A) Packaging and Distribution

It has been said that eighty percent of sales are based on looks and the other twenty percent are based on functionality. If your product is retail, it has to have slick packaging that grabs the eye while still being simple and better yet, useful. For example your knee pads could be sold in a mesh like laundry bag, with your logo emblazoned on it. The same goes for sales over the internet, keep packaging simple and value added as anything extra eats into your profits. Distribution depends on who your market is and what you are selling. Older people are probably not as likely to buy off the internet as younger target market is. In that case you’ll want to consider direct marketing (flyers, magazines, catalogs) or go through retail distribution channels to reach your older target market. The drawback here is that direct marketing costs money and retailers want a fairly sizeable piece (20-40%) of the retail price. If your product is easily shippable, a viable option is to market you product through the internet and mail it directly to the customer. For example you could mail your leg guards in a laundry bag and have it shrink wrapped to seal it. Mailing is cheaper than couriering if you are shipping across borders as the latter is subject to a customs fees and the former is not. Do you research here as unnecessary extra costs mean a higher overall price to your customer.

B) Internet Marketing

The internet levels the playing field against your large competitors when it comes to marketing online. First you will need a domain name which you can search for online, just google “domain name search” and click on the appropriate link. If you are a for profit company you will want .com after your domain name as opposed to .ca or .uk. This is because .ca or .uk are specific to a country whereas .com is world wide. Be creative when picking a domain name, use synonyms or 4 instead of for/four or abbreviate the spelling(without changing the meaning) because most of the obvious ones have been registered already. Build your website so that it can be seen on a variety of browsers, just because it works on Internet Explorer doesn’t mean it will work on Firefox. If not, you will loose a large number of potential customers. It is important your website/pages load(s) fast, people don’t have the patience to wait much more than ten seconds.

C) How to Flex The Net

There are over 1.7 billion internet connections and who knows how many websites so competition is fierce for their attention. There are some excellent websites that show you how to flex the power of the internet to your advantage. Short videos(1-3 minutes) about your product that are made with simple digital cameras or camcorders work better than slick productions. These simple videos come across with more credibility, just make them fun, factual and entertaining.

Be aware of patent submission companies, they supply the rose coloured glasses, then make you pay big bucks for what they are telling you you’ll be seeing. They are not qualified to act as patent agents.
Make sure the patent lawyer/agent understands what your invention does and has the expertise/background to articulate it in the patent application. Ask how much they charge an hour and what the anticipated cost will be. Ask to see some of their work.
Do your research, in the past you could get grants for patenting of up to seventy five percent of the cost. Your design has to be worthy, and that’s an objective worthy. Perhaps the best way to source a good patent lawyer/agent is to talk to the government granting agencies and ask them to recommend one, or ask someone who has been through the process. Note that the Business Development Bank of Canada has a roster of professionals and they can negotiate a contract for you for assistance ranging from assisting you in making your invention patentable, to developing it to its fullest potential to patenting.
B) What you need to know
The patenting process centers around the claims you make about what it does different from similar patents claims. The broader the claim the better, focus on the bigger picture of what your innovations do overall. Think about all the alternatives. For example, does a bolt have to be a bolt or can it be any type of fastener? A well crafted claim will recite “fastener” and a poorly crafted one a “bolt”. That having been said, the description must be detailed and accurately describe the invention, in addition to describing all the various alternatives. There can be a vast difference in expectations here, so trust your instinct, not all lawyers are created equal.

C) When to Get One

Designs evolve with feedback so the more variables and uncertainties you have, the longer you should wait to patent your invention. The major drawback here is that all your field-testers, and everyone else involved will have to sign non-disclosure agreements(NDA), if not, your design is considered public domain and is not patentable. NDA’s can be a barrier to feedback, so form relationships and build goodwill. On the other hand, if your invention works smoothly and people are willing to buy it, get your cheque book out and go see your patent lawyer/agent.
The alternative to waiting is to file a US provisional application and make the improvements over the course of the year before filing a non-provisional application.

Ideally you want to design your product so that it can be made with as many commercially available parts as possible. This will keep your costs down(by not having to design new parts) and help you get to market quicker. Make sure you have an alternative source of material/parts incase your supplier either drops the line or goes out of business. See if you can partner up with whoever might be buying the same material/parts to get a bulk discount. Be resourceful, talk to some of your suppliers other customers and/or go search the internet. Your overall objective is to get quality material/parts at the best price. Better yet if your design can be made from recycled material or parts, you get a cheaper source and the earth gets a break. However, if your products strengths are quality and safety, you are better off sticking with new materials/parts.

B) Getting Quotes on Moulds and Manufacturing

First of all, before you disclose your design, (even if it is not patentable) have the vender sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA). It is basically a contract saying they, their employees and affiliates are not allowed to take your design/product and exploit it. If they refuse, walk away. Get several quotes, at least three, more is better and it is very important to visit each plant/factory. Visiting the plant/factory gives you important information on credentials like being a BBB member(usually posted in the lobby or waiting area), cleanliness (important for quality) and moral (important for quality). Don’t necessarily go with the cheapest quote, trust your gut instinct and do your due diligence. It is safer to go with a reputable company (that has a reputation to loose) than go with the lowest bid that has nothing to loose by ripping you off. It happens! You are your word and business is all about relationships, that is how the world turns so be honest and foster goodwill with those you deal with, and even the ones you don’t. If the quotes come in too high, re-evaluate your design and manufacturing process. “Obstacles are things people see when they loose sight of their goals” Anonymous.

One plastic that thermal forms easy is High Density Polyethylene (HDPE), all you need is oven mitts to press it down on to whatever shape you are moulding. This is where the early shape of your leg armour is best tested. The drawback of HDPE is that it has poor memory (looses its moulded shape fast) and is not very tough, as that’s what milk jugs are made of. ABS plastic is tougher and easily mouldable, but not as easily formable as HDPE. Both plastics show stress by a white discoloration (air entering the plastic) along the stressed area, usually the result of an impact or repeated flexing. This can help determine where your design is going to fail so you can either modify your design or beef up your plastic. Polycarbonate plastic is what some sunglass lens are made of and it is bullet proof if it is thick enough. It has great memory and is strong but is subject to “catastrophic” failure, which means it may look fine and show no signs of stress but could break any time due to previous stresses applied to it. It makes nice prototype parts but is harder to thermal form because it stiffens up very quickly (less than five seconds) when removed from heat.

B) Mould Types

The cheapest and probably easiest way to shape plastic is to thermal form ( heat the plastic until soft) it over top a mould, which is great for prototyping but might not be practical for production. Another thermal forming process is vacume forming, where heated soft plastic is sucked down on to the mould to give the part its shape. Vacume forming works best if there are no holes in the part being formed, and it is most commonly used to form plastic packaging. If the leg guards have lots of holes and airvents, vacume forming would not work well. One big advantage of thermal forming is that the moulds are relatively cheap to make, but requires the plastic to be cut to shape first (or trimmed later), this adds to the parts overall cost. A common alternative to thermal forming is injection moulding which would ultimately (if volume is high enough) give you the lowest parts cost with leg guards having lots of holes in them. Another advantage of injection moulding is that you can give the part details like patent numbers, definition (recesses), intricate shape and have a wider choice of plastics to use. The main disadvantage is cost, these moulds are expensive to make and expensive to modify. Because of their repeated heating and cooling they require special steel and welding. Also, you’ll need an injection moulding machine and know how to use it, so your best option would be to contract this out.

6) Which Way to Go A) Plastics

One plastic that thermal forms easy is High Density Polyethylene (HDPE), all you need is oven mitts to press it down on to whatever shape you are moulding. This is where the early shape of your leg armour is best tested. The drawback of HDPE is that it has poor memory (looses its moulded shape fast) and is not very tough, as that’s what milk jugs are made of. ABS plastic is tougher and easily mouldable, but not as easily formable as HDPE. Both plastics show stress by a white discoloration (air entering the plastic) along the stressed area, usually the result of an impact or repeated flexing. This can help determine where your design is going to fail so you can either modify your design or beef up your plastic. Polycarbonate plastic is what some sunglass lens are made of and it is bullet proof if it is thick enough. It has great memory and is strong but is subject to “catastrophic” failure, which means it may look fine and show no signs of stress but could break any time due to previous stresses applied to it. It makes nice prototype parts but is harder to thermal form because it stiffens up very quickly (less than five seconds) when removed from heat.

B) Mould Types

The cheapest and probably easiest way to shape plastic is to thermal form ( heat the plastic until soft) it over top a mould, which is great for prototyping but might not be practical for production. Another thermal forming process is vacume forming, where heated soft plastic is sucked down on to the mould to give the part its shape. Vacume forming works best if there are no holes in the part being formed, and it is most commonly used to form plastic packaging. If the leg guards have lots of holes and airvents, vacume forming would not work well. One big advantage of thermal forming is that the moulds are relatively cheap to make, but requires the plastic to be cut to shape first (or trimmed later), this adds to the parts overall cost. A common alternative to thermal forming is injection moulding which would ultimately (if volume is high enough) give you the lowest parts cost with leg guards having lots of holes in them. Another advantage of injection moulding is that you can give the part details like patent numbers, definition (recesses), intricate shape and have a wider choice of plastics to use. The main disadvantage is cost, these moulds are expensive to make and expensive to modify. Because of their repeated heating and cooling they require special steel and welding. Also, you’ll need an injection moulding machine and know how to use it, so your best option would be to contract this out.

Most manufacturers will be more than happy to send you free samples of the materials they sell. This is where you start forming relationships with the people you might be doing business with, because, if they can’t help you they might know someone that can. Be genuine, enthusiastic, listen, and show gratitude. For example, if you are building knee armour, approach the makers of medical grade remouldable plastic for some free samples. Another possible source could be plastic suppliers that have off cut pieces (small pieces left over from a cut up sheet) they usually have a bin you can sort through for free or a nominal donation to their beer fund.

B) Prove The Concept

The first step is to see if your design works and this is best done by working with easy to use and readily available materials. It could be as simple as straws, or cardboard, or wood to start with. If you are designing leg guards, the free remouldable plastic is an excellent material to start with. As you move forward with the design your materials should become closer to what you plan to go to market with. Keep getting feedback along the way and use it to lead you to the next step in proving your design. This means moving beyond the easily remouldable plastic used in the early stages and using more durable plastics that can be thermal formed in any household oven. If the part is simple in shape, you can usually get away with one mould. However, if there is definition to the part you’ll need a female(bottom) and male (top) mould to sandwich the plastic in between and squeezed with oven mitts on to ensure detail to the part. These oven moulds can be as simple as wood or more complex dremeled and shaped (copper sheets) moulds with indexing pins to keep the plastic in proper alignment. A more expensive but accurate option is selective laser sintering(SLS), which is where you design your part with computer software and get it made with a laser and a tank of slowly filled plastic powder, this is one form of rapid prototyping.

C) Prove Functionality

It is one thing to know that your prototype works in a controlled environment, now you have to prove it works in the real world. Ideally you will test your product in the material you plan to market it in. This is because it is difficult to anticipate all the stresses and forces your product might encounter in the real world. This is also the stage where you fine tune your design based on the feedback from further field-testing. Don’t assume anything. For example, you have to subject the knee armour to punishment (with no one in them) and beat it up, take it to the extreme and see what its failure point is. The last thing any product developer wants is to have to do a recall, they can be costly, just ask Toyota or Ford. Also, you’ll want to make sure the instructions for your product’s use are concise, clear and understood by those that will be buying it and this is the stage to find out if they do.

Once you know what the market wants, you then have to design it in to your product. I highly recommend the book “Design for Manufacturability”. It is over twelve hundred pages and is what I think should be mandatory reading for any serious inventor. Just read the sections that apply to your design. Here you will learn if the knee pads you are designing have any rectangular holes in them, they will be tougher if you fillet the corners, which is rounding them off instead of leaving them at ninety degree angles.
Another aspect of designing is how do you fasten the parts together in the most economical and beneficial manner. Parts can be fastened together mechanically (nuts and bolts), welded, glued, nailed, riveted and so on. This means another step in the assembling process which adds to the manufacturing costs. However, if your design involves plastic, like knee armour would, you might want to consider snap-fits as they can be very strong, save time, make assembly/quality control easier and eliminate the need for special tools like riveters. If snap-fits might work for your design, read “The First Snap-fit Design Handbook” by Paul Bonenberger.

B)Working the Bugs Out

Another book any designer/inventor needs to read is Quality Function Deployment (QFD). This is where you take what you have learned is really important to your target market and put it in to your design. It systematically lays out the designing process in a chart like format that makes the whole process more simple and clear. And it also works the bugs out in the design stage rather than in the more costly production stage. “The single most important thing to remember about any enterprise is that there are no results inside its walls. The result of a business is a satisfied customer”. Peter Drucker

C) Input From Professionals

Newtons third Law of Physics “for every force there is an equal and opposite force”
is very useful when figuring out how and why a lot of things work. However, at
some point in time you will most likely need the advice of at least one professional.
The key thing to remember is that it is your project and ultimately you are the one
responsible for moving it forward. Input can be as simple as contacting a professional
and asking a question or it can range up to contracting a specialist in the area you
need expertise in. To get some insight in to the machinations of knee armour
one might consider consulting a Doctor that builds lower limb prosthetics.
Technology is advancing at such a rapid rate today, that a lot of
books on certain subjects are dated after only a couple of yeas. It is up to you to find
out what is cutting edge and industry is the best place to find it. Talk to the suppliers
of materials you will be using, and the manufacturers that could make your product,
and don’t forget the internet.

The world doesn’t need another useless widget or disposable product. You’ll find it a whole lot easier to get grant money if you’re building something of value. For most inventors the internet is your starting point when it comes to market research. Here you can find information on demographics, market size, competition, and trends. Most importantly, go to chat rooms and forums used by your target market, they are excellent places to find out what people like and don’t like. Be creative, if you were building knee pads sign on with a nifty name, perhaps “Blondie” to get feedback, particularly if your market is mostly male. Use this feedback to focus on what’s important to your target market and incorporate it in your design.

B) Drop What Doesn’t Work

Again, don’t fall in love with your invention, if your target market is telling you they don’t like it, listen to them. Ask them why, then head back to the drawing board and make the necessary changes and repeat this process until you get two thumbs up. Look at what your competition does well and also learn from their past failures. It is important to look at the current trend of the industry your product is in. Is the industry expanding or shrinking, will there be enough of a market in five years to make your project viable? For example, if you are designing leg guards for the shrinking Forest Industry you might want to reconsider your options. We live in changing times.

C) Are They Willing and Able to Pay

At this stage you should have a rough idea of how much your product will retail for. The question now is: is my target market not only willing to buy, but able to pay for my product. You won’t make much money having a product everyone wants but only a few can afford. Find out what attributes people are willing to pay more for and what areas where corners can be cut without impacting on the use or quality of the product. People are willing to pay a premium price if the product exceeds their expectations.

I don’t recommend hiring someone that doesn’t know your market to write your BP for you, they’ll most likely use a boiler plate, and superficial statistics to create it. Palo Alto has some excellent BP writing software that marches you through the process, all you have to do is put in tangible numbers, which means a whole lot more research. This is where you have to take control of your project, roll up your sleeves, and get dirty. The people that control the purse strings know what to look for in a BP and what questions to ask, their job is to challenge your assumptions, so, if you can’t justify your BP, you go hungry. A BP shows how money will be made, for instance the BP for knee pads would include; where they’ll be manufactured, how they will be marketed, what distribution channels will be used and all the numbers to support it.

Your next step is to short list the hundreds of grants that are available (for product development and patenting) and then write a proposal on why they should give you some money. Most granting sources will only fund projects that have not yet started.
Don’t look for grants that specifically match your situation, they are hard to find. Align your design/situation to meet the requirements of the grants available and this is best done by a professional writer familiar with proposal writing. Proposal writing is a science unto itself and the BP is a critical part to any successful proposal.

B) Persistance

More often than not you’ll get turned down the first time, so listen to why they said no, then amend your proposal accordingly and resubmit.You have to realize the granting source has limited funds and they can’t hand it out willy nilly. Products that solve problems, provide safety and conserve energy are more likely to gain favor. However, the winds of favor keep changing so be vigilant for new opportunities. If a new opportunity presents itself, apply, and remember to be flexible to the grants/sources requirements. If you know, you will.

C) Grant Networking
A lot of granting agencies are connected, so once you get the first grant, it’s easier to get the second. For instance, if you got an IRAP(research and development) grant for your knee armour, apply for a MART(market research) grant from them as well. An added
benefit to dealing with these granting agencies is they can give you key contacts in various industries to help with your project.
An excellent networking source is Invention Groups, here you’ll find people that are in various stages of the inventing process. Their input is invaluable, and it’s like free consulting.

You have an idea or prototype that’s the “next big thing”, your family likes it, and so do your friends .Don’t fall in love with your invention, make sure there is a need for it. There are at least six patents for lids that go on top of beer/pop cans to make drinking from them easier. When was the last time you’ve saw one of them in use? There was no need as they’d likely get lost and the user would have to wash it, that’s something beer drinkers and kids aren’t big on. Start asking strangers that might use your invention if they would be interested in your product. For example, if you are designing knee pads for sports, talk to some bike shops and sporting goods stores where they sell them and see what they have to say about your invention. Feedback can be hard to swallow so be honest with yourself, get objective opinions, that’s one of the keys to a successful design.

B) Is It Patentable

A patent allows you the sole right to market your invention and gives you an option to license it to a third party. Investors like patents and it doesn’t hurt with marketing either.
However, there is a saying “patents are only as good as your pockets are deep”. First of all they are very expensive for the average person ($5-40K) and to defend them, costs can easily run north of a $100K. However if you have an innovative/great invention, it is the way to go. You can search patent offices online, so make sure your design is not patented already. One way around the patent issue is to listen to your customers and continually improve your design, this way your competition is always spending money trying to catch up. Another option is to design your invention so that it cannot be reversed engineered (taken apart and figured out), this is more easily done with recipes and sealed units.

C) Do Your Research

I can’t emphasize enough how important research is, it will save you costly mistakes, and is plain and simple if you keep it objective. You not only have to know who your direct competitors are but also in-direct competition from other sectors and industries. For instance, if you are building leg armour for hockey, look at what the back-catchers wear for leg guards; and even see what knee pads are used in the construction industry. You do this because maybe there is a product just like your design already on the shelves; as a result you have just saved yourself (and family & friends) a bundle of money by not re-inventing the wheel. Just because you don’t see it on the shelf doesn’t mean it hasn’t been invented.
Next you have to ask yourself; what is it that makes us not only better but also different from the competition out there. The difference has to be significant and meaningful to your customer. If your honest research leaves you totally convinced it is still the “next big thing” then you are going to need a Business Plan (BP).