I have an idea...
 

Okay so you have an idea to create something and you think it might be great, how do you start? ...and go!!!

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Build a prototype?

Do a whole lot of research and make sure it hasn't already been done. This includes going to the patent office and going through the records.

Send the idea to someone in China where the idea gets knocked off and then produced at a fraction of the cost that you could produce it.

Go on Shark Tank, start with being humiliated on National TV.

But not before you spend years of your life and your children's inheritance on production and marketing and patents.

Post yer stooopid idea here ... PPOT will help ya out!

It's what we do :D...

HTH .... and good luck!

1. Keep your mouth shut.

2. Contact a good patent/intellectual property attorney.

Hooboy, I've been through this. Cost me 40K. I could write a book but fortunately there are dozens already written. Do some real reading and forget what people on forums tell you.

BTW, I did make enough money with my 'idea' to live on but I lost my investment. A wise person will tell you that you need to be able to make money right off the bat and grow company value by 20% a year, or just invest your money elsewhere safe.

I have an idea..a real good idea

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgZTVkjQwto

This is a very tricky problem/question. Having done this from the corporate-side, here's my recommendation (assuming you're going to attempt to produce the product):

#1 - Determine what the intellectual property is and what it will take to secure it. A standard utility patent with reasonable claims will take ~$25-40k to prepare and file properly for both domestic and international markets. Unfortunately, patents are now a commercial decision and not just a decision to protect IP. Determine if your idea is already covered by the claims of others. There are some online tools (like freepatents.com ) that can help with this. Finding something "close" to your idea doesn't automatically disqualify it; it just raises the price tag of having your patent attorney work around those claims.

#2 - Verify there is a market and do your research to determine the realistic estimated market size for the first five years. Also determine approximate selling price that the market can support.

#3 - Determine the approximate cost of engineering/design and additional research required to bring the thing to manufacturing.

#4 - Determine the cost of manufacturing (include tooling, equipment, consumables, etc).

#5 - Does the thing sell itself? What are the marketing and distribution costs?

Once you've got all that, do the math. Can you patent, develop, market, and manufacture at the cost required to get your required margin at the sell price the market can support?

Depends on what type of idea...

Software? Learn to code, or start writing use cases and hire a developer or 10.

Physical object/tool/thing? Learn to use one of the free basic cad type programs and draw it out, then go to a pro to do it for real. Then patent and find manufacturer(s).

Time travel? Go to school, get PhD, get PostDoc, get tenured research position until you get bought out by a private company

Also think about how the patent could be broken by minor changes to the mechanism/function.

Any patent can be broken, but it sure sucks if it gets broken right after you tool up over something trivial and cheap , when you could have done that yourself to begin with.