Think you've designed the better mousetrap? Here's some advice from the experts who've walked that road before you.
"Know What's Next"
So says Ray Kurzweil, futurist, author, and member of the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
Become an ardent student of technology trends—timing is everything. By gathering data and using mathematical formulas, I can make hundreds of very reliable predictions.
Know that progress is exponential, not linear. People think progress in a field will continue at the current pace, but it actually accelerates in exponential growth, which means things can be completely transformed within a decade.
Keep a list of inventions you'd like to try as the technology gets closer to making those ideas feasible.
Listen to people around you for ideas. Several years ago, I was on a flight sitting next to a blind man. He said he wished he could read text like signs and ATMs. It got me thinking about how we could solve that problem, and I started working with the National Federation of the Blind on a pocket-sized reading machine. [Kurzweil released the device last year.]
Inventing is inherently interdisciplinary. Bring a team together to bridge gaps in your knowledge, cross-fertilize, and get creative.
The common wisdom is that you can't predict the future, but that's just not true.
"Get Internet-rich."
Recommends Mark Zuckerberg, Founder and CEO of Facebook.com.
Focus on something you think is important. Rather than trying to start a company just to make money, come up with things that would make an impact and be valuable to the world.
Making mistakes online is relatively cheap. You're not physically shipping a product, you're just changing code. You don't have to get everything right the first time.
Give people granular control over their privacy. People are willing to share more information if they have complete control over it.
Hire technical people. Everyone in our company has to know how to code. It helps keep us on the same page.
"Find The Money"
Is the advice from lon Musk venture capitalist and founder of PayPal and CEO of SpaceX civilian-spaceflight company.
Make sure your invention matches the interests of who you're approaching for funding. My fields are rocketry and electric cars, but I still get people trying to sell me on the world's biggest zipper.
Don't show a PowerPoint presentation. Everything works in PowerPoint, even a magic wand. Demonstrate how it actually works with a prototype.
Solve an important problem. If you're solving a small, silly problem, like a new way to dispense toilet paper, you're going to get a lot less attention than something that will fundamentally change things.
If you're solving a problem with social value, it's better to approach foundations. Demonstrate that the cost of making your invention will be affordable for the likely buyer.
The market is quite efficient. If you have a working product with economic value, venture-capital firms or high-net-worth individuals will be interested.
Don't worry about credentials. If you have 10 Ph.D.s but you invent something that doesn't work, people don't care; if you haven't finished high school but invent a product that works and matters, people do care.
"Make It Practical"
Advises Woody Norris, inventor of the AirScooter gyrocopter and HyperSonicSound directed-acoustic device.
Almost nothing has been invented yet. OK, all the easy stuff has been invented, like the light bulb—what's that: a coil, wire and a vacuum? You don't need to stick to one field, but the inventions where you don't have to possess a great deal of knowledge—the hula hoop, the Frisbee—those are all gone.
Find a niche where big corporate groups don't dominate. A new solid rocket fuel or a hadron collider—those are multimillion-dollar investments. Ask yourself, is it realistic for me to invent this?
Then ask: Is it commercially plausible? If you invent a novel ballpoint pen that's going to cost $100,000, nobody's going to care.
Find an analogy, something well established in one area of science—acoustics, physics, optics, electronics —and apply it to a different area. You know it works in one field, so it's worth your time to test it in another.
Call a professor who works in the field your invention falls under. Offer to buy him lunch and then pick his brain. Same goes for a patent lawyer, who will usually talk to you for half an hour for free.
Read everything.
Pay attention to problems that need to be solved, whether you're in a restaurant or working on your car.
One of my favorite quotes I heard somewhere is "Most inventions are accidents observed."
Make a prototype, even if you have to fashion it out of clay or carve it out of paraffin wax with a paring knife.
Once you have your invention, check to make sure nothing like it has been patented yet. I like to use delphion.com, uspto.gov and patentcafe.com.
Patent everything. You don't want someone to tweak one thing on your invention, patent it, and negate all your effort. Someone could find a cheaper—even if it's a worse—way to do it, so I patent even the terrible versions of my idea.
Don't be secretive. Worrying about someone stealing your invention can stifle you. You need to talk to other people to expand your knowledge base. I talk about all my ideas, and in more than 30 years of inventing, I've never had anyone steal one.
"Get Noticed"
Says Dean Kamen, inventor of Segway and member of the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
Reputation is one of your most valuable assets; it's what makes us believe Google or Apple when they say they have an innovative new product.
Build your reputation by winning contests, getting in publications, and aligning yourself with a university or organization, and get credible third-party testing to corroborate your claims.
Look for a reputable company to partner with. They've got global reach and expertise in marketing, sales, distribution and financing. You don't have to build your own.
Be careful with inventor-advice companies—most take advantage of enthusiastic inventors and aren't much different from get-rich-quick schemes. It's slower and more difficult to find a good business partner, but worth it.
Go to trade shows as closely aligned to your field as possible. The more specific your focus, the more likely you are to succeed, because you can target real potential partners.
Don't rely on marketing spin to generate interest in your product. Never promise that your invention can do something it can't.
PopSci Invention Tips
