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Everyone Has A Million-Dollar Idea!

                                                               INVENTING AND DEVELOPING NEW PRODUCTS        By John R Howard,  Copyright © 2000

Everyone has a “Million Dollar Idea”.  All that’s needed is to come up with the Idea or Invention and the rest will take care of itself.  Unfortunately, like the beginning of the Titanic voyage, the “idea” is only the tip of the iceberg.  The time, energy and cost to commercialize a new product idea is an undertaking that requires funding that goes way beyond the “Idea or Invention” stage.   Many inventors and entrepreneurs believe that there are corporations or companies in the business community that will undertake your product idea, at no cost to you, introduce it into the marketplace and pay you a royalty.  This is a myth.  Most companies will not even look at new ideas or inventions unless they are patented. They may also ask you to sign an agreement that states that your ideas is not being submitted “In Confidence” and that your submission assumes no obligation by their company of any kind. Don’t! The apprehension of being sued by amateur inventors for “stealing” their idea is paramount from a company’s legal business standpoint.   

What are the alternatives?  One is to fund the product idea yourself, patent it, prototype it and then tool up, package the product, inventory it and market the product through mail order, store placement or the Internet.  All of these avenues will require extensive development costs, advertising budgets, production art and ad placement and a sales and distribution network. 

The purpose of this brief is not to discourage you, but to define the extensiveness and expensiveness of developing a new idea.  If you are going to seek outside funding for your new product idea you will need a through business plan.  There is a formula for an acceptable business plan that includes projections of sales forecasts, size of the market, and of course ROI , the return on investment or a schedule of the payback for the funding tied to calendar dates.  Angel investors will want a percentage (some times very large) of your invention or your company and may even get involved in the operation or financial aspects of your business.

Below is a list of tasks that are required to bring a product to market.  This is cursory and will be slightly different depending on the type of product and the specific market segment.  This should provide you with a rough idea of the steps and phases that are required.  KDA does not perform all of these services. Referrals or recommendations can be made for each task. Copyright © 2000 KDA

 NOTE: 1.5 to 2.0 Year Patent time not included in total.                     TOTAL               72 - 126 Wks        $95,300 - $283,800

                                                                                                                                         (1.3 - 2.4 Years)

KDA Design Capabilities and Related Services.

KDA Design has designed thousands of new products over the last 50+ years, since 1947.  Our staff consists of professionally trained Industrial Designers, Engineers and Model Makers that design new products for a living. We serve Corporations as well as inventors and entrepreneurs.

KDA is an Industrial Design Consulting firm that works on a “fee basis”. What this means is that you must pay for the work before or while it is being done. All fees must be paid before the work is turned over to the inventor, however, any additional inventions or patentable ideas that are developed by KDA are assigned (given) to the entrepreneur upon completion of the project and upon full payment of all cost related to the program. KDA does not want royalties nor do we work on a contingency basis or percentage of profits. We do not fund programs and do not provide financial sources, funding or establish venture capital relationships. KDA designs products and packaging, that’s what we do. 

Some of the related services KDA can provide are to survey the market and evaluate the competition.  Design a product so it is competitively positioned in the market place. We can also design a product so it is competitive from a manufacturing and piece part cost standpoint.  KDA also provides package design services to assist with the packaging and merchandising of the product. We can also work with Market Research companies that do focus group consumer research to determine if the product will sell once it is introduced into the market place. These firms also work on a fee basis for their services.   

KDA can assist with translating an “Idea” into a manufacturable, commercial product that can be economically manufactured with conventional production equipment.  KDA can source manufacturers, however all tooling and production costs must be paid by you in advance or during the tooling process.  The manufacturers are not marketing companies. They simply manufacture products for other companies that market the products.  There are Marketing Companies however they to require payment in advance to assist you with marketing your product on a fee basis. 

Quasi Quote: At the end of Einstein’s life he was asked the most important lesson he learned in Life. His answer:  “There is No free Lunch! 

The above article and information may be reproduced, printed or posted on the Internet with proper identification of the author and links.

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