AboutPenny Ballou Expertise The Invention Process; Royalties; Licensing Inventions/Products; Pricing; Direct to Market; Marketing/Promotions; Patent Searching; DIY patent writing; Types of patents/costs/how to's; Funding (grants and Angel investors); Prototyping; Off-Shore sourcing.
Experience I am founder of an inventors group; Advisory Board President of www.inventored.org; former Licensing Executive Society member; researcher for www.piausa.org and a consultant; plus moderate and contribute to several online inventor discussion groups.
Publications Enter my email address into any search engine to find them.
Education/Credentials Invention development: well-studied and applied in all aspects of the process and an inventor myself with one invention in patent pending and others ramping up. Lived and attended schools in Mainland China and the UK.
Question I've started the patent process on one of my invention ideas. But, it is quickly becoming costly and eating away at my bank account. Where is a good source of funding? Looking more along the lines of grants. Thank you in advance,
Adam K.
Answer Hi there,
Unfortunately Adam there are no grants for new ideas or inventions UNLESS you have an invention or product solving any of the eleven Federal Agency problems. For example, the DOE has grants to solve their energy problems. The EPA has grants to solves environmental issues. Homeland Security used to seek inventions/products to solve military problems. Health and Human Services has grants as does the dept of the Air Force and Army etc if your invention/product solves their problems. You contact your local SBA who administers these programs. Mind you, it's a red tape paperwork nightmare you can read more about online. Once a year these and other Federal agencies post online "Solicitation" notices listing problems they seek solutions for.
Be sure NOT to buy books indicating there are grants or get roped into local commercial grant centers where inventors end up paying $1,500-$2,500 to acquire lists of government grants. You can get those free on the web but as I said, primarily such grants target organized not-for-profit corporations.
Call your local library or visit the SBA to see what small business grants or low cost loans (2 or 3%) are available. I assume you have a Business Plan ready to go? The SBA refers one to local community banks who’ll require one so I suggest after you've written you take it someone used to reading them and loaning money against them (based on the plan to launch and make money from the product). Your good credit will be looked at and, with good credit credit you may be able to get personal loan - where you don't have to qualify -- signature loan. Focus on how your business is going to make money not on pushing the invention.
Investors invest in ongoing businesses (not inventions or ideas) generating sizeable cashflow. Read more about business plans online. Ideas and Inventions don't generate cashflow selling products may where there are sales receipts demonstrating potential.
At this stage (startup) you'd be looking for funding from FF&F (friends, family and fools) along with leveraging your good credit or assets as mentioned. If you don’t have good credit you are in for a rocky ride when reaching out to the business community. Hence, I generally recommend new inventors strapped for cash write and file a “Provisional Application for Patent” (versus giving it to a lawyer) enabling them to use funds they have to make money. Patents do not generate cashflow, sales do. A Provisional Application for Patent costs $105 to file at the patent office. You write out what you have and how it works etc then download a single form and Cover Letter from the patent office website after which you place them in an evenlope and take it to post office filing in only by Express Mail thereby instantly acquiring the right to use the term "patent pending" – if only for a year. The PAP program helps new inventors from paying out big bucks on the front end deferring it for one-year. Before that year expires one takes the PAP to a lawyer.
Wish I could point you to free money but it doesn’t exist for commercial products other than what I've mentioned above.
