Sharing ideas

[adrianh]

Duncan,

Its a lot more complicated than just sharing ideas. I have many ideas that are viable, no, not pie in the sky, things that can be made fairly easily and turned into viable products / industries. I certainly don't have enough time to make them happen but once they are in the public domain other people certainly will. Some are fairly obvious, given a bit of lateral thinking.

How the question are;
1. How do I profit from the ideas?
2. Why do I give away ideas to people who are unable to think laterally themselves?
3. Why should I, they are of my own creation therefore they belong to me?

Don't get me wrong, I exchange ideas and techniques with like minded people all the time, the only way to broaden one's knowledge is to teach and learn, but I have a problem with leaches who suck up ideas like vacuum cleaners and give nothing in return. The other problem with such people is that they take your idea or technique, spread it around and destroy your position in the market.

There is another problem to consider and that is money which one needs to develop ideas; Hiring engineers cost a lot of money (as you should know) and they may or may not develop the idea properly. Another angle is to give each engineer enough information to develop his little piece, but that creates huge problems when the product is intergrated.

Could the answer lie in building a company large enough so that it is able to have contracted engineers?
Does the answer lie in having the expertese in-house?
Does the answer lie in learning to do everyting yourself...time is the problem.

You are into electronics, I can think of numerous electronic products that are viable and can be developed by a skilled person very quickly;

1. A product using a microprocessor a 3 axis accelerometer and some light (led or EL) - a real sideways novelty application.
2. A slightly off the wall CNC milling machine (mostly mechanical design though)
3. Building 5 or 6 axis milling machines (its a lot easier than you might think)
4. A USB CNC handheld controller (I developed the hardware using a PIC18F4550 ,some buttons and an LCD) and got quite a bit of it to work - UNI-directionally, I am just to doff to get the C++ based PC interface to give me bi-directional comms.
4.1. If you are really bright you could do it via Wi Fi - at least all the USB interfacing nonsense goes away.
4.2. Write an android app to run the CNC via Wi Fi, then all the hardware issues go away. If you know C++ and coding for Android this should be fairly simple. (If you do this properly and you know for which machine there is lots of easy money to be made by selling it via the Android market)
4.3. Wi Fi based controls with a simple plug and play interface i.e. a Wi Fi based controller for a sprinkler system, garage door opener etc.
5. Adapting common communication mechanisms to other products. (You'll be surprised how easily it can be done with a bit of lateral thinking - here is a market that you could putentially turn upside down)
6. Led lighting in untapped markets (there is one market that nobody has ever looked at (as far as I can see) - all it will take is to make a suitable PCB with protection etc - nothing much)
7. For my own use and maybe for others, a PLC driving the laser or CNC that can turn the machine off and sms me when it is done.
8. A talking multimeter - I don't like having to glance back and forth between the probes and the screen.

These are a couple of ideas floating around in my head, If I could code quickly in C++ and Android I would make easy money. I still have many ideas for products made using the laser, CNC and injection moulding but that is for another discussion.

The bottom line, ideas spring from lateral thinking through knowledge of many different topics. If one is really good, one would have enough knowledge to develop the ideas yourself or have the knowledge to put together a business structure to develop the ideas.

So, as a person with 1000's of ideas, some good, some bad, some silly and some brilliant, agree with you from a philosophical point of view, but not from a practical point of view. I will only share ideas when it suits me. If my ideas are never developed or shared then nothing changes in the universe, nothing is created and nothing is destroyed.

[BusFact]

@Adrianh - Don't you find that even the development of the products is not necessarily the biggest stumbling block. Its getting the product out in the market and selling it. That somehow still seems to be the most expensive and time consuming part of the process to me.

[adrianh]

@Busfact - I can only speak from my own personal point of view. I can develop some products very quickly and I have access to money. Of course I don't have the skills to develop many others. I get stuck on exactly what you are saying, marketing and selling. For me the problem goes even deeper, I stuggle to put the admin/ hr, and all that stuff in place. I can clearly see where the problems are but I am unable to resolve them because my mind simply can't focus on matters of putting a business together.

This is probably why it is good for technical types and business types to work closely together.

[Justloadit]

Adrian,

As you have said, I am also an idea walking android. I have found from my experience the following problems with any idea

1.) Spending the time in making the unit really user friendly, as I found that most people get confused when there is more than one knob
2.) Writing a comprehensive user manual, which nobody reads anyway, but if you do not have it, then it's not a completed product
3.) Getting other people to visualize more than what you are showing on the table, as they just can not see the wood from the trees
4.) Getting the product to market - probably the most difficult part of the project
5.) Having the finances to market the product
6.) Your product does not have to be perfect on the first take, but customers don't want to know this
7.) This darn thing (BS!) that customers always wanting a free sample, else they can not promote your product, then get it, and disappear off the map.
8.) Being a design engineer, always requested to develop on probono, "you will make a fortune once you have developed it!"


There are many more, but just can't think of them now.

Unfortunately what I may think is the best idea since sliced bread, may not be shared by the rest of the planet.

[adrianh]

@Justloadit

1. It depends on the product and the audience. The trick is to make a product aimed at intellient people that don't care too much about the shape of the button.
2. Same thing as above.
3. This is totally impossible. 99.9999% of humanity have zero imagination. Unless they have the finished product in their hands they have nothing.
4. Again, it depends on the product, my trains sell themselves, the CNC stuff will be easy to sell. A new hamburger will be difficult to sell.
5. This is not a problem for me, but I know what you mean.
6. Depends on the product.
7. (I've been caught with this once or twice) Another one is when they ask what discount they'll get whwn they buy 100. Then they want to buy the first one at that discount. I tell them that they can have the first one at full price and when they buy the other 99 then I'll discount the first one as well. With regard to the initial statement Difficult one. I suppose the answer is to tell the customer that he has to pay for the product up front, and that he can have all his cash back when he gets you 10 firm sales.
8. I don't develop things for other people unless I believe the product is viable and I have a big stake in it. Charity won't pay for the Aston Martin DB9 that I want to own :-)

I agree about the best idea bit but I do think that there products that will sell. I know a couple of markets fairly well and I am sure that there is potential. I am very weary of the "I am going to make a fortune overnight" ideas. The products that I have in mind will grow and develop over time.

[Justloadit]

1. It depends on the product and the audience. The trick is to make a product aimed at intellient people that don't care too much about the shape of the button.

There's not enough intelligent people to buy your product so that you can afford your Aston Martin DB9

[adrianh]

Well then we need to come up with a product that only has one button, that everybody wants and that they will pay lots of cash for.

I always said that I would love such a button to be fitted to all women's wear, just one click and its all off, no complicated straps, elastics, clips and stuff. Perfectly easy to operate even after 12 beers...

[BusFact]

... I am very weary of the "I am going to make a fortune overnight" ideas. The products that I have in mind will grow and develop over time.

I'd go further than saying "very weary". Can you imagine how much finance one would have to come up with to make a million electronic widgets overnight?

No thanks. I'll stick to looking for medium growth small business ventures that are more manageable and in my opinion more realistic. I'll leave the overnight fortune to my lotto ticket purchases .

[BusFact]

Unfortunately what I may think is the best idea since sliced bread, may not be shared by the rest of the planet.

I tend to be a bit of a sceptic which means that unlike you guys I struggle to come up with what I would consider product ideas worth putting time and money into. Instead I easily seem to find potential flaws in ideas and so they hardly ever get off the ground. Haven't come up with and "sliced bread" ideas in this life time .... yet.

When something is developed or bought into, I actually enjoy setting up the processes around the admin and business operations.

[adrianh]

You need people to drive ideas, flaws and all and you need people to drive the business side. My brother is a brilliant businessman but he is not technically inclined. We all have our skills..