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The Independent Inventor's Handbook: 'The Best Advice from Idea to Payoff
How do you actually turn a million-dollar idea into a million dollars? From scribble-on-the-napkin to product-on-the market, The Independent Inventor's Handbook explains everything a potential inventor needs to know and the tools he or she needs to use to take a raw concept and turn it into reality.
Written by Louis J. Foreman, creator of the PBS series Everyday Edisons and a holder of multiple patents, together with patent attorney Jill Gilbert Welytok, here's a book that speaks directly to the inventive American―the entrepreneur, the tinkerer, the dreamer, the basement scientist, the stay-at-home mom who figures out how to do it better. (over one million of them file patents each year.) Here is everything a future inventor Understanding the difference between a good idea and a marketable idea. Why investing too much money at the outset can sink you. The downside of design patents, and how best to file an application for a utility patent. Surveys, online test runs, and other strategies for market research on a tight budget. Plus the effective pitch ( never say your target audience is "everyone"), questions to ask a prospective manufacturer, 14 licensing land mines to avoid, "looks-like" versus "works-like" prototypes, Ten Things Not to Tell a Venture Capitalist, and how to protect your invention once it's on the market. Appendices include a glossary of legal, manufacturing, and marketing terms, a sample nondisclosure agreement, and a patent application, deconstructed.
Written by Louis J. Foreman, creator of the PBS series Everyday Edisons and a holder of multiple patents, together with patent attorney Jill Gilbert Welytok, here's a book that speaks directly to the inventive American―the entrepreneur, the tinkerer, the dreamer, the basement scientist, the stay-at-home mom who figures out how to do it better. (over one million of them file patents each year.) Here is everything a future inventor Understanding the difference between a good idea and a marketable idea. Why investing too much money at the outset can sink you. The downside of design patents, and how best to file an application for a utility patent. Surveys, online test runs, and other strategies for market research on a tight budget. Plus the effective pitch ( never say your target audience is "everyone"), questions to ask a prospective manufacturer, 14 licensing land mines to avoid, "looks-like" versus "works-like" prototypes, Ten Things Not to Tell a Venture Capitalist, and how to protect your invention once it's on the market. Appendices include a glossary of legal, manufacturing, and marketing terms, a sample nondisclosure agreement, and a patent application, deconstructed.
- GenresBusiness
242 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
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62 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 26, 2010
I especially appreciate the Branding, Pitching, and Selling chapter.
June 20, 2025
The currents of progress are not shaped by ideas alone. True progress occurs when thought is converted into will, and will into sustained action. Few pursuits demand more of this transformation than bringing a product to market. And if you're doing it independently, you need a strategy. As this handbook warns, “Going forward with an idea without a plan for paying the costs of bringing your invention to the market is the biggest mistake you can make.” This book provides a mesoscopic view of how one can bring that plan to life.
Split into eight chapters, the book offers a practical roadmap for inventors trying to move from concept to commercialization. It touches on product design, legal protection, funding, manufacturing, packaging, marketing, and sales. Some chapters feel too light considering the complexity of the topic, but the book succeeds in its aim to prepare readers for the real-world demands of independent invention.
What makes this book most valuable are the scattered pieces of entrepreneurial wisdom throughout. Here are quite of few of my favorites:
1.) “When economic times are tough... people forgo big expenses and rationalize treating themselves to necessities or smaller luxuries.”
2.) “A purchase order is a bankable asset and can be borrowed against from a bank or factor. And you can negotiate initial terms for net 90 days.”
3.) “Customers must first be convinced they have an unmet need, then they must be persuaded that your invention can solve it at a reasonable cost.”
4.) “The cost of the supply chain includes raw materials, labor, equipment, clerical services, transportation, warehouse space, tooling, manufacturing space, shelf space, packaging, advertising, and customer service. These can be outsourced.”
5.) “Proven sales demonstrate you have a product that is not going away.”
6.) “Industry average for royalties to inventors is 2–3%.”
7.) “Packaging accounts for those very important last three seconds and last three feet before a consumer makes a decision.”
8.) “Most major retailers require proof of product liability insurance.”
9.) “A UPC is sort of a social security number for a product.”
10.) “Product brand = value identification for customers.”
11.) “Allocate 15–20% of initial manufacturing costs to packaging.”
12.) “The goal of selling should be to find as many distribution channels as possible.”
13.) “A sales pitch's ultimate goal is to set up a future meeting to spend 30 minutes selling the value of the product to the customer.”
14.) “A patent provides exclusive rights to profit from an IP and prevents other businesses from competing.”
15.) “When licensing, do not initially provide a company with all the details of a pending patent (including the patent number itself).”
16.) “When licensing, never enter into exclusive agreements unless you are compensated for doing so and always ask for performance metrics and minimum guaranteed royalties.”
17.) “Before going to an angel investor, one must have $10,000 to $50,000 raised from bootstrapping.”
18.) “Use drop-shipping services.”
19.) “Angel investors provide more than just money; they bring power, contacts, and credibility in the industry.”
20.) “While IPOing offers founders the ability to liquidate their shares, it is extraordinarily expensive.”
21.) “When an IP is infringed, rather than litigating, have an attorney draft a cease and desist letter to offer the infringing company the opportunity to enter into a valid license agreement in the future.”
The book isn’t without flaws. Some of its recommendations feel dated. For example, it refers readers to EdisonNation.com, a site that is no longer in service. After some digging, I found that its replacement is IdeaNation.com. The book also promotes DRTV and magazine ads as viable marketing channels, which is advice that doesn’t hold up well in today’s digital landscape.
Still, despite these outdated references, the core of the book remains useful. It doesn’t oversell the dream. Instead, it prepares readers for the cost, complexity, and hustle required to bring an idea to life. It is practical, honest, and often sobering in its advice.
Split into eight chapters, the book offers a practical roadmap for inventors trying to move from concept to commercialization. It touches on product design, legal protection, funding, manufacturing, packaging, marketing, and sales. Some chapters feel too light considering the complexity of the topic, but the book succeeds in its aim to prepare readers for the real-world demands of independent invention.
What makes this book most valuable are the scattered pieces of entrepreneurial wisdom throughout. Here are quite of few of my favorites:
1.) “When economic times are tough... people forgo big expenses and rationalize treating themselves to necessities or smaller luxuries.”
2.) “A purchase order is a bankable asset and can be borrowed against from a bank or factor. And you can negotiate initial terms for net 90 days.”
3.) “Customers must first be convinced they have an unmet need, then they must be persuaded that your invention can solve it at a reasonable cost.”
4.) “The cost of the supply chain includes raw materials, labor, equipment, clerical services, transportation, warehouse space, tooling, manufacturing space, shelf space, packaging, advertising, and customer service. These can be outsourced.”
5.) “Proven sales demonstrate you have a product that is not going away.”
6.) “Industry average for royalties to inventors is 2–3%.”
7.) “Packaging accounts for those very important last three seconds and last three feet before a consumer makes a decision.”
8.) “Most major retailers require proof of product liability insurance.”
9.) “A UPC is sort of a social security number for a product.”
10.) “Product brand = value identification for customers.”
11.) “Allocate 15–20% of initial manufacturing costs to packaging.”
12.) “The goal of selling should be to find as many distribution channels as possible.”
13.) “A sales pitch's ultimate goal is to set up a future meeting to spend 30 minutes selling the value of the product to the customer.”
14.) “A patent provides exclusive rights to profit from an IP and prevents other businesses from competing.”
15.) “When licensing, do not initially provide a company with all the details of a pending patent (including the patent number itself).”
16.) “When licensing, never enter into exclusive agreements unless you are compensated for doing so and always ask for performance metrics and minimum guaranteed royalties.”
17.) “Before going to an angel investor, one must have $10,000 to $50,000 raised from bootstrapping.”
18.) “Use drop-shipping services.”
19.) “Angel investors provide more than just money; they bring power, contacts, and credibility in the industry.”
20.) “While IPOing offers founders the ability to liquidate their shares, it is extraordinarily expensive.”
21.) “When an IP is infringed, rather than litigating, have an attorney draft a cease and desist letter to offer the infringing company the opportunity to enter into a valid license agreement in the future.”
The book isn’t without flaws. Some of its recommendations feel dated. For example, it refers readers to EdisonNation.com, a site that is no longer in service. After some digging, I found that its replacement is IdeaNation.com. The book also promotes DRTV and magazine ads as viable marketing channels, which is advice that doesn’t hold up well in today’s digital landscape.
Still, despite these outdated references, the core of the book remains useful. It doesn’t oversell the dream. Instead, it prepares readers for the cost, complexity, and hustle required to bring an idea to life. It is practical, honest, and often sobering in its advice.
September 25, 2018
Probably a good book for beginners. This book seems to be like most of the others. I didn’t learn enough to recommend it.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews