kick you off the train. Its actually called the gravy train, isn't it?

The romanticized struggling inventor will do anything to put some meat on an idea. Any sacrifice is not a sacrifice but an unavoidable feeding process. To get an idea to a stage were every thing works is the easiest part because it is driven by a vision. Even if this involves successfully introducing revolutionary approaches to existing problems, the inventor takes it in his stride and compensates by applying determination and enormous will power to keep the baby alive. In my experience every thing else has to stand back, even family and friends.

Now back to this big elephant in the room. Every one who has ever applied for a patent has arrived at this point of "how do I get this big useless animal under control". Well, that is easy, you pay him to behave like a civilized creature and he will obey, to the letter of the law, his law. Once you have fed it, it will want more and will not tell you that this addiction/blackmail/extortion will go on for ever and a day and then a bit, so that your greater family will have to keep feeding this monster of an industry, even after your death.

I have ranted about this before in CR4 and very unwillingly do this again here. That I am still at it is a positive thing, because it proves that even in a no win situation the idea its self becomes the engine that drives everything, obsession to make it work. Like it was said earlier, it is personal for the inventor.

What I have found is that joining with others and having a clear and honorable definition of confidentiality can support an idea for a long time. Strength in numbers for several reasons, the most important one being scrutiny. Not only in the technical department but any kind of advice or hint can help in all kinds of fields. In the old days it was called fellowship which is a very rare commodity nowadays.

My hope is that by presenting an idea to an ever growing number of people it will get to the right people at some stage. This does not include the details of the invention but the people involved in it give it credence.The investors, that all inventors think exist, usually turn up at the right time and in the right position. They become part of the invention really. Just another missing link filled, another part of the system in place. The single inventor has NO chance. He has to build a team and spread the misery as well as the Eureka moments and then the profits, if any. It is a life style and very demanding on all resources but who is counting.

The next step always dictates its self and is a direct result of the inventors actions. To get it right is a challenge and if not taken seriously can lead to disaster. The legal system is of no help whatsoever and can only be used if one can be sure that money doesn't run out at the wrong time. (As if there could be a right time).

Maybe I should have spent my time on something more fruitful than letting off steam here but I have to warn anyone who wants to attempt patenting that it is not for the faint hearted and can have catastrophic consequences. Be warned, the elephant in the room is a very powerful monster and will make you feed him once you start, forever!

If one wants to be 1 in a thousand, that's realistic. One in a million is the stuff dreams are made of, unobtainable, if not supported by large corporations. Good Luck?

Yes, that helps, Ky.

Ky,

Greetings. Good points for independent inventors. Unless one got the passion and perseverance, inventions can not be materialized. One should really have the patience and stamina.

"Does the 'little guy' stand a chance besting large companies in the race to innovate?"

There's an app for that.

I'd think the "little guy" still has a chance. However, there are a lot of crackpots around nowadays. Most of them are only in it for the cash they hope to gain for trying to lure cash-loaded people or companies to invest in their ridiculous "inventions". That leaves the well-intended inventor out in the cold.

In Belgium, we had a television show on national TV trying to find a good solid invention that helps people. The public was invited to bring on inventions or ideas, which were evaluated. Main prize was that the winning invention would be commercialized. It was fully concentrated on the "little guy", and yes, there were crackpots trying to sell their perpetuum mobile...

Belgian authorities also try to help genuine inventors to develop their ideas, but as any political system, it hardly succeeds in its intentions and they do concentrate on large companies, unfortunately.

But I think it should be possible as an individual to develop his own idea.

I agree that definition of success is primary. And motivation is key. Is it money? Notoriety? Just the satisfaction of solving a problem?

Corporations are only interested in a resulting product which makes money.

I think a lot of inventors are more like scientists. Most people who chose science as a career had some interest in just discovering "truth", whatever that might be. Was Einstein interested in becoming wealthy? Hardly seems so. Tesla certainly didn't want to end his life broken and in poverty. But I don't think money was the driving force behind his experimentation. It was the joy of discovery. (And probably the feeling of power in his case, just because of the nature of his experiments. They were pretty grand.) Or DaVinci?

I think the ideal inventor is someone who does it as an avocation. He will not need to "produce" something in order to meet his living needs. He will then be mostly motivated by the joy of discovery and/or producing something new and useful (hopefully) to life on this planet.

Let's also not forget that the atomic bomb was an "invention". Scientific principles can be used destructively, as well as constructively. And certainly there are people who are bent on developing the most destructive weapons that can be imagined. The evolution of weaponry is a testament to the dark side of human nature. And sometimes, unknowingly, people make discoveries that they probably never dreamed would be used in this way. The "germ" theory led to biological weapons, yet most of the people investigating it were concerned with healing disease, not creating it.

Certainly, necessity, is not always the mother of invention.

The entrepreneurial inventer is likely the saviour of our technical future. Large corporations have too much negative inertia and throw too many roadblocks to creativeness. Massive R&D efforts? Most corporations cut those out decades ago, citing cost but actually due to being impatient for immediate profits. The U.S.'s technological leadership died with those cuts in R&D. It is not easy for the "little guy" to innovate (it never was) since he has far fewer resources than the corporation, but he has better motivation. He cares.

A very wealthy business man once said to me "every one is given an idea or opportunity in this life, the successful people are the ones that recognise that it is an opportunity" I can vouch for that as I've missed two life changing opportunities but only realise the fact some years latter.

Buddy can you spare a dime?