Testing the prototype

A couple of months ago I hadn't even come up with my idea yet, now I was at home with the prototype. It didn't look pretty, I just had to prove that it worked. Testing the prototype was fairly easy and within a couple of hours of basic testing  I knew that it worked and was thrilled. Even if this idea didn't take off, at least I would have a working protoype at home that I could use forever.
It would still need lots of testing and my family would be willing to help with this. In fact over the last few months my prototype has been used more than I thought and I love it!

Whilst not in use it has been carefully hidden away, I have discovered many inventors really do guard their inventions so it is not just me being paranoid.

I know some of you have asked me already what the invention is, I will reveal it as time goes on and will explain then why I havn't told you yet. When you do find out, some of you will love it and want one, some of you will wonder why I wasted my time!

So, at this point, I had a working prototype but still didn't know what to do next. Internet research had become my new best friend and I found out that many companies will offer  a free half hour or hour consultation to review an idea and see how they can help. I decided to take advantage of this and booked myself in with a local company in Norwich. Their website looked good, they had helped many others get products to market, even some products that I recognised.

With another NDA signed, I met with the owner. Again, I was apprehensive that my idea would be laughed at however I was meeted with amazing enthusiasm. The company said they had their integrity to think about so would not recommend pursuing an idea that would probably fail. This was good to hear. We discussed what I should do next, and covered the subject of CAD drawings, manufacturing costs and protecting the idea.

The protection of the idea had been the big thing that was worrying me. I could not discuss my idea with anyone who had not signed an NDA, if so they could nick the idea and also there could be protection problems if the idea was in the public domain.
I could patent the idea if it met certain requirements. I knew this would also be expensive, however I had done well to get to working prototype stage with only having spent £100.

If I did patent the idea, I would be free to discuss it and pursue knowing that the idea wouldn't be stolen, however if this did happen it would cost me more money with a legal battle.

Gosh, there was a lot to take in. I was given some manufacturing costs estimates which seemed to fit the estimates gained from online research. If I wanted to do this it was going to cost me a lot of money that I really didn't have.

Despite the costs involved I left the meeting feeling positive and a mini plan forming in my head of what to do next.

Even if I patented the idea and had the CAD and design work done, would a buyer actually be interested?
The catch 22 situation I was in, I couldn't see a buyer without protecting the idea which would cost me money, if I spent the money a buyer may not be interested. So, the only financial risk I was actually going to have to take was protecting the idea.

I had managed to avoid paying others so far by using free consultations and doing tons and tons of research. When I had my free consultations I wanted to discuss things I didn't know about and needed help with, it would have been a waste of time covering subjects I already knew.

I still wasn't sure whether to patent the idea or not as it was such a big risk financially. I booked in to see another local company, they were experts in design and helping startup companies. A lovely couple came to my house and I unveiled the prototype! They loved it and genuinely wanted to help me move things along.

Like many others before, we discussed protecting the idea. They recommended some patent attorneys and I decided to at least speak to some before going any further with the idea.

So, to protect the idea or not protect the idea?