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Possible to invent an electronic device without capital have any here done this?
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james_s:

--- Quote from: sandalcandal on September 28, 2021, 01:48:51 am ---Patents are tickets to sue (or threaten to sue) people. Patents have near zero value in and of themselves. You make money providing goods and services to people, not by sitting on patents.

--- End quote ---

No argument from me there. I think patents are mostly worthless, especially for an individual inventor. I have never suggested anyone go out and patent something.
sandalcandal:

--- Quote from: james_s on September 28, 2021, 01:50:58 am ---
--- Quote from: sandalcandal on September 28, 2021, 01:48:51 am ---Patents are tickets to sue (or threaten to sue) people. Patents have near zero value in and of themselves. You make money providing goods and services to people, not by sitting on patents.

--- End quote ---

No argument from me there. I think patents are mostly worthless, especially for an individual inventor. I have never suggested anyone go out and patent something.

--- End quote ---
Yes, not disagreeing with you either. Just elaborating further on why: having "ideas" is less important than actually being able to deliver on a desirable product/service.
RJSV:
Oh, also I wanted to say, about patent protection:
  With (my) computer training system, I did not want to face a situation, where someone else got wind of my idea (s), put forth their own application, after which I could face a real, actual shut-down, of my own work !
A usually distant possibility, but too wild to think of, my 'precious' work didn't come easy...
   Certainly, at the scale I was working, the patent 'Disclosure' temporary program offered no help. The application itself was jumbo sized, and took over two years to assemble.
   I also had a great invention / consumer product idea, that, by opposite, involved very little innovation:
   A POCKET SHOWER WITH TANKS.
That little hand-held shower device had a vacume suction water puller system, (for the dirty), and even included LITHIUM battery water warmer shower head.
ALL for use on the train, bus whatever... (Actually that's not too appetizing lol, Rick).
Berni:
Well you can see one example of a small company having a go at a huge undertaking of becoming the next optical HD video format that Bluray ultimately became:


They really did try hard to make it happen, and even got some early hardware out the door(tho mostly in the form of a special modified off the shelf DVD drive). But as you can imagine this is not easy to pull off, especially when the big guns that fight these format wars come in. As a result they flopped so badly that they even forget to mention them in articles about the failed HD video disc formats that lost the war.
Beamin:

--- Quote from: sandalcandal on September 25, 2021, 04:55:44 am ---Money/capital is out there and available for "free" if you know where to look and are willing to work for it (and of course you should be willing to work it). Starting our own business we were able to obtain tens of thousands of dollars which was certainly more than enough for us to develop proof-of-concept hardware and start getting "traction" despite the high costs of power electronics and ESS hardware. This was purely through local grants, without the need to give up equity/ownership or take out any sort of loan; though there were requirements for reporting and transparency obviously. This was also fairly recently and in Australia. The general impression I get is that entrepreneurship money is much easier to come by in the US.

I'd suggest having a look around for any local small business or entrepreneurship grants. I see DoD awarding many grants to small US domestic businesses to produce proof-of-concepts (some of them quite questionable) so that might be a good idea to look into for your gunfire locator idea. They also will be able to give you plenty of good input with first hand experience using similar devices which should be invaluable in developing your product. Failing that, you might have to enter an arrangement where you give up ownership/equity i.e. get "investment" but you'll need to be properly and well prepared if you want to do that.

I'd also suggest doing some reading (or maybe watching videos) to get some foundational knowledge of entrepreneurship. This book is more targeted towards Australia but I think the general principles are good and apply anywhere; the advice provided is solid and inline with advice I've received from many experienced entrepreneurs and business leaders.
https://www.asx.com.au/documents/resources/EntrepreneursGuide_REV_5_16.pdf

For videos, some good sources are Y Combinator, and Slidebean. Though I would caveat these are very Silicon Valley in perspective so if you don't live in Silicon Valley YMMV. Also plenty of people sharing their small business entrepreneurship experience on YouTube if you're looking to run something more moderate in scale.

Also Shark Tank is a load of bullshit reality TV show. Don't think for a moment real world entrepreneurship is anything like what they represent there.


--- Quote from: bob91343 on September 25, 2021, 03:55:58 am ---Times have changed.  Nevertheless, inventions are welcome as long as they aren't just ideas.  Investors want to see something that works, not plans or ideas.  So you will probably have to build your idea and be able to demonstrate it.  And you have to prove you aren't infringing on some patent.

In other words, the technical part is not enough.  You have to have a convincing presentation and convey your ideas with authority and salesmanship.  Then you appeal to those whom you feel may have an interest and wherewithall to finance it.

--- End quote ---
Certainly not enough to have a cool idea. You need to convince investors there is a market for your product (product-market fit), the amount you are asking for is commensurate to this market opportunity and most importantly that you (and your team) are capable of pulling through given the money. I don't think anything else has ever been the case but I wasn't alive and raising money 50 years ago :-//

There are plenty of investors which have given talks published on Youtube describing what they are looking for in entrepreneurs in an effort to attract high quality investment opportunities.

Edit: I'll also add that though not yet "successful" we've managed to develop commercial prototypes and obtain patents (which might satisfy OP's idea of "inventing") and done so as per OP's question; without personally having any "capital".

--- End quote ---

I used to own my own business and it was so hard to get investors and capital to buy cars, we need 10's of thousands a week.

My "Shot spotter" would also work in cities with devices on telephone poles to alert police. I  really want to make this before some one else realizes how easily It could be done.
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