NEVADA INVENTORS ASSOCIATION
"Education, Assistance, and
Networking for the Inventor"
To go to the main Page or the news letters and then
the old articles Page, up till Dec. 1999.
Meeting Schedule
Regular monthly meetings of the Nevada Inventor's Association are on the 4th Saturday of each month from 9 a.m.
to Noon in room CR 101 of Washoe Medical Center.
Guests, new members and students are encouraged. If you know someone who would be interested in learning more about
the ins and outs of inventing and developing new products, please invite him or her. Also, anyone who has a business
or service that might benefit inventors is welcome.
All meetings are protected and everybody is expected to sign the confidentiality agreement at the meeting entrance.
February 2003
Saturday, February 22
9a.m.tonoon
Room 101, Washoe
Medical Center
Speaker:
Dr. Bill Torch
Next month
Saturday, March 22
9 a.m. to noon
Speaker:
Free money:
The follow-up
Just one year ago, NlA's speaker told us about the Small Business Innovative Research Program (SBIR) from the Nevada
Council on Economic Development.
This program, created by congress in 1982, requires any federal organization with a research and development budget
of more than $100 million to give 2.5 per cent of its budget to looking for new solutions. What this means to the
average inventor is that the government has money in the form of grants to offer inventors.
One inventor who has received such funding in NIA President Dr. Bill Torch, who will update the organization on
his grant and the progress he is making with his invention at this month's meeting.
Funding your invention:
All sources are not equal
For many inventors, the invention itself will be the easy part.
At some point between developing the idea and nursing it through all the growing pains of
development to a completed, marketable product, the need for a financial transfusion will probably become a challenge.
There are many sources to explore—and many traps to avoid.
The NIA website has a link to a site called the Anti-Venture Capital Guide, www.antiventurecapital.com, that lists
some red flags about getting involved with venture capitalists. Peter Ireland, an entrepreneurial coach says one
trap is that the pursuit of venture capital can distract the seeker from focusing on "creating something to
sell and persuading someone to buy it"
Other examples are the unethical venture capitalist
who will freely steal ideas, give advice" that allows a company to bleed to death, or take control away from
the founder.
The Motley Fool website, www.fool.com, is less cynical, but confirms Ireland's warnings. Tom Jacobs in a Feb. 11
article, Where's The Money Going?", describes capitalism
as a system where boatloads of money rush madly hither and thither, and CEOs must be carnival barkers, seeking
funds for their dreams.
Jacobs goes on to say, "in good times, the public markets are only too happy to fund newer, unproven companies,
but in slower times, those companies must wait." He notes "two very different groups of investors: risk-hungry
venture capitalists and riskaverse investors."
Probably the best advice to be gleaned from these sources is that dealing with venture capitalists can be risky
- especially for the novice. It's definitely a field that requires a great deal of research by anyone looking at
venture capital as a funding source.
Editor's note:
Special thanks to Wing & A Prayer Dance Company for allowing me to use their computer and scanner-printer—and
occasionally their time—to continue to produce this newsletter.
Members who have ideas or information they want to share with NIA are encouraged to send them to me at ccbenedict@775.net
or call me at 787-3640 to use snail mail.
From The WEB
Patent & Trademark Office
www.uspto.gov
Senator John Ensign
www.senate.gov/~ensign
Senator Harry Reid
www.senate.gov/~Reid
Congressman Jim Gibbons
www.house.gov/gibbons
IRS
www.irs.gov
Don Costar
www.doncostar.com
Opportunity in the news
Duct tape, plastic sheeting, gas masks and arthritis: What's the common denominator?
For inventors, the common ground is "opportunity."
Recent news coverage suggests a world of opportunity for creating newer, more effective and possibly less expensive—ways
of protecting large numbers of people from environmental hazards, including bio-terrorism and chemical warfare.
The current run on rolls of plastic sheeting and duct tape, as well as gas masks, suggests that there have to be
better ways to protect people.
In the first place, the Department of Homeland Security has been extremely non-specific about how a novice home-sealer
should proceed once the purchase is made. A recently published news photo showed one individual.
wrapping his entire house in plastic sheets. Is this the solution, or are you supposed,to pick a room with few
or no windows and be ready at a moment's notice to seal yourself into it for an undetermined length of time? In
either case, what about necessary ventilation? What about carbon monoxide? How long should the average person allow
for installing this protection?
Also consider gas masks. They are basically World War I technology - nearly 100 years old. Haven't there been newer
products that could go into making some thing better and more
cost effective? If not, isn't it time for somebody to invent such a product?
The solution an individual or family takes is less the point for NIA members than triggering thinking about needs
for products yet to be invented. Beyond the current fear factor, today's inventor might want to look at the needs
of an aging population and the problems and opportunities that come with that ever-growing market.
An article in the Feb. 15, 2003 issue of the Reno Gazette-Journal featured Frank Halstad, a semi-retired marketer
of novelty items from Stateline, who has developed a line of gadgets and grips to make life easier for arthritis
sufferers. Large, soft grips make faucet handles, doorknobs and lamp switched much easier for a person with arthritic
hands. And there are other health conditions for which adaptive helps could present a booming market.
Speaking of booms, the baby boomers are another great market just waiting for new toys and gadgets of their own.
And they have the money to pay for them
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"Education, Assistance, and Networking for the Inventor"
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Page done by Vince Chemist.
Created on Mar. 28 2003
Updated on November 29, 2005