I have a revolutionary new technology that’s worth a significant amount of money. I was born poor, however, and it’ll take years to come up with enough money for a patent. I know there must be people with money who want to use it to make more money; how does one get in contact with these people?
I’ve done that.
Step one: develop at least some sort of prototype of the technology.
Step two: If you’re not connected to any rich guys call your start office of Economic Development. They’ll have access to either programs that have money or networks that make Angel Investments.
Step three: begin filling out paperwork and making short presentations until someone bites.
There is a vast chasm between a good idea and rolling in the profits from it.
If it is a patentable idea, you might consider getting the patent atty first and protecting the idea.
The usual models for cash are to find Angel investors or Venture Capital money. Once the idea is making money then you can keep the initial model, or sell the whole shebang outright, or take the new company public.
An Angel is someone who uses their private funds. Could be your rich Aunt or your neighbor. Normally you’d have a corporation set up (not expensive to do) so that there is a formal agreement. Finding Angels boils down to networking and luck.
VCs do this for a living. If it’s a really good idea, they will bite even if you are Joe Schmoe. Because they are in it for a living, and because they are pros, your chances of getting a good deal for you personally are less. I would say there are idea guys out there who feel like the VCs screwed 'em over…however I’ve met a number of VC firm principals, and they seemed like nice guys. 
There are lots of companies whose business model is to take your idea as the Inventor and get you rich. I’m not overly impressed with those types of firms; they all seem amateurish to me. Perhaps someone else can help you there. Technically these are a subset of VC firm, I guess, but with much less capital in the bank. Plus they usually want money from you upfront, beginning with money for the patent searches.
You say you have a revolutionary new technology, but it seems likely that if you can’t afford to file a patent you can’t afford a technology either. What you probably mean is that you have an idea for a revolutionary new technology.
That’s worth much less to almost everybody.
Before you can impress anyone, you need to develop your work to the greatest possible extent. If you can find a way to produce a working prototype you should start there. If even that is too expensive, you need to create an information package that would demonstrate why your technology would work, how it works, how it would be economical to build, how it would scale up to commercial or industrial use and all the rest of the necessary information. Confirmation of the engineering or science behind your technology would be helpful. Most revolutionary new technologies are simply delusions by people who don’t understand the science.
Anyone with real money to spend has been burned by people with ideas. They will want something tangible to study.
The state office of economic development is a useful suggestion. There are local offices as well. Many cities have some non-profit organization that works with local businesses. Local colleges are good resources for expertise and money. They can also help you do a literature search to prove that what you have is really new and not something that has been tried and failed in the past.
It’s a very tough business and will require enormous amounts of work. You need to understand what you are getting yourself into. Many people fail at this stage, so that’s no disgrace. While secrecy is understandable for this board, remember that eventually you will have to reveal some basics or nobody will take you seriously. And getting people to take you seriously is everything.
I already have working models of my idea, and part of the reason I can’t afford a patent is because I put my money into the technology instead, per the advice of the former VP of IBM, who was kind enough to give me a half hour of his valuable time. Since then, I believe things have changed, as I understand very few companies will sign a nondisclosure agreement… in fact most make you sign a document stating all responsibility of patent protection lies on the inventor’s shoulders - therefore I really, really need a patent.
I have quite a few years of experience in the related field, and I’m quite sure no one has thought of this before. I have a firm grip on the underlying technology, and with capital I could build full-scale working models. I’m not a kook, and this is no free-energy device. I’m confident I can explain the idea thoroughly to any potential investors.
I realize that with my financial position someone else is going to take the lion’s share of the profits, but with estimated sales in the hundreds of millions, even a small percentage will be enough. I also have other inventions, just none as valuable as this one.
I guess what I’m looking for are venture capitalists; I just need to know where to find them.
How did you get that estimate? A good answer is “I hired people to do market research”. A bad answer is " I just guessed."
A potential investor will want numbers that withstand scrutiny, not ones you just made up.
Don’t go to the “patent experts” that run infomercials. They bleed anyone dry. They know they will get no cut of the manufacuring because your invention will never be sold. But it will be “presented” many times, as they pull money out of you for more prototype work and false promises.
This scam is like the false hope of vanity presss publishers, but a lot more expensive.
What field is your invention relevant to? Where are you?
I work at a technology startup, do consulting for other startups, and have friends at even more startups. I, and my friends, work in the field of optics: optical storage, optical processing, lasers, polarization control, etc… The reason I am asking where you are and what field you are working in is I may be able to hook you up with people that are doing what you have done and can help you get started. Hell, if you are working in optics, I may even invest (I would sign a NDA, I even have a good boilerplate one that I use when I consult). If your idea is truly good and revolutionary (incremental improvements are usually not worth the investment in most cases, better try to sell the idea to a company in these cases), it should not be too hard to get an angel involved and get the ball rolling.
Finally, I agree that you should avoid companies that help inventors patent their inventions. From all I have heard, these places are scams.
Good luck.
I have no experience, but I can add an anecedote:
I once worked with a construction outfit which hired an independent, freelancer engineering expert. He had published textbooks on his specialty and patented a couple ideas (for tools for construction workers), and tried to patent others.
He said that he had a problem with people stealing his ideas,while he was in the process of getting a patent on them,(using the documents he made public to “invent” the same thing, with a very minor difference) .
So to prove “first ownership”, he wrote a full technical description and made a working model of each new idea, and then mailed them to himself by registered mail. He said that keeping the packgage with the post mark intact was important for legal proof of ownership, if someone challenges you.
It seemed weird to me…
but I ain’t got no experience in this stuff, so maybe it’s good advice.
There are no “invention police”. A patent is only as good as the lawyers you can afford to pay to enforce it…and if an invention isn’t worth stealing then it is probably not worth patenting.
Might be of no use to you but in the United Kingdom there is a television programme called Dragon’s Den. One turns up and pitches one’s idea for venture capitalists and for the cameras. If they think you’re onto something they’ll give you some $$$.
No, it’s terrible advice.
This is usually an anecdote that refers to proving that somebody is the original writer of an idea, so the notion is normally called “poor man’s copyright.” But I’ve also seen it referring to patents, as a “poor man’s patent.”
It’s hooey. Nobody has ever found a single court case that has accepted this sort of evidence of priority and given it legal credence.
Don’t do it. Don’t put in the time and effort or the money to waste on postage. It’s meaningless at best and at worst will give you a false sense of security.
I assume you are looking for a more robust VC list than this: List of venture capital firms - Wikipedia ?
Like everything else, there are people who help you find VCs for a fee:
http://www.vfinance.com/home.asp?ToolPage=venca.asp
What about resources such as listed here?:
http://www.businessplans.org/topicD2.html
What I can do in 15 seconds you can surely do better with so much more at stake.
Tip me off to the IPO early if she takes off. Best.
It would help if you gave us a general idea of what your invention is.
Thanks, Chief…I guess I’m just not as good as others at sifting through all the nonsense on the net to get to the good stuff…either that, or I’m using the wrong search engine. I’m wary of posting any details, even about the relevant field. The groundwork is all done, however.
I did indeed pluck that estimate straight from the shadowy depths of my behind, but I don’t think it’s far from the mark.
I got a call back from a group earlier, but they are mainly interested in green technologies. I’ve got a lot to work with from those links however, and I’m sure it will help get the ball rolling. Thanks again. When things do look like they’re picking up, I’ll drop by & give the Dopers firsthand notice. 