Crowdsourcing Funds For Invention Ideas

Inventors Can Use Crowdfunding To Get Their Ideas Off The Ground And Into Market

If you have an invention idea but you don't have the capital to invest in bringing it to market, crowdsourcing could be the resource you've been looking for.

Crowdsourcing allows you to use online forums, such as Kickstarter or Indiegogo, to attract funding and investment in your product.

Crowdsourced funds account for hundreds of millions of dollars per year - there is money out there.

The process of crowdsourcing involves asking an online audience to donate money toward your invention or project.

​For example, if you need $10,000 to hire a prototyping firm to help model your invention, crowdfunding can help you raise that money without you needing to solicit another aunt, uncle, cousin or brother. You simply find a crowdfunding platform, set the goal amount, set the deadline, and indicate any rewards you'd like to offer to those who donate to your invention. 

Bottom Line:
​Inventors Need Help Funding Their Ideas

​As an inventor, one of the most important pieces of the invention process is obtaining the funds that help you translate your idea into a finished consumer product. Generally, this is what decides the fate of your invention - whether it will make it to market or not. 
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Crowdfunding has become a proven, viable avenue to obtain the necessary initial funding and finance to offset the costs of commercializing an invention idea.

Basically, the process of crowdfunding involves putting the description of your project on the internet. In this case, that includes the description of the invention idea and the would-be consumer product.

You're probably thinking, "That sounds pretty risky - or stupid. What if someone steals my idea?"

But you're an intelligent inventor - you've already filed for your patent or PPA, right? (If not, be sure that's your first step)

With crowdfunding, pledges are solicited to help you complete your project.

Once 100% of the goal is reached, funds are transferred to the project online (the minimum number of pledges must be obtained before an initial deadline). However, no one is charged if the minimum target is not reached.

Crowdfunding is an all-or-nothing model, whereby the pledges are returned to the backers/investors if the target or deadline is not met.
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The Benefits Of Crowdfunding For Inventors

For many inventors, crowdfunding addresses two of the biggest challenges they face in the process between idea and market:

1. The common conundrum of how to get the initial funding to turn their invention idea into a viable consumer product;
2. A market read for the new product they intend to manufacture

​For a novel invention or invention idea, crowdfunding offers a new and pristine way of measuring market acceptance and raising the initial funds required for production of the invention.

With crowdfunding, getting a new invention idea off the ground becomes a very promising and an attractive proposition. Also, crowdfunding avails backers the opportunity to promote and support a new invention idea. It is a worthy option that should be explored by both backers and inventors.

​Conventionally, inventors have to rely on their own financial might, funds from families and friends, acquaintances, as well as angel investors, to transform their invention ideas to practice.

With crowdfunding, a new - and very important - financial player is added to an inventor’s source of funding: the consumer.

Apart from getting pledges from initial consumers, the market for the product is also guaranteed, even before large scale production begins.
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The consumers that would potentially back you in a crowdfunding campaign are often the first to handle and use your product. For the consumers, this is an attractive prospect.

For you as the inventor, if you successfully run a crowdfunding campaign you would be safe in the knowledge that there is a teeming, eager and excited market for the invention, and more, the required funding to successfully transform your invention idea into a consumer product exists.
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Stay Optimistic...Here's Why

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On the other hand, if the crowdfunding campaign proves unsuccessful and the required revenue target was not reached, you would then be equipped with valuable and free market feedback on the invention idea and proposed project.

​In other words, if your invention was either destined to fail or if it just plain needed more time and thought, the crowdsource audience would let you know. 

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You Will Need A Patent Before Crowdfunding An Invention

It is imperative to have a provisional patent application in place for your invention idea before considering taking the crowdfunding route (so be sure you have done a thorough patent search and your intellectual property has a safeguard).

This ensures that other inventors or manufacturing companies do not steal your idea once you post it on the internet; it also lets potential investors know you have a serious, viable product.

​A provisional patent application is the way to go; it would be unwise and unfortunate to spend an exorbitant amount of money and time to get a non-provisional patent application only to discover at the end of the day that there exists no viable market for the invention.

Provisional patent applications are also cheap and give an inventor the luxury of one year to test the waters and observe how the invention idea performs.  
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As crowdfunding campaigns typically last for a few months, an inventor can, within the term of his patent application, adequately and timely obtain market feedback on the idea and the initial funds required to convert an invention idea into practice.  

Apart from this, it is possible to get in two or three more postings if the first crowdfunding project fails or needs tweaking or rewriting.
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Should Inventors Use Crowdsourced Funding For Invention Ideas?

For an inventor without the financial might to finance the translation of his invention idea into a viable consumer product, and who opts against licensing his invention, the answer to the question of whether or not to use crowdfunding to get his invention idea off the ground is a pretty straightforward one – YES, but carefully (meaning, get your PPA first)!

An exciting invention idea, a good pitch and a well prepared crowdfunding campaign pretty much guarantees that you will get enough backers excited and interested enough in the invention idea to solicit adequate pledges which translate into the funding required to translate your ideas into a consumer product.
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Apart from funding the production of an invention, crowdfunding avails you the opportunity of investigating whether other people see your invention as desirable, useful and unique.

A positive reaction from backers encourages the inventor to proceed to production, while a negative feedback ensures that the inventor does not waste resources in manufacturing the invention.  

This knowledge helps an inventor decide whether to invest heavily in the large scale production of the invention or not.

​It is not enough for an inventor to be excited about his own invention idea. It is imperative to gauge the response of complete strangers, potential customers and consumers, to the invention idea and gather invaluable feedbacks. This equally translates to surveying the market without recourse to extra costs.

Conclusively, crowdfunding is a win-win situation for an inventor. A successful crowdfunding campaign guarantees that the inventor gets the initial funding required to translate his ideas into an invention, while an unsuccessful campaign leads to the gathering of feedbacks on the invention idea and ensures that he doesn’t waste money on an invention that won’t sell. ​

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