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When you are ready to sell your invention (normally this is after you have filed at least a provisional pending patent and also have a working prototype) ... you have two completely different paths with respect to how to sell your invention.

However, I am going to make it EASY for you to decide, because for 95% + of inventors the decision is actually a no-brainer!

SELL INVENTIONS OPTION 1: MANUFACTURE

Do it all yourself

Manufacture your invention yourself (or get an existing manufacturer to do it for you), put up all the money for this and risk losing all of it if your invention doesn’t sell, ensure you have good quality control so the finished invention does exactly what it’s supposed to, and then locate somewhere to store your newly manufactured inventions.

Then ... design the packaging, market your invention to potential sales channels, handle all negotiations, transport your invention to those sales channels, have a process in place to handle rejects, handle all invoicing and accounting and corporate tax reporting.

And oh yes - give up your life so you can manage all this!

SELL INVENTIONS OPTION 2: LICENSING

Get the right company to do it all for you!

Get a company to do ALL the above for you, and take a share of their profit in the form of royalties. This is called patent licensing.

SELL INVENTIONS - the choice

So which option should you go for?

Of course, it’s a no-brainer. Unfortunately, with the advent of television programme’s like Dragon’s Den and American Inventor, inventors often get steered the wrong way.

Yes, it CAN make sense to manufacture and sell your invention yourself - but be warned. First off, you need to have VERY substantial funds and be willing to lose them if your invention does not sell. Also, you may need to give-up your day job, as driving forward and managing the whole production to sales process can be a full-time job.

And last but not least - as well as being an inventor, you need to be a very good business person and top-notch manager. Yep, it’s certainly exciting - and indeed it can be more financially rewarding than going the patent licensing route - but at the cost of increased risk.

So do ask yourself if you can afford to lose all your start-up funds (and those of any partner investors). And do you really have the time, the skills, the drive ... and the temperament?

Of course, maybe you do, and if you do ... fantastic ! Go for it. Manufacture, market and sell your invention yourself rather than licensing your invention patent.

IF you succeed, you may make more profit than by patent licensing, because rather than receiving a portion of the profit as a royalty, you will be able to keep (after expenses, tax etc) all of the profit. But, and it’s a huge but ... you may lose everything if you are not successful.

So coming back full circle: Sell Inventions - what’s the right way for you? For 95% ++ of inventors, the answer is patent licensing.