Can you sell an idea without a patent or prototype?

[Johnrupe]

I have an idea for a cellphone accesory.Electronic in nature. I do not know how to make it,and have little funding to have someone make it.I have had rave reviews from friends and family. It would be simple to make that is familiar with electronics.All I can say is it would match bluetooth in sales. Thanks, John.

[akula]

no, "ideas" are not a kind of right or property and therefore cannot be traded
in your case, you need to reconfigure your thinking
no one cares about ideas
what people care about are opportunities
what problem is this accessory solving?

[Johnrupe]

Lets you know when someone calls you without having your phone or have your phone off . Like at school ,work,court,driving.

[akula]

yea..non existent problem definition
what problem is the gadget solving and why do things like voicemail haven't solved that problem?
why do people need another solution for missed call notification?

[Johnrupe]

Well it would not be wise for me to describe the item in detail here.That would make someone else the entrepreneur.

[akula]

yea..so, your case is problematic.
the good news is, your problems are common and generic to nascent founders.
they are easily fixable.

The issues:

1. you can't describe what problem the invention is solving and why that problem is not solved sufficiently at the moment by other solutions
2. if the problem is not quantifiable or otherwise important enough, there may not be a need for the solution and therefore there is no opportunity
3. the key factor for the viability of a transaction (either an investment or a trade sale) is the quality of people pushing the deal
what your feedback is showing is entry level paranoia, typically exhibited by people who are not quite sure how commercialisation works, or what the value of secrecy is.

overall, again, if you want this to move forward, you need to do this:

1. formulate what problem your solution is solving;
e.g. Between 2010-2015, there were 10million calls placed to emergency services in United states.
The problem is that emergency services had great difficulty in adequately responding to 20% of the calls because they could not identify the caller, or the location of the call. This problem may have caused lives to be lost, or crimes to have gone unpunished. The problem continues to be an issue because of privacy laws.
Our privacy law compliant solution helps emergency services to compile comprehensive profiles on their inbound calls, with the purpose of improving emergency services response times by 50%.
(that's just a hypothetical)

2. Once you've formulated the problem, then you go around to your target market and ask them questions about the problem and your solution.
E.g. How many calls do get per year? What % of the calls require a response? How do you respond? What are your response times? What determines your response times? Do you measure your response times? How do you improve response times? What solutions are you using to improve response times? Are you looking for new solutions?

3. Once you have completed written survey results from people who think your identified problem is important enough, and that they are looking for new solutions to that problem, then you have an opportunity on your hands.

4. Once you have the survey results, you can leverage those results in order to get credit, sell your solution, collected revenues, reinvest profits and have an operating company on your hands. You'd then be possibly able to sell equity in that business to someone else and achieve an exit that way.

Keep in mind. All this secrecy nonsense in your mind, is bullshit. You're gonna have to start telling people (i.e. customers) about your solution sooner or later. Take my word for it because I know what I'm talking about, cut this "Well it would not be wise for me to describe the item in detail here."
When your stakeholders hear this sort of thing, they are gonna assume that you're a tool, smile, and tell you to have a nice day. Be smart, be effective. Follow the steps I've outlined.

Do you understand what I'm saying?

[JackFromTexas]

Sure you can sell an ORIGINAL idea. Write it out on a piece of paper, then label it "Confidential Trade Secret".

The hard part is finding a buyer... No one, except an extremely naive person, would buy an idea like this from you. When you are dealing with an invention -- you really need a patent. No savy person is going to buy an idea, because: (1) what assurances does he/she have that there isn't a patent for this idea already, and (2) what assurances does he/she have that you haven't sold the same idea to 100 other gullible people?

A patent, on the other hand, really means something and can be extremely valuable. But, it will cost you $15,000 or more to get there, plus the cost of designing and engineering the prototype.

Before you spend any more time on this idea, do a patent search to make sure it hasn't already been invented and patented. If you sell an idea that already has a patent or patent application, you could get sued by both the buyer and the patent holder.

[sapo916]

Already doesn't feel like it would be comparable to Bluetooth headsets.

[Johnrupe]

Well thank you all for your advise.Luckily I have found they are currently developing my idea allready,before iIinvested any money or time into it.Their design is called the orb ring.It is a ring that lights and vibrates when you recieve a call .It scrolls texts .Their model also twists , unlatches to turn into bluetooth.Back to the drawing board.

[akula]

may not be wise to quit so easily
...statistically speaking, these competitors are unlikely to succeed

for all intensive purposes, with inventions, competition does not matter because there's enough room for everybody
competition is not a sufficient reason to quit
in fact, the availability of competition is usually the most favorable reason for entering a market
it's the lack of competition which is usually the best reason for quitting on an opportunity

[Johnrupe]

They are already marketing the product,and have taken the product to Vegas trade show.Surely they have patented the product already.

[akula]

hmmm...no..none of this matters
there is a 90% chance that these guys will not exist within 24 months
and if they do exist, that's a real positive for you
it means there is a market for your widget

like I said, competition does not matter
the correct way to make commercialisation work is to imagine that you are the only person in the world doing what ever you are doing

IP infringement is also not an issue...for a lot of reasons

the only things you need to worry about is to follow the steps that I have outlined
the only reason reason which is sufficient for you to quit the venture is if you are unable to get surveys filled..or if you've simply lost heart and don't find this opportunity stimulating anymore

[Johnrupe]

If they hold the patent,wouldnt I have to liscence it from them,or face lawsuit?

[akula]

no..

a) even if there is a valid patent (which might not be, or it may be defective),
b) it does not mean that your actions, what ever they are, constitute infringement,
c) or that your competitor is likely to try and enforce their patent (because they are most likely to be long out of business before you get anything to market)

again, competition does not matter
what matters is your ability to find customers
the only reason reason which is sufficient for you to quit the venture is if you are unable to get surveys filled

anyways...i've had a look at hybratech.com
i wouldn't worry about IP infringement
the way these things go, chances are that he guys at this firm saw this invention else where, replicated it and have no intention of registering any IP

[Johnrupe]

Your absolutely right.Thanks for the tips.