Taking an Idea to Market

Friend Jay writes- "How did you go about sharing your work/project/item with others yet retain your "exclusive" idea---or did this not come up? (because ideas can be either stolen or someone can make a better run of it----such as Facebook. and if I recall, Chimera did you a bad deed.

"When you have a proto type of an item, did you take it to Asia to be either refined or massed produced, how much of the proto type was "crude" and did you need the others to come up with better ideas/material than the "crude" proto type you had in your hands??? Do you know what I am asking here??? I have a working crude working proto type, & if I took it to Asia, do they morph the crude item several times until it's right in your estimation?"

Reply: I suppose I am a proponent of "sell just one" - that is, take your thought to where you can successfully sell even just one prototype. Several things happen at that moment -

a) third party validation via cash, not just pats on your back
b) you have one year to patent - clock starts with sale - the cheaper provisional patent might buy you two years.
c) that you already sold one or more is more impressive to possible licencee companies
d) the new owner(s) of the prototype will quickly tell you all the things you forgot to think about.

Then, protection from the big companies is normally by signed non-disclosures. You can find plenty of these on the internet.

However the BIG company signs the non-disclosure, gives you an interview, then simply puts your idea/patent on the shelf and, 'cause it's a BIG company, it's also a long lived company, it does some further R&D on your idea, waits the 14 years for your patent and renewal to exhaust. Then puts whatever youve managed to get started, out of business in a single day.

So, only interview with honest medium sized companies.