Join us here for the live show on October 23rd at 6pm/pdt.

We’re gearing up for exciting October live show and this time we get to feature another amazing team bringing innovation to the Southern California startup community!

On October 23rd at 6pm/pdt right here tune in to join a discussion with president of Martian Watches – Stan Kinsey and the Patents & Prototypes team.

We’ll talk about how the Martian Watches team raised over $220,000 on Kickstarter to fund their first line of voice command watches for use with the iPhone and Android.

If you’re a entrepreneur / inventor  who has launched product or is thinking about developing a new product, you will find this show educational and fun.

Join us on the live show and participate in the live chat. Ask questions.

Hope to see you there!

                          

Push lawn mowers and the electric guitars, both are inventions that have been around for a LONG time.

Watch the replay of September’s show here:

In fact the first cylindrical lawn mower was invented in 1827 by Edwin Beard Budding. Since then, many iterations have come and gone. However, recently the team at Leardon Solutions helped an ambitious inventor create the first ever cylindrical human powered lawn mower that can compete with today’s most advanced gas or electric powered mowers in terms of cutting accuracy and blade speed.  The inventor is Steve Hartman and his invention is called the “CycleMower”

See it action here:

If worrying about your carbon footprint while mowing your grass isn’t a pressing concern,  but the latest technology in music creation is, then the “Sonitar” guitar by inventor Jay Barbeau will interest you.

Jay is the lead composer on the hit game “EverQuest“. In his spare time, Jay has taken innovation in music to the next level by helping expert and amateur guitarists leap ahead by embracing technology to enable all kinds of new creative potential with today’s latest wireless technology and tech gadgets.

See a demo here:

                          

The live show will be available right here. Or you can join us here.

Bring your questions and excitement!! See you then!

                          

Join us on September 10th at 6pm/pst for the live show as we speak with two Southern California entrepreneurs with very different products but equally impressive prototypes.

Jay Barbeau of Carlsbad will show us his invention – the “Sonitar” Wifi digital guitar interface for smart devices. Jay is also known as the composer for the hit multiplayer online role playing game “Everquest” which grossed nearly $450 Million.
Watch the video to get a demo of the Sonitar functionality.

Also joining us will be Anthony Hoang of Orange County. Anthony and his business partner Nhu Truong set out to design a less bulky wallet with more functionality than a traditional wallet. Check out the Keylet Kickstarter campaign.

Catch all the updates by subscribing to our e-newsletter too!

                          

So Why Do Crowdfunding Campaigns Fail?

Well the truth is, there is no one universal answer but one can come to some simple conclusions.

1) Market Size

You may have a brilliant idea for a product that you know you can execute on, but if there is no market for the product or it is too niche, a crowdfunding campaign is sure to fall flat and help you avoid investing in something not enough people will buy.

2) Crowdfunding site demographics

There are a lot of crowdfunding sites popping up and often they service different demographics. If a campaign is failing, it could be that the inventor is asking to raise money from the wrong people. Kickstarter folks seem to like practical gadgets so trying to raise money for a book on how to knit is probably a bad match.

3) Bad Idea

Let’s be honest, we have all had a moment where we thought we had the next best thing but it is far from it. Crowdfunding sites are full of users that are brutally honest. They’ll tell you what they really think with their comments and their lack of funding.

4) Timing

Just like an offline market place, sometimes the product release timing can be off. Think about your product and when you may try to raise money for it. If it’s a gift-able something than perhaps it’s best to plan your campaign to align with seasonal holidays.

5) Too Expensive

Perhaps you can’t get your manufacturing or product development costs down to a reasonable price point per unit for your idea. Many many invention ideas lay dormant due to the cost of manufacturing or other factors.

6) The Campaign Sucks

• Most successful campaigns tell a story and excite the community and there’s definitely an advantage to being likable.

• The campaign failed to deliver the message or was too technical.

These are a few reasons campaigns fail, can you think of others? comment below.

                          

Innovation in Southern California

It wasn’t too long ago that we launched Patents & Prototypes. While it has garnered a fairly decent national audience and even some international attention, we are starting to see a exciting trend locally.

In our haste to get all of the bugs worked out of our monthly live show,  maybe we overlooked the amount of product innovation going in our own backyard. So to make up for it, September’s show is dedicated to local inventors from Southern California like Los Angeles and San Diego areas.

We’re very excited to feature local talent anytime we can get it. There are so few inventors in any given city that it’s much like finding a needle in a haystack. Finding an inventor with an actual prototype in hand is even more exciting.

If you know of a Southern California team pushing the innovation limits, let us know, they could be featured on our show.

So join us in September to see some truly unique inventions built by local teams.

                          

If you missed the Patents & Prototypes live show in August 2012 featuring Kickstarter success stories Nathan Wills and Gabriel Wartofsky, you can review the archived video below.

This was a great live show for inventors / entrepreneurs because it covered a lot of often overlooked advantages of using a crowdfunding platform like Kickstarter or Indiegogo to help validate and bring your concept to market. We were certainly in awe of the tricks and lessons learned by our guests as they raised close to 100k collectively in the same industry.

Join us in September for another great live show. Sign up for our newsletter, facebook or twitter to stay in the know.

                          

A great network helps build great prototypes.

Chances are that if you spend enough time in the entrepreneur community in San Diego, you will eventually cross paths with Eric Hanscom and Joe Donoghue, hosts of the Patents & Prototypes live show.

Joe has built products all over the world, but helping local San Diego inventors that want to get prototypes developed is a passion he shares with Eric.

If you are a local San Diego inventor / entrepreneur in search of a community to help with your product idea, prototype or legal questions, be sure to attend the monthly “Inventing Profit” meeting at the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce. Joe, Eric and other interesting folks show up to share their experiences and stories from the front lines.

Here are a few other helpful resources as it relates to the San Diego entrepreneur community. Some are more tech focused but still offer a lot of value to any entrepreneur starting a business or planning on launching a product.

Be sure to check out:

Herahub

Connect

San Diego Lean Startups

Ansir Innovation Center

Founder Institute – San Diego

                          

Join Our Crowdfunding Show Live On Aug.1st 2012, at 9am/pst

Ever wonder what it takes to be successful on a crowdfunding site like Kickstarter or Indiegogo? You might be surprised to learn the tricks and unexpected tasks of a successful crowdfunding campaign. Our recent blog interview with Nathan Wills shed some light on what inventors / entrepreneurs can expect after they have raised their goal amount of capital or more.

Nathan will be joining us live to talk about his adventures in crowdfunding and product development.

Also joining us live from LA will be Gabriel Wartofsky. Gabriel is the inventor / innovator behind The Folding Electric Bike For Commuters. An idea that he began to work on in 2008 and just recently ran a successful Kickstarter Campaign for.

Sign up for the “Patents & Prototypes” newsletter to stay connected and learn about new exciting monthly shows. Also, tell us your story and you could be featured!

http://eepurl.com/la41H

                          

There are many more reasons than just 5, but I thought I’d take a few minutes and highlight the 5 that we at “Patents and Prototypes” see as the most dominate reasons for invention among our own community.

#1) Necessity is the mother of invention

While the origins of this saying aren’t known, some think it was Plato though no one can prove it. Regardless of who came up with it, it’s an obvious statement. People that never thought they were inventors eventually became so frustrated with a device or a method, that they sought out a way to develop a new product or method to achieve the task at hand. This is an inventor at the core and while not everyone is a Benjamin Franklin, you don’t have to develop technologies that test the laws of physics to be successful. Ever heard of the Snuggie?

#2) Inventors / Entrepreneurs See The World Through Different Eyes

One thing that we’ve noticed is that people in the inventor community are born with a love of innovation in some regard and have been nurturing it their entire life from arts and crafts to applied sciences. Questioning is fundamental process of their thinking and how they see the world. They tend to be the person that asks questions as to how or why something works the way it does. Kind of like your 3 year old nephew but with a more specific purpose, and that is, they want to know how to make it easier, faster, cheaper, or better at what it does.

#3) A Dreamer and a Do’r

Lots of people have ideas. About 1% of those actually act on those ideas and turn them into reality. Successful inventors are a unique mix creativity and execution rolled up into one with the ability to see past challenges and look for solutions. Many are driven by passion but guided by optimism.

#4) Crazy And Brilliant

Some say there is a fine line between crazy and brilliant. We don’t see it that way. To be a great inventor that is going to succeed, you need to be a bit of both. That is, crazy enough to throw caution to the wind and take extraordinary risks to go after what you truly believe and brilliant enough to identify great opportunities and to make quick but great decisions on the spot.

#5) Because You Can

With so many distractions in life like schooling, work and bills, it takes an enormous amount of focus and determination to get a product to market. People with the passion and drive to bring a product to market need to walk the walk and talk the talk which often means sacrificing other opportunities like that high paying executive level career or those great vacations to exotic destinations. You will succeed because you can stay focused and determined.