If I invent something and only want to sell the concept what is the cheapest, simplest route?
I don’t want to patent the product or manufacture it or market it - I’m too old and frail to bother. I would just like to get some money for it to give to the spouse. It is a “green” product, there is a fad for this sort of thing these days and there are probably 200 ways to skirt a patent were I to get one - so haste is probably indicated.
Ideas are a dime a dozen, in general, and no company is going to want to buy an idea if the inventor doesn’t even think it’s worth filing a patent on.
Without more specifics about your invention, there is no way anyone will be able to provide you with useful advice. All of the companies that offer to help you sell/market your invention are at best ineffective, and at worst, scams. And some industries are easier to sell into than others. You need to provide more information, without disclosing anything specific about what your invention is (for instance, what are some similar products/technologies already on the market - what is your invention replacing/improving?)
Frankly, your idea will have to be really fucking fantastic for you to have any hope of walking into a company (even with a patent) and getting them to agree to buy it from you. That’s just not how most companies operate. I’m not saying it’s impossible, but…highly unlikely.
The main way to do that is to find an investor (aka sucker) and convince them to buy the idea from you with more details revealed as the money flows. That really would work on some people but setting that up takes some work as well. Absolute is right though, ideas by themselves without a fully developed business plan are practically worthless even if they are sound. Ideas are easy and most companies have a surplus of them already. It is developing the product for sale, developing the supply chain for it, marketing it, and selling it successfully that is hard. That costs real money and has big risk no matter how good the idea is.
I won’t say this has never happened before, but the likelihood that you will find someone to pay you a significant sum for an idea is very low. What have you done to develop this idea? Have you written a description, or is it still just a concept you could describe on an elevator ride?
It might be a good idea, but the only person who is going to make any money off of it is the person who does the work to develop it, protect it and promote it. It doesn’t sound like that is you.
Not a lawyer, but FWIW I do know that the policy of one company I used to work for (which designed, manufactured and sold a certain type of consumer product) was to flat out refuse to even look at unsolicited ideas from the general public (to avoid a potential lawsuit from someone claiming they “stole their idea” if they happened to be working on something similar in parallel.)
Find someone who may do something with your idea, and give it to them. Sign a document that turns over all rights. If they turn it into something, and you’re lucky, you might get something back.
You’re over valuing them. Ideas are worthless. People don’t like to hear that, but it’s a fact.
Three things have value.
[ol]
[li]Assets – ie, if you have produced a bunch of widgets for someone else to sell. [*]Revenue – eg, a functioning business that has demonstrated a model to sell your product. [/li][li]Patents – a legal protection that restricts a certain area of the marketplace for you.[/li][/ol]
Turn your idea into one of those, then you have something. Otherwise what you have is nothing.