How to sell ideas?

[cklester]

How can I sell [an idea] in a "protected" way?

You can sell products and you can sell services. I'm not sure you can sell ideas.

Or maybe you can!

 

[Herbert32]

Ideas are almost worthless. It's the execution that matters.

before i readed the complete thread, I thought exactly this...

 

[MikeH]

...

All I have to do is tell the company what the ingredient is; but it's hard to do, protect an idea like this.

The company would say "Oh we already know but thank you for your interest in our company blah blah." even if they didn't

Then, they would either continue as they were, knowing the idea doesn't work for some reason you haven't discovered yet or they would use your idea and still claim they already knew.

Spoiler: Gruesome details of business practice

Business is cut throat. Big business, they cut your head off and keep it for themselves.

 

[Spavlyuk]

In Italy (but not only) there are many brands of pasta. Imagine if I had a special ingredient in mind that would make the above achievable.

How can the company know the promises are realistic? What happens if the idea fails for any reason? From insufficient marketing to the customers not being able to tell the difference. Who gets to pay the cost of raw materials, changes in production and marketing in that case?

To me it seems like there's a high risk involved for the company and next to no risk involved for the idea guy. To sell your idea, you'd need to convince them the risk is worth, probably by providing data, or doing study where people prefer your product by a large enough margin to give the company a dominant status in the market, or at least cover their expenses after a certain amount of time.

You should also make sure your idea does not suffer from personal biases. For example, if someone would say that everyone they know likes tea, therefore pasta tea would make the company billions, that would likely be a wrong assumption. Even if everyone in their circle would enjoy pasta tea, that doesn't necessarily apply to the general population.

If you believe you can convince a company to take on your idea, you should try to find a way to contact their product manager (if you haven't already) and if they're interested in hearing you out, you should get some lawyers involved to help you not get screwed by the company. The alternative would be pitching your idea to investors and creating your own company. This would likely mean more income for you but you'd need to get involved in most aspects of your new company.

I hope you don't perceive my comments as too negative, I'm mostly trying to provide feedback.

 

[aeric]

To sell your idea, you'd need to convince them the risk is worth, probably by providing data, or doing study where people prefer your product

That's why big companies willing to pay research companies like Nielsen, Ipsos and Kantar to do survey.

 

[LucaMs]

Thanks everyone for your comments.

Now that you have suggested that I should desist, I have decided that I will not ask for € 50,000. Not even € 20,000; not less than € 100,000 ?

 

[G-ShadoW]

If you have 'had' idea then you have also try to search if that exist and everything related to your idea... then you probably have used Google search engine to find everything related to your idea, right?
So now your idea is not more secret, google know your idea or any other search engine you have used ?

Maybe someone have already started implementing your idea like it have happen to Aeric ?

 

[73Challenger]

You could create an "official" business case/proposal document and submit that to some companies who have resources to execute. But ya, if it's a good and marketable idea, you'd need to be the market leader within a few months. Patent or no, other companies would pilfer the idea.

 

[amorosik]

The 'new ideas' are all already finished around 1970-1971
If you want, there are 'old ideas', 'recycled ideas', 'bad ideas' ???

Seriously, if it is an idea that can really make money, the safest way is to exploit it with your own business.
Alternatively, propose an association with existing business that allow the idea to be exploited, and share part of the increase in profits generated by the new idea

 

[netsistemas]

And if you share your idea selflessly? That is, who will benefit?
I know what I'm saying is naive, but if you record a video and share your idea, it may benefit people, not companies.
Excuse my stupidity, but I think all contributions are positive, even the most idiotic.

 

[Paolo Trevisiol]

Ciao LucaMs, perdonami se ti rispondo in italiano ... immagino da bandiera e nome che tu sia in grado di interpretarlo.
Dai una occhiata qui:

Umberto Cerqueti - Diritto D'Autore o Brevetto per il tuo software? Facciamo chiarezza. - Facile Fisco

Negli ultimi mesi, diversi nostri clienti hanno chiesto il nostro parere circa cosa sia meglio fare quando si ha la proprietà intellettuale di un software di propria produzione e lo si vuole tutelare dal punto di vista legale. Le vie sono essenzialmente e principalmente due, vale a dire il...

www.facilefisco.it

... alcuni stralci dal paragrafo "La situazione in Europa"
"[..] La Convenzione sul Brevetto Europeo (art. 52), così come il Codice della Proprietà Industriale italiano (art. 45), escludono la brevettabilità del software solo se considerato "in quanto tale” (“as such”) ma non in modo assoluto. [..] , un software, come qualsiasi altra invenzione, per essere brevettato deve avere un “carattere tecnico”. Deve quindi trattarsi di un software che si propone di risolvere un problema tecnico (ad esempio migliorare le prestazioni di frenata di un veicolo) ed offrire una soluzione che abbia elementi tecnici che consentono di ottenere un effetto tecnico (ad esempio l’ottimizzazione della frenata)."
"[..] Si è così stabilito che un software è brevettabile se ha carattere tecnico derivabile da un effetto tecnico ottenuto dal funzionamento del software che va oltre la normale semplice fisica interazione tra il software e la macchina (T1173/97). "
"[..] Si può brevettare ad esempio un programma che controlla e gestisce un forno in un impianto industriale, oppure un software che ottimizza la memoria interna di un computer."
"[..]Il brevetto consente di tutelare le funzioni del software indipendentemente dal codice in cui è scritto e quindi garantisce una protezione maggiore rispetto al diritto d’autore."
... magari questo somiglia a quanto cercavi ...
Ciao!

 

[LucaMs]

Ciao LucaMs, perdonami se ti rispondo in italiano ... immagino da bandiera e nome che tu sia in grado di interpretarlo.

Semmai dovresti scusarti con gli altri, visto che questo non è il forum italiano

Dai una occhiata qui:

Non si tratta di "roba" sw. In effetti questo thread è parecchio fuori tema (del sito); è un'idea circa un ingrediente in un alimento.

Grazie comunque per la tua risposta.

 

[M.LAZ]

I want to advice you..

- Don't type any words related to your idea or google it in search engines.
- Don't say anything related to your idea, especially when your phone is next to you.
- just keep it in your mind.

 

[udg]

just keep it in your mind.

That reminds me of a lesson (about "secret") I teached to my son when it was 3yo.
He came to me telling "do you want to know a secret?"
My reply was:
"Yes, but before you tell it to me, keep in mind that a secret is something that only you know. When it's shared among two persons, even between you and me, it's no longer a secret. It is a strictly confidential information."
At that time he revealed the "secret". Nowadays he's more like me.. a secret is a secret.

Sorry to be OT @LucaMs . I agree with who adviced you not to use your secret as a search term if you want to keep it secret. Have luck with it.

 

[LucaMs]

Sorry to be OT @LucaMs

This thread is OT, as it's not about B4X development, so I have to apologize.

I agree with who adviced you not to use your secret as a search term if you want to keep it secret.

I'm so unsure of what's going on on the Internet that I thought that too and didn't search


"Can you keep a secret?"
"Yup".
"Me too"
End.

?