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Inventing 101

"Submit Your Invention Idea."
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First Steps for Successful Inventing

How do you know if an invention will be a commercial success?

An invention idea is great if:

It solves a problem that people want solved (including problems people didn’t know they had).
Everyone involved in designing, manufacturing and marketing the product can make better than normal profits.

That’s it! If you have a product idea that people want to buy and a way to make and sell it at a healthy profit then you’ve got half the battle won. Ideally the “people” should be a group that is easy to define and reach. This could mean a specific trade group such as dentists or it could mean the broad consumer market – if the product is appropriate for “everyone”. Click on the links below to learn more about the process of identifying the potential for success and how to take the first steps to realize that success (while keeping as much money as possible in your wallet). Or continue directly to the first step.

Step 1: A Great Idea

Step 2: Guard Your Wallet

Step 3.  Protect the Invention – First Stage

Step 4.  Confirm the Invention

Step 5.  Prototyping

Appendix

Provisional Patent (USPTO info)

More About Confidentiality Agreements

Example Confidentiality Agreement – 1^st stage

Example Confidentiality Agreement – 2^nd stage

Example Mutual Confidentiality Agreement

Learn about Invention Licensing in
Inventing 102