Many inventors start with their ideas and prototypes from their home, but most of these same inventors are inexperienced in turning their simple ideas into profitable products.
There are a number of options available to inventors who want to sell their home inventions, but whichever option you choose the process can be challenging.
The first concern is obtaining legal protection for your invention idea. Rather than rushing into an expensive patent application, it may be a better option to protect your idea with a provisional patent, which grants you patent pending status for up to one year. We highly recommend this option for new inventors with ideas that are not fully developed or tested yet.
When considering the options for selling an invention, the home inventor will often face a choice between licensing their invention or manufacturing and selling it themselves. After you have filed a provisional patent and developed a working prototype, choosing between these two paths is the next major step towards monetizing your invention.
If you choose to manufacture and sell on your own, you must invest substantial funds in the process and you risk losing all of this investment if it doesn’t end up selling. All of the steps involved in marketing also involve a lot of cost and expertise.
Licensing is a better choice for many people, because a company will handle all of these details for you and pay you royalties as a percentage of sales. However, selling an invention yourself can be more profitable in the long run if you are very successful and have the capital to risk on your new venture.
