Expert: Maurice Duteau - 7/2/2009

Question
Maurice,

I have had an idea for an invention that I came up with while sitting in my college human biology class last semester.  I have no clue where to start with my idea, and money that I can devote to this project (if it has enough potential) is going to be scarce until I finish college. The people I have told about my idea all find it to be extremely practical and could all see themselves buying my product.  This positive feedback on nothing more than my best description of my invention has given me enough of a desire to try and start making my idea a reality, but like I said, I am in completely unknown territory with the whole invention thing...so where do I start?

Thanks,
Eric

Answer
Its a long grind as I've mentioned on this AllExperts forum before. Best to start with something you can finish off in a year or two, otherwise you'll never get it off the ground. Make the best prototype you can with your own money, even if it has no guts and just gives the overall impression. If you have no money for a good looking mockup you can use sketches. Put a prospectus together showing the rough cost to develop the product and any market study numbers you can put together. Use this to round up seed capital by talking to freinds, etc. and go from there.

Better yet, start selling something similar that is already on the market, you'll get a feel for the industry. You dont need a lot of inventory and could very well be positive cash flow from the start. Then use that money to fuel your project.  

Best of luck to you.
Maurice