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What if you had a billion dollar product?

by nickdamodda
14 replies
What if you had the next billion dollar pill idea in mind, but had no contacts, no money to fund the creation of it, and no papers saying you own it(because it isn't a physical item yet). My friend and I were having a chat about what to do. What would you do?
#billion #dollar #product
  • Profile picture of the author ryanman
    If your idea was that strong that it could produce a billion dollars then I don't think it would be that difficult for you to get investors. In fact! Big companies would be lining up to invest for you.
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    • Profile picture of the author nickdamodda
      Originally Posted by ryanman View Post

      If your idea was that strong that it could produce a billion dollars then I don't think it would be that difficult for you to get investors. In fact! Big companies would be lining up to invest for you.
      But if I didn't have a patent on it, what would keep them from running and keeping all of the profit?
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      • Profile picture of the author Joseph Robinson
        Banned
        Originally Posted by nickdamodda View Post

        But if I didn't have a patent on it, what would keep them from running and keeping all of the profit?
        You get the patent first, find investors second.
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    • Profile picture of the author Bill Farnham
      Originally Posted by ryanman View Post

      If your idea was that strong that it could produce a billion dollars then I don't think it would be that difficult for you to get investors. In fact! Big companies would be lining up to invest for you.
      Close, but the reality is more along the lines of "Big companies would be lining up to make sure your idea won't cost them money or marketshare."

      If the population had any idea of how many cool things are just being sandboxed so large corporations can maintain the status quo they would be amazed. As someone who spent many years in product development I know this to be fact.

      ~Bill
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      • Profile picture of the author How Do U Do
        Hi Bill,

        First post here. I'm interested in how the game is played. Would big companies just buy you out, or try to kill your idea with some bs overly broad patent infringement claim? How do companies protect their marketshare? I'm sure the majority of them would go through the lowest of lows.

        I'd think that most people would say a patent would protect you, but the reality is that it cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to defend it. So, I'd assume they would hit you with an overly broad bs patent infringement claim, and you would have no choice but to fold, or settle to their ridiculous demands.

        So, how do you play with the big boys? Any thoughts are appreciated.

        Thanks,

        Tom
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        • Profile picture of the author Bill Farnham
          Originally Posted by How Do U Do View Post

          Hi Bill,

          First post here. I'm interested in how the game is played. Would big companies just buy you out, or try to kill your idea with some bs overly broad patent infringement claim? How do companies protect their marketshare? I'm sure the majority of them would go through the lowest of lows.
          Hi Tom,

          First off, welcome to the rabbit hole...

          The easy answer is "All of the above".

          When big money is on the line all the gloves come off. It's fun to read stories about people starting in their garage and ending up with Fortune 500 companies. Does it happen? It sure does, but many more folks win the Lottery than take that path to riches.

          Btw, I worked with a group of 5 other people who took an idea from the garage and we raised $18 million on NASDAQ in our IPO. The syndicate that put the deal together took $3 miliion dollars right off the top for their cut. I can't even imagine the money that changes hands in a $100 billion IPO. That's a sweet 20% right there...

          And if you have a suspicion greed rules the day you'd be correct. But many times it's strictly a matter of market survival. And the flip side of that coin is companies who buy up Patents for the sole purpose of parking them because using the technology would do nothing more than scavage their current business. Robbing Peter to pay Paul never creates more profit.

          If a new product line is only going to kill your old product line you need to seriously weigh the future benefits. In a world where "the next quarter's results" outweigh the benfits to society, the stock price over the next three months usually has a disproportional influence on the outcome.

          And then there is the desire to keep products/technologies out of the hands of the competition. If company 'XYZ' can buy up Patents to keep other companies from gaining an edge in the marketplace, the investment in sequestering that product or technology will be weighted on an almost one to one basis.

          As a small example, a buddy of mine Patented a new method of 'wave soldering' used in the mfg of electronic assemblies. He licensed the technonlogy to a company for $100K a year back when $100K a year actually meant something. After a few years, and knowing the company simply was parking the technology, he was offered a much larger sum if he could regain control of the technology.

          When he approached the company licensing his technology about releasing them from the contract he was told it would take a study that would probably exceed a half a million dollars just to determine what would happen to their current lines should another competitor actually use the technology. They were more than happy to pay to keep the technology out of the market.

          I'd think that most people would say a patent would protect you, but the reality is that it cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to defend it. So, I'd assume they would hit you with an overly broad bs patent infringement claim, and you would have no choice but to fold, or settle to their ridiculous demands.

          So, how do you play with the big boys? Any thoughts are appreciated.
          What you described is one of the pitfalls of the game. However, a company that loses a preditory lawsuit can find themselves in an even deeper money pit than they bargined for. One thing to remember is that the dollars involved has to be of such a substantial number that it actually smells like blood to the players. Rarely will you see a company go after a little guy because it's generally easier to simply license the Patent and gain the rights that go with it.

          However, as our rule of law is breaking down more companies are using the fist over the handshake as a way to do business.

          And one other thing to note about Patents...they are only as good as your pockets are deep. Just because you have a Patent is no guarantee others will honor it. The idea behind the Patent law is that you enter into a partnership with the government. You bring your ideas, they bring the guns. A Patent is a grant of monopoly for a specified timeframe regarding very specific Claims (Claims is the legal term for WHAT your invention does) so that you are able to reap the rewards of your inginuity while the government provides the structure for the monopoly.

          Again, as the rule of law is slowly evaporating it's becoming more about influence and money than it is about right and wrong regarding technologies and who is in the rightful position to reap the rewards. Money is still money, afterall, and human nature is still survival of the fittest. Think of 'the golden rule'...he who has the gold rules. I mention this not to stir up rankor, but rather to frame the overall trending that is happening regarding ownership of technologies.

          It's important to realize that the written words that are used in the Description and Claims of a Patent, are ambiguous at best and often open to interpretation if even one word is out of place. Therefore you can have a Patent Atty construct a Patent that is granted by the Examiner only to have it challenged at great cost. Luckily, the USPTO is trying to address some of the short comings of the system and going from a "first to invent" to a "first inventor to file" will help things, I believe. The EU uses a "first to file" system, btw.

          Good Lord, I'm writing a book...:p

          HTH,

          ~Bill
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  • Profile picture of the author Ken Somerville
    Damn you ask the hard questions. lol

    You would need to get an International pat. pending on it. With the pat. penting, you can strecth the length of time that no one else can make the product.

    Then you would need to create the physical product, to make damn sure it works the way you think it will, and then get the pat. for that. You are get an intlecual pat above. Sorry for the spelling. lol,, I never could spell worth a damn.

    Any way, once you have all the patents, in place, you need to look at producing the product, shipping etc. Once you have all the figured out. you need to look at marketing you product to the world.

    That is the big one, as you can have the best product, but if no one knows about it, you make no money. But that is what I would look at for your steps.

    Hope this helps.

    Your Friend in Internet Marketing
    Ken Somerville
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  • Profile picture of the author theory expert
    Banned
    You need Patent pending. Now pound the pavement and get a loan to afford the patent pending. Good luck.
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  • Profile picture of the author dvduval
    You'll need funding, but first you'll need to have everything lined up. If you look at a site like Silicon Tap, you can see examples of other companies that are earning small amounts of funding (mostly between $2 million and $50 million). As others said, you need to get the patents lined up, and a clear blueprint that can be presented to investors.
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael Ten
    I guess that I might write about it in hopes that my idea becomes popular and I find a way to earn money from it. Lolol. Great question!
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  • Profile picture of the author mbarty2010
    Approach Venture Capitalists like Khosla Ventures, Sequio cap, Accel, Y-Combinator etc. All these VCs have websites where you can submit your idea.
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    • Profile picture of the author Global Warrior
      The other side of getting a pat is that as soon as you apply for it, it becomes public knowledge.....you have just told the world the most intricate details about your invention. From what I understand, at that point a Multi national can build your product, improve it...... Because they have the cash to and then pat a "new" product.

      That's why the language of patents is such that if you are a company like GE for example, you hire a team of pat lawyers to pick apart any pat the company is interested in.

      Imagine if you discovered perpetual motion. The meaning of the words you use to describe the process, can be changed just by punctuation. Pats allow the big guys to fight against each other for infringement, but....... And this is just a gut feeling on my part...." if you invented perpetual motion in a shed and you tried to patent it, you probably won't make much money out of it as it would be stolen from you and you wouldn't have the money to fight against the theft.

      Clearly I'm not that knowledgeable on pats but a friend of mine is and from the conversations I've had with him, the above is the extent of my knowledge....... Not much I know but possibly something to ponder?

      All the best

      GW
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  • Profile picture of the author How Do U Do
    Thanks all. Especially Bill, very knowledgeable and interesting take.

    Much appreciated.

    Tom
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  • Profile picture of the author CDarklock
    Originally Posted by nickdamodda View Post

    What if you were smoking weed and said "what if there was a pill that made your dick bigger?" and your friend said "man, you'd make a billion dollars with that." What would you do?
    Fixed that for you.

    Every jackhole thinks his idea is worth a billion dollars. That doesn't mean squat. By the time you have any reasonable justification for thinking this, you've got all the things you mention and more.
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