How to Work With Invention Help Companies
It is difficult to bring an invention idea to market. Even for the highly experienced, succeeding with an invention is hard. That’s why invention help companies exist. However, it is very important that you first learn how to work with invention help companies before you even contact them.
Unfortunately, the business models of a lot of these companies are seemingly designed to take advantage of inventors inexperience.
In this article, we go over how not to get taken advantage of by the companies you might hire to help you with your invention. And, how to leverage them to increase your chance of success.
What is an Invention help company?
An Invention help company is any company that charges inventors money to help them with one or many steps in the inventing process.
This is actually a significantly different definition than most give it because the traditional definition is wrong. And as a result, inventors don’t seek the help they need because they are afraid of getting taken advantage of or wasting money. This simple miss definition is actually the reason many inventors fail. Because going it alone, is a difficult way to navigate an already extremely difficult process.
The difference between the traditional definition and our definition is that we purposefully include any company that offers any services to inventors for a fee. Not just the traditional invention submission type companies. More accurately, we are defining invention “Service Providers”.
With this definition in mind, invention Service Providers fall into four main categories.
- One-Stop-Shop
- One-Step-Shop
- Multi-Step-Shop
- Consultants
Now let’s take a look at what each of these mean.
One-Stop-Shop:
Companies who help you with most steps in the process. These are often called “Invention Submission Companies” such as InventHelp, Davison, MarsRising, and many more.
One-Step-Shop:
Companies who help you with one step in the process. Though they may offer services for multiple steps, those steps are usually still within the same professional discipline.
These might be Patent Attorney’s, Prototype Builders, Industrial Designers, etc. A Prototype Builder might also offer Industrial Design, but the technical discipline and expertise is very similar with a lot of overlap.
Multi-Step-Shop:
Companies who are a cross between One-Step-Shops and One-Stop-Shops. They may focus on one particular corner of their respective industry or professional discipline, but they also offer services in a completely different professional discipline.
This might be an Industrial Designer that also offers Patenting services. Sometimes they perform the different steps in house, other times they sub-contract different steps.
Consultants:
Companies or individuals who don’t actually do the work, but instead consult you on the subject. They may teach you how to do it yourself, or who to hire for help.
There could be consultants in any niche field in the inventing process, but we primarily mean Invention Consultants/ Coaches, and Licensing Consultants/ coaches. This could also include Courses or Seminars or even Podcasts and Videos.
How to avoid getting scammed by an invention help company
The most important thing to do before you consider hiring an Invention Help Company, is learn how to avoid getting scammed by an invention help company.
Learn the process:
The absolute best thing you can do is to first get a good idea of how the idea-to-market process actually works. What steps are in this process and when you should tackle each. And perhaps more important, in what order.
A huge reason why so many first time inventor’s get taken advantage of is because they don’t already know the process. Or, they have in inaccurate perception of what best practices are. If you don’t know the process, its much easier for someone to give you bad advice. Advice that is best for them instead of what is best for you. And yes, this does happen, a lot.
The best way to learn the process is to first understand who’s advice to listen too, and who’s advice not to. And then, we strongly encourage you to hire an Invention Consultant. Even if just to talk for an hour. It might be the smartest move you ever made in regards to your invention.
Know your capability:
Another important point is that the idea-to-market process for first time inventors is almost always much different than for a large company. One size does not fit all.
Don’t let them tell you that doing it one way is right because that is what Apple does. Apple has a budget larger than the GDP of some eastern European countries. They also have the top professionals in the world to assure a smooth process. You likely don’t have that, so should tackle the idea-to-market process accordingly.
That usually means taking a much leaner approach where you try hard to save money at each step. You likely will run out of money at some point before you have revenue coming in. The best thing you can do is try to get as far as you can with the money you do have. And to make sure the money you spend is on things you actually need.
One-Stop-Shop Invention Help Companies are notorious for directing inventors away from best practices. Because you following best practices doesn’t make them as much money.
Avoid getting up sold:
Companies exist to make a profit. There is nothing wrong with that. But that often causes companies to steer Inventor’s in a certain direction or suggest services that you don’t necessarily need.
If for example you hire a Design company to design your invention and they suggest you also hire them to get a patent, you might want to think about that for a little bit. It is in their best interest that you hire them to get a patent, but it might not be in your best interest.
Though they might make a strong case, and indeed they might be right. The best way to avoid learning the hard way if they are right or not, is to arrive at that conclusion on your own.
Only ever pay for services that you know you need because you know the process and are following it. Not because someone you are paying told you that you need the service. One way to help yourself with this is to just set a policy that you only hire one service per service provider. If your Designer tells you that you need a patent, confirm externally if you actually do or not. If so, hire a patent attorney to do that work, not a Design firm.
Regardless if you are sure you actually need the up sell services they suggest, you can still hire them for it. Just make sure you understand the above very well, and are confident they are the best people to perform the extra service they suggested.
Invention Consultants We Recommend
Which Invention Help Company should you work with?
It’s not always clear which invention help company should you work with. Reading this article is a great first step, but what else can you do?
Here are some other tips that can help make sure you chose the right company.
Referrals:
If one service provider refers another, there is a good chance they either get some kind of commission or benefit in some way. That is not always the case though. Regardless, that doesn’t necessarily mean you shouldn’t consider the referral. The referring service provider is still putting their reputation on the line by referring them. People don’t often want to refer an unethical or dishonest company. “Someone” saying the company is good, is often better than “No one” saying the company is good.
You can also pay attention to referrals from other inventors. Be careful though, just because another person has liked the service they got, doesn’t mean they weren’t taken advantage of. You have to be very careful with who you take a referral from and understand them individually.
Reviews:
You should never take a referral blindly. Be sure to still do your due diligence. Search reviews online, check them on Better Business Bureau (BBB), Yelp, D&B, etc.
But a caveat to that is to understand that a lot of the reason inventor’s give these companies bad reviews is because the inventor themselves were wrong. It’s no secret that trying to become an inventor, attracts the type of people who have unrealistic expectations of the industry. Or worse yet, unrealistic perceptions of their own idea.
Unfortunately, a lot of bad reviews for invention help companies are by people who simply had bad ideas, or were just too hard to professionally work with. Your job as someone looking at an invention help companies review is to try to see who might have been at fault. Often times, it was the inventor themselves. But not all the time. Just something to keep in mind as you read reviews.
Track record:
Any invention help company worth their time, should have a decent track record of successes under their belt. More importantly, they should be able to clearly show you those successes.
Be careful through, as these companies can often over inflate what they might have contributed to those successes. Just because they may have worked on a product that ended up being successful, doesn’t mean they added value to the project.
You should also understand that just because they show examples of products on their website, doesn’t mean those products are actually successful. Or that they are even on the market.
But also remember that an invention help company might have done their job perfectly, and the product still not succeed. That isn’t always the invention help companies fault.
It’s up to you:
Always remember that the success of any invention is still ultimately up to the inventor. With very few exceptions, the only inventions that succeed, succeed because the inventor drove the process themselves. Whether that was driving the venture, or driving the licensing deal. If you don’t succeed, you only have yourself to blame. Excuses don’t cut the mustard in business. The buck stops at you.
Inventors who think they can hire their way to success, they will not succeed. And it will cost them a lot of money to find out the hard way.
This goes back to understanding the process yourself, and hiring help because you personally know you need it based on where you are in the process. If you aren’t willing to be the reason your idea fails or succeeds, this business is not for you.
Should I hire an Invention Help Company:
The answer is a resounding YES!
However, “Invention help” companies actually means any company that offers any services to inventors for a fee. Which is a much broader definition of the term than you are probably used too.
We strongly believe you should hire people to help you with various steps in the idea-to-market process. Though anyone can learn how to perform any step in the idea-to-market process, doing so can easily take many many years. A lot of the steps in the process are professions that take years of school and experience to get right. Just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should.
As well, if you are spending time learning how to patent something yourself, you are not spending that time performing perhaps more important steps. Steps that only you can do as the driver of the process. And chances are high, the quality of work you perform, will be far below what might be needed. If for no other reason than than a lack of experience.
Performing each step yourself puts you squarely in the camp of inventor’s that don’t often succeed. Trying to save money is one thing, but at what cost?
If you already have the skill set, or a deep understanding of the right way to do it, then doing it yourself is likely the best path. The same goes for simple steps in the process, or steps that only you can perform effectively. For everything else, we strongly encourage you to hire out. A great place to find that help is our comprehensive directory of invention service providers.