Invention funding

I have an invention but I need funding my patent # 740441 you can take a look and give me some feed back on it.

lowrider,

Funding is a tricky question. Before you look for funding, your project needs a foundation. By foundation, I mean in order to convince potential investors your project represents their best opportunity to see significant return on their investment, you need to have answered several important questions:

1. What are the manufacturing costs at mass production volumes?
2. How big is your target market?
3. What is your unique selling proposition?
4. How will the product be distributed?
5. What’s the exit strategy?

More questions will need to be answered. However, this gives you an idea of the direction in which to go. You also need to put a professional face on your presentation by making sure your marketing material inspires confidence in you. Ultimately most investors will be determining whether or not to invest money in your project based on their confidence in you and/or your team.

You can access a free inventors kit at www.innovatorswarehouse.com ; just click on the link. It will provide you a more comprehensive road map to commercialization.

Lastly, your patent number appears to be incomplete. Is there a number or letter missing?

Inventors throw the term "funding " around like it does not have any repercussions. Funding is a double edge sword. It may get you where you want to be, but you have to be aware of the price you have to pay. If you borrow money from family and friends and your venture does not work out, you still owe the money and it is hard to see a relative daily you owe money. It makes family gatherings awkward too.

Another aspect is the investor that is not a family member. They don’t invest just to invest. They expect results and a profit on their investment. You need to have a good business plan that is realistic, not one that is inflated with milestones you can’t possibly achieve. As the saying goes “Don’t let your mouth make promises your butt can’t cover.”

Investors also want a piece of the company. You need to know how much your company is worth in percentages so that you are selling shares correctly. If you say your company is worth $100,000 in its present form and you need $50,000 in investment are you willing to sell 50% of the company or more? You can quickly go from majority stack holder to minority stakeholder, to not owning the company anymore.

I was CEO of a children’s software email filtering company. We had eight employees and we had to raise over $300,000 in investments to expand. We raised the money from three investors. It was very educational learning all the ins and outs of negoiating the deals so they did not take the company from us. Plus, you had to have stipulations as to the extent of their day to day involvement in company business otherwise you would have been having to call them on every decision you wanted to make since it was based on using their invested money. You also had to agree on the length of term for a return on their investment and the buying back of shares to retain full control of the company.
I always tell Inventors to use investors as a last resort.

Roger,
Great stuff, from my personal experience my parents in 1982 borrowed $100,000- to start the new family business in Dried Flowers here in Melbourne and a second loan on $10,000- to pay for the bills for the year as my father built the business from nothing and sold it in 1999.

What an experience working for a family business and helping my parents succeed and they did very well, my father retired at age 54 with assets and income for life, I learnt a lot from my Dutch Parents who migrated to Australia in 1970 before I was born.

I applied my fathers teachings to me to Inventions, keep your overheads low and that meant to me Patents were for Manufactures to pay for and Tooling, big ask but I have already done it 3 times personally and 2 times for Inventor clients.

So currently 5 new products are the traditional method of Licensing and the other 5 my different method, consider the value of a manufacture Investing in your Invention?, the more risk they take on, then the higher value they place on your Invention.

Dear Sir/Madam,

Al Imtiaz Investment is one of Kuwait's leading investment company. which would like to invest in any profitable Business/Project. Funding are $2 Million US Dollars Maximum.

Interested clients should send us his/her Project summary, so you can be contacted by our representative, for briefing and procedure on funding's.

For more information Please contact us info.alimtiaz@gmail.com

© 2011, Al Imtiaz Investment.

Looking at your website you have the following areas listed below as areas you invest.

Financial, Investment & Banking sector
Industry and Services Sector
Real Estate, Construction & Building Sector

Where does inventing fall in these catergories? As with any investment you are looking for investments that will make you money. What is your normal percentage desired for a investment?