Is Anyone Trying To Bring To Market A Project They Did On element14?

Today I began contacting a few companies with regards to a donation of the parts that I seek. The first company that I contacted not only had no interest but would not even offer me a discount in return for mention and endorsement of their products. As a result I will not be purchasing anymore components from them and also would not recommend those products. I was able to find a company that was more than willing to send me some samples of their products for testing and use in my project. I am very eagerly awaiting these samples and excited to be able to utilize them in my project. This company as already made a great impression by demonstrating willingness to make their product available to the consumer. In the end, if I have to wait until I have saved enough money to purchase the parts necessary, the idea will sit on the shelf until such time as I can afford to give it to the world. Anyone who makes a contribution to this project is a part of it and entitled to further develop it. I do not care for monetary gain but to make a contribution to humanity.

You are perfectly right John. After patenting and selling patents for 10 years I also followed the market and what I see is that the patenting politics changed and protection mechanism too as well as the customers / users classification. 20 years ago it was a good idea to protect your ideas with patent, today excluding the mass patenting campaign like those Apple do (not so successful I think) patenting a original and good idea is just a way to toss money away in my opinion. Except for the stuff I have done as consultant for companies (with NDA signed etc.) all my production is open source and open hardware. And yes, publishing on the new, especially (it's true) on E14 pages and on my site too (not updated recently but need absolutely soon balearicdynamics.com) is the best way to protect your idea, certificate that it's your and in the meantime contribute actively for a shared knowledge globally.

I have experienced that the creation of open stuff does not impact on the option to make it sellable; are different logics those that moves the makers that replicate your idea, not rarely adding something new and better and the users that need and search for a product. Something finished, nothing to think over it.

I made a try starting a couple of years ago with the Shift register LCD display for Arduino, the educational digital potentiometer Arduino shield, the chained shift register for Arduino and some other, the first version of the click remote project, then the Raspberry PI LCD case (it is better than the idea of Pimoroni )

I have published the projects that I considered more related to Element14 philosophy on blogs here but those that was just on sale I avoided to publish them here. I was not sure if this was considered a self-promotion by Element14 staff. Instead I agreed with electroschematics.com to publish the projects there in exchange of mentioning where they was on sale (with a discount code too).

The process I followed was almost simple:

1. Make two videos of the project/product: the project finished and working and the how-to assembly product
2. Make detailed images illustrating the product
3. Put the software (when needed) on GitHub to be available to all
4. Make and Instructable assembly guide with images and videos
5. Make a product page on my blog with the links to Tindie
6. Put the product on sale on Tindie
7. Wait hooking customers

As some projects has been reviewed on Instructable and the electroschematics site has an incredible popularity in the USA but also in Germany, Romania, Poland, Russia etc. the projects got a decent visibility. Those that was never sold (or just 1-2 pieces) I consider them not commercially interesting. The others are built at a very low price in tenth every time. There is also a parenthesis on the Drobott.com marketplace but they are so crap that I stopped to sell there.

Last year I had to stop this small market due my job in the Netherlands, the frequent moving etc. so now I am thinking (back to Spain) how to restart this market with the new projects that will soon be products. And also thinking on how to promote them better.

After one year and half I can say that what I sold paid the investment (components and PCB and a small earning fee). The primarily idea for this marketing is just to diffuse the products here and there without the need of investment. What cost me 10, customers will pay no more than 15-16 that I think it is almost reasonable for makers.

Enrico

I don't want to be a millionaire. I don't really want to be a businessman either

Same here.

We thought it would be useful and encourage more use of the boards.

Being first has rewards, but often provides someone else with the ability to ride on your shoulders.

Mark

I don't want to be a millionaire. I don't really want to be a businessman either. Life has enough headaches already. But to be the first to do something is what interests me.

rscasny

A while ago several of us had a idea to support a very popular board.

The existing products didn't allow for all the pins to be accessible, and were significantly more expensive that the board.

It would have been nice to see someone like element14 and their subsidary company look at it as something to add to their product line, and even the original board manaufacturer thought it was a good idea, but no-one was prepared to step up or engage in a conversation.

Many of these things boil down to ether mass market, kickstarter, right place/right time, or knowing the right people.

Sadly there are some people that think they have the million dollar solution, but the business case falls flat, and therfore the funding options go west.

Cheers

Mark

That is a good suggestion John. Documentation and timestamp on the community blog would be a way to verify proof of concept and design. This idea would not have been possible without the community.

In my primary field, Dental Equipment, I was able to get three products to market over the years. It was pretty much by shear luck and a lot of help from kind middlemen. While I continue to try with some of my ideas and products I have not been successful again in many years. Currently I have a Chinese instrument company looking at one of my ideas to repurpose an existing technology.

There are many ways to fail at the process and few avenues to success. If one is too protective of the idea it is difficult to properly describe it and the benefits it will provide to a marketer. Obtaining Patents can delay ones ability to get the idea to market and add a layer of cost that will make it more difficult to find a buyer.

In one instance I developed a product that would protect Dental Clinics from costly down time and expensive repairs to a critical piece of equipment. I produced several dozen prototypes and sold them in my own service area to my clients. My attempts to get any national marketer interested failed however. The devices were not turn key to the dentist and required a technician to install them which was a problem. More important though, the national marketers did not want to loose the sales and profits from the potential failures of the equipment my device was designed to protect. In an industry as close and regulated as the dental equipment industry the paths to market are jealously guarded.

I have put most of my ideas and innovations on this web site in my blogs. I see this as a way of publishing the idea and date marking it. It is the simplest way that I know to put a little protection on them. Whether there is time for one more successful product to market or not I am not sure but it doesn't hurt to try.

John

I had planned to commercialize my BBC micro:bit interfaces when I won early access to a micro:bit but the device was delayed many months with the micro:bit delayed launch. The delay eliminated the timing advantage and I got immersed in other projects.

I have an idea but have not told anyone for fear that I would not receive credit for it. It is a technology that currently exists, applied to a market that this technology is not being utilized in yet. It is an idea that came to me while working with the BeagleBone Black Wireless that I will soon be presenting a review on to the community. There is a specific application that I would like to use the BBB-W for. I have purchased a majority of the components necessary but still need to get a few more to construct a working prototype. Most of the projects I do are of personal interest and usually funded by my own limited income. My idea is big but unfortunately my budget for projects is not so. I actually sold one of my previous Raspberry Pi 3 projects to purchase the components I will be using in my BBB-W project. I am currently seeking funding to purchase the rest of the components. I care little about money or becoming rich, but my budget is holding this project back. It will happen if I have to build it one piece at a time. But if I could find funding on this particular project, it can be a reality sooner. I don't care about a profit. I care about making a contribution to the community. Does anyone have any suggestions for obtaining funding for something of this nature?