Fast Track
(Getting your invention to make money FAST)

     InventionMakers^tm has a program that is probably one of the Least expensive and Highest profit potential for your invention of any method we know of.  We call it the FAST TRACK program and it can get your invention to market quickly, while at the same time doing it relatively inexpensive compared to traditional patenting and licensing methods.  However, it is more difficult to make it through the FAST TRACK program because of competition and stringent requirements.  If your invention does make it this Fast Track obstacle course, the rewards can be large. 

STEP 1 -  Record your invention
Start by keeping a journal of your notes, ideas, inventions and experiments in a bound and numbered book.  After each entry, have a witness sign and date each page.  The witness should understand what he is witnessing to do you much good legally.  One can also document their invention through the US Patent Office with their Document Disclosure Program.  If you want us to file these papers for you check our price list.

STEP 2 -  Have  InventionMakers^tm evaluate your invention.
This step can save you both time and money.  InventionMakers^tm  will perform a marketability evaluation for your invention at very low cost (see InventionMakers^tm Evaluation in the price list).
Approximately 20% of inventions evaluated by InventionMakers^tm are recommended to continue to STEP 3 of the FAST TRACK program. This small investment in the evaluation gives you a report that will identify the invention's potential advantages and problems.  Many of the potential pitfalls of products will be identified relating to your invention, and any fatal problems will be pointed out.  Please note that this is not a market study, this  evaluation is a critical look at the inventions potential, and how it rates according to many criteria for successful inventions. 

  While we reject  approximately 80% of inventions this does not mean such inventions have no merit or that they could not be successfully marketed, it only means that from our evaluation, and our known paths to market, these products would have a very difficult time making a profit (in our opinion).  A rejection at this stage is probably a good sign to start designing a new invention, but one must always remember that the customer is the one that ultimately decides whether an invention will make it in the market.

STEP 3 -  Do a Patent Search
Do a Patent Search to find out if it has already been done. You can do this yourself using the links in our Web Links section , or we can do a standard patent search (see Price List) for you.  If you do the patent search you should provide us with the patents you find that are similar. (Note most inventions will require the Extensive Patent Search to be thorough.)

STEP 4 -  Co-Inventing
InventionMakers^tm   while they evaluate an invention (STEP 3) will also consider important improvements that can be made. We call this Co-Inventing and it helps to improve the final patentable invention.  Often the decision to proceed or not proceed to the next step depends on these improvements that are made. (FREE)

STEP 5 -  Third party evaluation 
After we see that there is potential for this invention we recommend that a nationally known evaluation company, who's name I can not use here because of their work with national inventors groups.  This second evaluation is slightly more expensive than the one InventionMakers^tm does but can also identify other reasons why not to pursue the invention.  This can be money well spent as it can uncover additional fatal flaws in the product that can keep it from being successfully marketed.
      This is more than just a second opinion. These people can actually save you thousands of dollars by identifying potential problems before going further.  Also a positive evaluation at this step is very good and can provide leads to manufactures and investors that may be interested in manufacturing the invention. Our third party evaluators have connections to both major retail chains and manufactures.  This evaluation goes a long way toward getting the right people interested in your invention. Only about 25% of those reaching this level get a favorable review to continue with the FAST TRACK program.

STEP 6 -  Build Prototype (Optional)
The building of a prototype improves the chances of a good review in STEP 8 as well as the remaining steps.  The more details of a design one can work out before hand the better.  If too much is left to the imaginations of the reviewer the greater the chance they can imagine it won't sell.  InventionMakers^tm can help build this prototype.  (Costs very greatly)

STEP 7 -  Provisional Patent Application (Optional)
At this point it may be advisable to file a provisional patent.  This is a scaled down version of a patent, but still offers a "patent pending" status.  There are some business advantages to this type of patent as it gives us 1 year to find a buyer before an actual Utility patent must be filed.  Having a patent pending also assists in getting a better evaluation from the WIN Group discussed in the next Step 8.

STEP 8 -  Third Evaluation (Nationally recognized)
  Entering the mass market such as Home Depot, Wal Mart, Sam's, Target, Eckerd's, etc. is a difficult task at best.  The competition is strong, and the excepted paths to enter these markets are narrow. However, by working with advisors to these large markets we can have professional evaluations done on the marketability of your invention for very low cost, with an almost immediate market for your product if the reviews are very favorable.  These people not only evaluate the product, but they have partners with money available for capitalization on products they recommend.  This evaluation represents one of the least expensive way to bring your invention to market for an inventor. If they like the invention or idea, they will often take it all the way to market without the inventor investing any time or money.  The cost for this service is small compared to the chance to place your product in the mass market arena.  Less than 5% of inventions reviewed by InventionMakers are recommended for this Third Evaluation.  

STEP 9 -  Options
  Even if the invention does not pass this final evaluation we will sometimes take the invention on anyway.  If we feel there are potential ways to licensing or market the invention we will pursue these additional avenues in spite of the "official" evaluation.