I welcome your ideas on opening up a Company inventing things

[Ostronomos]

You know how I am able to make insights into reality thanks to "external influences"? Well I want to now channel these abilities into inventing things. Can you guys share how I will be able to go about opening up a company inventing things? I have written proof of my abilities. Is it really as simple as presenting this proof to a wealthy business entrepreneur and have him invest in you?

[C C]

Afraid I've only seen a few moments of Shark Tank during its run and not any of Dragon's Den.

Company-name wise, I doubt that I could even concoct an applicable facetious derivation or play on Menlo Park, Philo Farnsworth Labs, Benjamin Banneker's Clockworks, Elijah McCoy Engineering, or Kenneth J. Dunkley's Holospace Laboratories Inc. (Though the last seems to be screaming for some vague attempt at cheeky tweaking, if for no other reason than "Holospace".) EDIT: Elon Musk had already appropriated "Tesla".

If in Ontario, unsurprising you're not already THAT Nick Hosein, founder of KinoLabs (Davis, California).

~

[stryder]

Invention requires more than just an idea, it requires proof of concept. If you are to put something together then you need to do a mixture of the documentation in regards to the theory while also providing a practical prototype. While some parts of the documentation can fall under copyright protection, to truly make sure that an idea is something practical and stop people stealing it, it requires patenting. Patenting can be expensive since protecting a design can require patenting in multiple countries. Patents themselves are only time limiting exclusivity, the concept is that should a design be something that revolutionise a given area or field that it won't be limited to the inventor forever. This both stops monopolization and allows progression technologically.

To build a company that just deals in "invention" would require that company to have a strong legal department trained in patent and copyright law. A company like that would require financing which would likely mean shareholders, which in turn means any invention by the company would be owned by the company which means should you put your life, blood and soul into making an idea become reality you'd likely lose ownership over it. So either be prepared to just take a cut or make sure you've covered the legal control by licensing. (again that costs money).

Some companies work around ripping off ideas by running as "Think tanks", notably another science forum is owned and operated by such a think tank so be careful about what ideas you post and where you post them. (incidentally this forum is run by just me and I don't own or run any companies pilfering ideas from people, I have far too many of my own to keep me preoccupied.)

If you wanted to sell an idea to someone else, then you would need to provide proof that it's viable and make sure that you have non-disclosure agreements with those that you seek to purchase. Ideally if it's something patentable make sure it's "pending" before divulging too much information about the inner workings of a design, otherwise it doesn't take to make a different design based from one that has been leaked. (which is unfortunately how people can undermine patents, as there has to be strong case of copying and direct replication of the initial design.)

You should consider that not every patentable idea is necessarily a money making one, some patents in fact are just shelved to stop people from utilising various competing designs to further the exclusivity of the main design that a company holds (thereby increasing it's value). This leads to patent troll companies that attempt to buy control of patents just so they can try to muzzle money out of people for using designs that are either similar or copies of things presumed out of patent.