Seven steps, in the order that saves you money: capture it, check the need, search what exists, draw and model it, price it, protect it, and hand a patent attorney a finished packet instead of a napkin sketch.
A sentence or two is enough: what the invention does, who it helps, and what they do today without it. Writing it down gives you something to test, and it starts a dated record of when you had the idea.
Then give it an honest first look. The checklist below takes a few minutes and tells you whether the idea is worth the next step.
Can’t tick all five yet? That’s normal. The next steps are how you fill the gaps.
Most inventions that fail don’t fail on engineering. They fail because not enough people have the problem, or they already solve it well enough. Find the people who have the problem, ask how they handle it now, and see whether they would pay to handle it better.
A small demand test, like a landing page or a short survey, tells you more than any amount of polishing.
Prior art is anything already public that describes your idea: patents, published applications, products and articles. Searching it early is the cheapest decision you will make. If something close exists, you can change the design or move on before you pay for drawings or a model.
A search tells you what is out there. Whether your idea can be patented is a legal opinion, and that comes from a patent attorney or agent.
A labeled sketch and a 3D model make the idea concrete. They force you to decide how the parts fit together, they make conversations with manufacturers and attorneys faster, and they show gaps a written description hides.
At this stage you need concept drawings, not formal patent drawings. Those come later, when an application is filed.
Also see the 3D concept model, a sample drawing set, and the patent drawing cost calculator for when you file.
There are three ways to get from idea to attorney-ready: hire professionals and freelancers, do it yourself with software subscriptions, or use a platform. Hiring it out costs the most in money. Doing it yourself costs the most in hours. The biggest cost on any path is doing the work in the wrong order, like paying for a CAD model before the search.
On EntreDash, one idea that holds up on its first try costs $569.96 from memos to search report.
Compare all three paths item by item in the cost to develop an invention guide, and see filing fees with the patent cost calculator. Before you pay anyone to “take your idea to market,” read the FTC warning on invention promoters.
Until you file, your idea is protected mostly by keeping it confidential. Share only what each person needs, use a confidentiality agreement when someone will sign one, and keep dated notes of your work.
In the US, you have one year after your own public disclosure to file. Most other countries have no such grace period, so showing the idea publicly before filing can cost you foreign rights.
Attorney-ready means a patent attorney or agent can start on your invention instead of spending billable hours working out what it is. When you arrive with the checklist below, their time goes to the legal questions only they can answer.
With your attorney’s advice you decide what to file and where. From there the work turns to the business: licensing the idea to a company, or making and selling it yourself.
Describe your idea and get a verdict on the market, existing patents and the numbers before you spend on anything else.
Get my free verdict →