Frequently Asked Questions.

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Inventing is a form of investment that is potentially very rewarding financially, and can be very exciting, especially if you can earn foreign revenue in the form of US Dollars. Everyone has ideas, and some of them can actually pay off very well if you know what you are doing. Inventing is also full of potential pitfalls and ways to waste tons of money. We love sharing our experience with inventors and informing them about the realities of commercializing products. Inventors are always welcome to contact us for free advice and to discuss their ideas confidentially. We offer free product evaluations so please do not hesitate to drop us a line at corrie@inventorAssist.org

Almost every bright idea can be licensed. We are able to introduce almost 3000 categories of product to US corporate giants and / or global companies. Send your ideas to us, without reservation, and we shall advise you whether it makes sense to license your idea. If your idea does not fit into any of the existing categories, we will merely create a new category for you! Some of the categories that we will be looking at for new ideas, are inter alia the following: see our Category of Products.

It is easiest to license products in markets and industries that are accustomed to licensing as a standard course of business. Most consumer product markets, such as housewares, hardware, hand tools, kitchen gadgets, consumer electronics and toys, are used to licensing ideas from inventors. They know what to expect and treat their inventors fairly. There are, of course, companies that are individual exceptions in every industry.

Like any service, you could probably do it yourself if you invest enough time and money to learn the technical information, learn the ropes, find the contacts, make the calls, make the presentations, and close the deals. While it is possible, it is also quite challenging. Individual inventors usually struggle to penetrate lager organizations, and are unsure of what to do if they get inside. We have a vast network of contacts. We have years of experience, training and an excellent track record. We empower inventors with resources and skills they need so they can focus on generating their next great idea!

Like any service, you could probably do it yourself if you invest enough time and money to learn the technical information, learn the ropes, find the contacts, make the calls, make the presentations, and close the deals. While it is possible, it is also quite challenging. Individual inventors usually struggle to penetrate lager organizations, and are unsure of what to do if they get inside. We have a vast network of contacts. We have years of experience, training and an excellent track record. We empower inventors with resources and skills they need so they can focus on generating their next great idea!

InventorAssist™ is a boutique commercialization consultancy, and we deliver a personalized service with a high level of professionalism, experience and expertise. We love what we do and we are passionate about supporting our clients. We see it as a privilege to be in the business of inventing the future, and are excited to work with an amazing array of skillful inventors of all walks of life. We are selective about the projects we get involved with, and if we express interest in collaborating, it is because we believe in your idea and are willing to invest our time and energy in your venture. We play win / win: we are clear that we provide enormous advantage to the inventors for whom it makes sense to work with and we are always looking for the next great idea to put our resources behind.

InventorAssist™ is a product development and submission company that, through its Marketing agents, submit innovative products on behalf of Innovators (product owners) directly to major and / or global companies in the USA for the purpose of generating a deal to license, wholesale, retail, sell or market new products, and in the proses earning significant revenue in US Dollars for its member inventors.

The InventorAssist™ platform offers distinct benefits to Innovators:

  • Provides guidance and services to inventors to develop their ideas to marketable products

  • Provides an easy system for compiling, managing and submitting product information directly to companies

  • Provides access to an ongoing, global stream of companies that are actively looking for innovative products.

InventorAssist ™ is typically used by inventors, startups, entrepreneurs, product manufacturers and serious innovators looking for US and / or global companies interested in licensing, wholesaling, retailing or acquiring innovative products.

InventorAssist™ provides a broad range of services related to designing and commercializing products.

We offer market research, user research, product design, translation services, 3D CAD modeling, renderings, 3D printing / prototyping, branding, graphic design, video production, website development, animation, consulting and intellectual property strategy.

We can help people at any stage in the invention development process, from napkin sketch to store shelves, whether they intend to manufacture or license their product.

We love the products we work on and become friends with all of our clients.

We do not. We focus our investments on developing a better service for our clients and on finding your product a licensing home.

We choose based on many factors: our belief in our ability to be successful with the product, how exciting the product is to us, how well we understand the product’s market, how close the product development is to complete, how easy it is to work with the inventor, how likely we think it is that one of our key partners would say “yes”, how well it synergizes with the other projects we are working on at that time, how busy we are, our gut. InventorAssist does however not perform analysis of the feasibility, marketability, patentability or profitability of ideas submitted to it.

We accept inventions in all stages of development across a wide range of industries, from inventors all over the world.

We will communicate to you any feedback a company sends to us regarding your invention.

InventorAssist makes money from royalties shared with inventors from commercializing great product ideas. In other words we make money with you, our profits are based on your success. If you make money, we make money. This is why we provide all the resources necessary for success.

Almost any category of product, app, game, business idea or the like can be accepted by InventorAssist™ for introduction to US companies. However, InventorAssist cannot submit new, unprotected ideas that have not yet been designed, developed or prototyped, to US companies. InventorAssist™ provides guidance and suitable services through its partners and service providers to develop your ideas to marketable products, ready for submission to major USA and / or global companies.

We have primarily worked on consumer products, including housewares, hardware, electrical tools, hand tools, pet products, farm products, kitchen gadgets, gardening products, baby products, toys and consumer electronics. We have also worked on medical devices and household and industrial supplies. We get excited about any type of product that solves a problem, fills a hole in the marketplace or utilizes a new technology. We also work with technology companies with technology they want to find markets for, helping them to locate partners in industry. We can also assist with the development and marketing of mobile apps.

You may submit as many ideas as you wish. Keep on inventing! Our experience indicates that many inventors have multiple bright ideas that just need to be developed. We will assist you with every one of them!

Yes. We enjoy working with inventors from every country in the world. We are comfortable to assist inventors from all English speaking countries.

Our business model is to submit new innovative products and ideas exclusively to US and/or global companies. Some of these global companies market and distribute their products in South Africa. Our goal is to earn foreign currency in the form of US dollars for our inventors, which can be very lucrative due to the exchange rate between the US dollar and the ZA Rand.

If you cannot converse or write in English, we will arrange for professional translation services at their normal fees, which are not expensive. Ons is Afrikaans sprekend en sal help met die Engels. English is the preferred language as we deal with American and global companies.

All submissions are confidential and for our eyes only. We will sign a Non-Disclosure Undertaking (an NDU) with you.

It is a common concern that your idea will be stolen. This is also a valid concern.

Somewhere along the road, you’re going to have to trust someone, if you plan on being successful. It takes a lot of time and money to successfully launch a new product to market and most inventors don’t have the resources or experience to complete the process on their own. You need partnerships to get the job done.

If you choose to do nothing, you’ll earn nothing. Realistically, it’s not ideas that are stolen. Launching an idea is costly and risky for anyone. However, once a product starts making money, a crowd of competitors want to jump on the bandwagon.

It is important to make sure you are working with people that have the skill and resources to play in that game. We choose major companies that will distribute and market your idea aggressively and on a large scale, thereby discouraging competitors to duplicate and enter the market with your idea. The companies we work with will protect your intellectual property (IP) at their own cost, if the product is selling. [A final utility patent in the USA takes about 3 years to issue and the costs will be at least US $ 10 000 (R 170 000)]

Choose people you trust to work with and make something great!

There is no 100% satisfactory answer. A good first step is to keep well-documented and dated records in a bound notebook. That’s free and may help to establish that you were the first to invent the item. Being first to invent still carries some weight and could help you win in a legal dispute.

The most basic tool for protecting a new idea is something called a Non-Disclosure Undertaking. We will sign such agreement with you.

If you do not understand our Confidentiality Undertaking and its limitations, you should seek the advice of a lawyer. Three years is pretty standard for a confidentiality agreement (also known as a NDA or Non-Disclosure Agreement) and provides a longer period of protection than a provisional patent application, which lasts for only one year. Under no circumstances will we “steal” your idea.

You do! Submitting ideas in no way impacts your intellectual property rights.

Clients are encouraged to keep copies of all documents for their own records. InventorAssist will retain documents that are related to the client’s purchase of services for a period of one year after the client’s account is deactivated. This applies to any documents, material or information (hardcopy, electronic or otherwise) that client may provide to us, as well as any documents, material or information (hardcopy, electronic or otherwise) that may have been produced by us for the client. This policy shall exclude physical prototypes / samples which may be submitted by client to InventorAssist. We will retain physical prototypes / samples for a period of 30 days after the client’s account is deactivated and shall only be returned at client’s request and expense. Otherwise, for confidentiality purposes, prototypes / samples will be destroyed.

If an outside company requests prototypes / samples of client product, client may not receive prototypes / samples returned and InventorAssist is not responsible for the return or expense of the prototypes / samples.

This depends on countless factors, the most important one being your idea and the compellingness of its value proposition. Is your product irresistible for people to buy? There are factors that cannot be predicted or controlled. You never know how a company is doing behind the scenes. You don’t know what their internal initiatives are. You don’t know who the people who work there are. In addition, you face the resistance innate to ideas from outsiders. Even open-minded companies prefer internal ideas. Most companies have all of their budgets spoken for, and your project must take away from another one. Ultimately, only about 2% of all inventions reach the market. We are confident that we will improve the rate of success to about 15% of the products we represent to the markets we know. We do not follow a cold approach but submit presentations to companies only which are actively looking for new ideas, and where we have direct access to decision makers. If we fail to get your product placed, you can continue to try! We are not the final word. Keep inventing!

A low cost step you can take is to ask friends and family if they would buy it – if well over 50% say yes then maybe you’ve got something. If your friends and family say your invention is a good idea, then over 50% of the time, for us at least, the idea is worth serious consideration.

To learn what the market thinks about your idea you need to ask it – you must disclose it. But that does not mean you must disclose key features to your competitors. Choose your survey targets carefully. Give them the information they need to generate the feedback you want. Describe features and benefits without disclosing how those features and benefits are achieved. Show them a prototype but do not open it up to show what makes it work.

For example, if you invented a new kind of ball that bounces higher and for longer duration than other balls, you should have no trouble in saying exactly that: “I invented a ball that bounces higher for longer duration than other balls.” You have not revealed HOW the ball manages this trick. The HOW is the invention. If the idea itself needs to be secret, find other ways to discuss it obliquely. But keep in mind that the more accurate your description of your invention to third parties, the better input you receive. Do not be overly paranoid. While paranoia is helpful in small doses, it can become poisonous in large ones. To commercialize an invention an inventor needs to talk (more or less) openly with third parties. Find ways to discuss your invention without giving away the key details.

The ASOTV (As Seen on TV) category thrives on physically small products that solve a problem in a visually appealing way. The characteristics of such products are the following:

  • The product must be small because the retail shelf space is small.

  • The buyers of such products are impulsive purchasers. If the product can solve an immediate problem, or improve a lifestyle, then consumers are more likely to buy. The problem must be significant enough to inspire a consumer to make a product purchase.

  • The product must have mass market appeal. The main thing to remember is that at least one person in the home should be a buyer of the product.

  • The product should have a visually appealing WOW factor. The visual demonstration of the product must have a feature or aspect that makes people say “WOW!” and take note.

  • The product should be unique. A truly unique problem / solution is gold. There should be little or no competition.

  • The product should be practical and believable. The consumer must see the product as credible, and not too gimmicky. People need the product to solve a practical purpose. If people can’t believe it will work as advertised, they will not buy.

  • The product should be easy to explain. A consumer must be able to understand what the product does in 2 minutes. The old saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words”, is why DRTV (Direct Response TV Marketing) can be so successful selling products.

Consumer interest does not necessarily translate into company interest. The likelihood that an inventor gets picked up by a company has many more factors involved than “it is a great idea”.

A company who licenses a product is risking a great deal by absorbing all the costs that are involved with developing, manufacturing and distributing it. Therefore, companies base their decisions to license a product on an entirely different set of criteria than an end user might use to make a decision about purchasing a product.

You can submit your ideas in rough idea form, but the more complete it is, the better. The closer your idea is to marketability, the closer it is to manufacturability, the easier it is to license and the more attractive it is to our marketing team. There may be situations where we need to see more than a description or rough sketch to fully review your submission.

To develop a successful product, create a superb design, craft a compelling prototype, author a captivating presentation, be humble and execute each aspect with excellence. Carry it as far forward as you can on your own, but don’t overinvest. Remember, InventorAssist will accompany you all the way, step by step.

You will need to provide InventorAssist with the video file that needs to be posted. We recommend that your video be no longer than 2 minutes. The preferred format for your video is via a You Tube link. The video cannot include any contact information, such as web address, email, phone number, etc. InventorAssist does not edit the videos that are submitted. Therefore, all edits need to be completed before you send the video in.

No, we do not have storage space or storage facilities. You must however, prepare a prototype of your product and take ample photos to be included in your presentation on our Invention Portfolio Dashboard. A company that expresses initial interest in your invention will most probably ask you for a prototype.

We work with skilled drawing firms that can prepare drawings for you. We arrange the drawings and handle all communications and revisions with the drawing firm, and coordinate the drawings for you.

You are also welcome to have the drawings prepared yourself.

Inventors often ask how long it takes to turn an invention idea into a real product and begin making money. Of course it depends on the complexity of the product, the skills of the product developer, distribution channels, marketing, money and luck. An inexperienced inventor working on his own with a limited budget may take just three days to produce a prototype but another five years to turn the prototype into a manufactured product. An experienced product development company like InventionAssist™ should be able to do a job like this, going from idea to manufactured product, in less than two years. There is however still no guarantee that your idea will make money. The product must actually sell.

Getting paid takes time too. Bricks and mortar retailers and catalogs make buying decisions six months to one year in advance and can take 2 – 3 months (or longer) to pay. Royalty deals typically pay on money actually received in a previous calendar quarter. Put all of this together and it means that once manufacturing begins it can well take another 18 months or even longer for an inventor to begin seeing royalty income.

You must first develop your product from idea to reality. Of course we will assist you all the way, step by step. Once your product is marketable, we will do the rest. We will prepare an executive presentation of your product and we will submit this presentation to US corporate giants and / or global companies on your behalf.

InventorAssist™will select and approach up to 15 USA corporate giants and / or global companies seeking growth or new sales through product licensing, wholesaling, retailing or acquisition, on your behalf. InventorAssist™ has direct access to more than 600 such USA companies, actively looking for new products. These companies include manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors, retailers, infomercial (TV) companies, home shopping and app companies.

InventorAssist works with established, reputable companies who respect the innovation process. We approach companies who have been verified by InventorAssist and are actively seeking new product ideas for license and / or distribution.

Yes. InventorAssist™ has selected more than 600 US corporate giants and global companies that are actively looking and searching for new ideas and new products. Our approach to these companies is not a cold approach where your idea may get lost or tied up in the internal processes of such huge companies. Many companies out there are not interested in new ideas or do not have the capacity or resources to develop and distribute new products. We follow a direct approach to the right people who are waiting for new ideas and can make a quick decision on the feasibility of your idea.

We will inform you immediately!

No. All interactions are between the company and InventorAssist™. Companies will ideally contact InventorAssist to ask questions or to discuss a possible deal. We will invariably revert back to you for your input, comments, directions and permission where needed. We cannot, however, allow multiple inventors contacting a foreign company without structure and experience in such matters. Such would be a recipe for disaster. The companies also want to interact and negotiate with people they know and trust. When negotiating a deal or contract, we will take no step without consulting with you and obtaining your permission. We will make sure that you get the help you need.

We engage reputable marketing agencies in the USA and upload your invention on an Invention Portfolio Dashboard from which your invention is submitted to US and /or global companies for a fee, which we pay our marketing agencies in US dollars. The Invention Portfolio Dashboard is the primary tool used for sharing your invention with companies looking for new inventions to license for royalties or for new products available for wholesale or acquisition. Every company in our network uses the Invention Portfolio Dashboard to evaluate inventions utilizing our proactive and targeted system for matching and presenting your invention to prospective companies.

We work with a large variety of companies in the USA (presently 617) that range from manufacturers to distributors. Our network includes companies in diverse product categories to ensure that we can cater to each product. Furthermore, we are continually adding new contacts to our network to bring ongoing opportunities for your invention.

We will share your invention with up to 15 companies that match your invention. The submissions will be consecutively and not all at one time, as experience has taught us that it is counterproductive to submit a new product to more than one company at the same time, as such huge companies are averse to competition. It is very, very expensive to launch a new product. No company will touch a new product if there is a possibility of competition. We limit our submissions to 15 companies, as we have to pay submission fees to our marketing agents in US dollars, which is expensive. That is the reason why we ask R 15 000 [$1200, £900, €1000] for the submissions; to defray our costs. If all 15 companies have said “no”, then it may be time for you to look at other ideas or to instruct us to proceed to the next 15 targeted companies on the same basis.

It is our policy not to release company names or contact information unless they are interested in your invention and it becomes necessary to do so. We believe we owe the companies that we work with these privacy considerations. Many of these companies choose to work with us because we provide them with an easy and risk-free means for accessing and viewing new product ideas. This allows them to comment more candidly on inventions if they need to do so. It also eliminates occurrences of some inventors using that list as their own personal “call list” to reach out to companies and possibly create confusion for the company, the inventor, and Inventor-Assist.

If and when a company’s interest elevates to a high level and we start discussing terms of an agreement, we will always release the company name so that the inventor can do some research and make sure that they want to enter into an agreement with that particular company.

We do not exhibit inventions at industry trade-shows or any trade-show for that matter. We strictly keep your invention confidential. If you would like your invention to be individually showcased, we recommend that you look into renting a booth at that particular trade show in order to present your product to companies in person.

No. We only market to companies that are based in the United States because we want to earn US dollars for our inventors.

We try to be responsive, but we process a lot of submissions. Our goal is to get back to everyone within 1-2 weeks. Every idea gets consideration, but depending on our workload, it could be anywhere between a few days and several weeks before you hear back. Please bear with us if we are taking longer than ideal.

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