QUESTION:
I have a patent pending for an adult toy product. This product is like nothing on the market today, and I see it being very successful. How do I find investors/manufactures to help get my patent-pending idea to the shelf?
ANSWER:
Naomi Kokubo
by Naomi Kokubo, Cofounder of Founders Space
I can only imagine what you mean by “adult” toy, but let’s not get distracted. In order to get an investor to fund your operation or a manufacturer to license your invention, you need to prove to them that it will fly off the shelf.
Think of your product as the experiment and you are the scientist who must provide proof that it truly works. You need to gather enough data to convince any potential investors or manufacturers that your product will make money for them.
The first step that I usually recommend for any new product is to do lots of usability and focus group testing. In your case, I’m not sure what’s the best approach. That said, you really need a working prototype that can be tested.
The data should include:
1) What do people think of your product?
2) Would they purchase it?
3) How much would they purchase it for?
4) How does it compare to similar products on the market?
5) Would they recommend it to friends?
6) What size is the overall market?
7) What are the profit margins?
8) Who are the distributors?
9) How do you best market it?
10) Can you point to any similar products which have done well?
etc.
You get the idea. You need to gather as many relevant data points as possible and use them to either prove or disprove your hypothesis that this product will fly off the shelves.
You may also consider hiring a third party firm to help oversee the data collection and analysis. Once you have overwhelmingly convincing data that this product is indeed all you think it’s cracked up to be, then you can start approaching manufacturers and investors.
When you begin looking for a manufacturer, target companies in your industry. It’s very hard to get a response from someone manufacturing or selling an entirely different type of product. Also, find out who invests in your sector and approach them.
I hope this helps!
That was an interesting question. I am developing a similar “adult toy”, formed an LLC as the holding company, filed the prov patent, filed an intent to use trade mark, built 3 prototypes and have 12 couples have tested. We have completed all of the above items in the answer.
The question I have is: how do you approach larger angel investors in this arena?
Fortunately – we are in the process of negotiating a possible licensing arrangement with a current major manufacturer – however we are wanting to develop certain aspects of a different market segment of the product in-house. We plan on using potential licensing revenue to assist with this, and have interest from several local investors. However due to the value proposition of this application, we think more rapid expansion may be needed.
We have a business plan with financials, video presentations, and a reasonable NDA.
So, where do you recommend going to look for investors on a larger scale?
I am the inventor of a 2 patent pending fitness products great investment potential.Location:Chicago,il
I am looking for an investor group so i can launch this amazing product
goodproduct for tv shopping network-
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Serious Inventor in search of a Serious Investor
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I need Serios investor to start making Production and sell it to all over the World.
http://www.fold-down.com
folddownhome@yahoo.com
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Hello
My name is Baker. I am a product developer with an exciting new innovation.
You can see it here. http://patentauction.com/patent.php?nb=8403
This is going to revolutionize the dance industry all together.
Here is my video for the patent pending product here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7RmwHW5×2A
Email if you are interested in the product. I am looking to negotiate a buy-out or acquire a licensing deal.
I’ve has several companies interested, but couldn’t come up with the manufacturing costs. So this is already a proven win product.
Baker
I am 38 old man from Bulgaria. Recently invented invention. It I want to patented and spread around the world.With it each person using it, can prevent theft of data when withdrawing cash from an ATM. In my country, patenting has ventured from( I”ll steal it and someone else will to patent it. If monetary gain. I want to create many jobs for the unemployed like me. in this way they will feed their families. This is better than to give them one single loaf one time. even to go to the bank credit to productions. It should”be patented. I have not money to patent it alone.Please help! partnership , or at least advice who I to do?
Firstly nobody will think your idea is any good, it will even be difficult getting an appointment in the first place, just try phoning any corporation. Once you get an appointment you need to go in with the idea mocked up as close as possible to the real thing. There will have to be a serious ‘wow I wish I had thought of that’ angle to get anybody interested and also to get a patent. There is an industry just waiting to prey on the hopeful new inventor however these days you can do the whole patent process online, internationally. Even applying for a US Provisional patent is not the cheapest way to go, apply for a UK patent and you get a year to pay any fees and your UK Filing Date is good for your Non-Provisional US Patent. Therefore if nobody is interested in a year, just abandon your patent and it has cost you nothing. If someone is interested the royalty advance can pay the fees. A great cheap Amazon ebook which explains all this is DIY Patent Online – you can read some of it free. They also have a website but aren’t trying to sell their services, just telling you how to patent without an attorney. You can bet if anybody rubbishes this comment they are an attorney.