The Inventor's Mind

The best invention ideas will come from personal experience. Look for products or tasks that annoy you and think about a better solution. Then, imagine more solutions to the same problem. I call this “problem-based inventing” as opposed to “solution-based inventing”. Most inventors come up with a particular solution to some problem and then fall in love with it. It’s their “million-dollar idea”. Consequently, when faced with evidence that their particular invention solution is not actually an economic opportunity, they ignore it out of their zeal rather than adjusting their vision to match the realities of the situation. Not every great idea is going to be a great money-maker, so be ready to adapt as you learn on your journey.

Test your idea in an imaginary scenario to determine if it has legs. Ask yourself: Can I really imagine people buying this invention? Who? At what cost? What stores? Next to what other products? You should be as conservative as you can be in answering these questions to avoid wasting money on a product that isn’t going to be easy to monetize. Niche products that appeal to small slices of the population can still be quite profitable (like my super-premium algae scrapers!) and the markets are usually easier to penetrate than mass-markets.

Think about your invention. If you are going to proceed, you want to work on a project within your means. How complicated is it? Does it require technology that doesn’t exist yet? Is it very expensive? If you haven’t done this before, it may be best to start with something smaller and simpler. Maybe you want to put the solar-powered airplane on hold (unless you’re that guy, in which case you know you are because you can’t NOT do it).

Next, test your idea with a few friends. You are looking for an instant “that’s awesome!” or “I NEED that!” or “Why didn’t I think of that!” “That sounds kinda cool,” is not the same thing. By the way, if it takes a long time to explain and your friends have a confused look on their faces, it might not be a great opportunity.

We are good friends with our fellow inventors at Edison Nation, (www.edisonnation.com), who conduct live product and invention searches to find new ideas for corporations to pursue. They also recently launched a $25 Million Innovation Fund. This fund is going to be used to invest in high potential inventions and patents with funding up to $250,000 per invention, in order to prepare them for market. This money will be spent on R&D, engineering, patent and IP protection, and marketing materials. The Fund is sure to be an exciting opportunity for those who make it in.

We are extremely pleased to be able to announce that one of our inventors, Trevis Kurz, has had his invention (which we helped him develop and patent) selected to move forward in the Edison Nation Innovation Fund. Trevis’s already well-developed invention will get even closer to a production ready design, as well as a great boost from Edison Nation’s high profile. Trident Design will be there along the way, working with their team to perfect the device and bring it to market.

Photo From Article

Although every one of us interact with plastic on a daily basis very few people consider that there is a whole world out their surrounding the plastic industry. Industry professionals who have a need to know the ins and outs of all things plastic related turn to the monthly periodical, Plastics News. Plastics News focuses on commercial, financial, legislative and market-related developments worldwide that affect North American plastic product manufacturers, their suppliers and customers.

Based off our successful licensing of the Trident invented Scriptsafe (which securely protects prescription medicine from unauthorized use)to Flambeau (one of the United States largest manufacturers of plastic cases and boxes.) Plastics News recently published an article about Trident Design and Chris Hawker our president. We here at Trident incorporate the use of plastic into almost every single one of the products we develop. Plastic is the most easy, affordable and moldable substance to work with and is a very crucial element in our product development process. Besides what they say that any press is good press, this is just a really nice article about Chris, Trident, and some of the things we have accomplished. Here is the link to the article, feel free to check it out.

For Trident founder, its all about the fips

-Nile

Independence Day, traditionally is a historic day that is celebrated every year on July 4 as the day we declared independence from Britain and became our own country.  Here in Columbus Ohio we celebrate not only independence day but also Independent’s Day.Independents Day in Columbus celebrates local entrepreneurs,small businesses, handcrafted items , and local art and music.  Trident has been involved with Independent’s day for two years now in some form or fashion, but this year we decided to create a interactive booth to encourage creativity amongst the local community and create greater inventor awareness in the community .  Our booth was a mixture of fun inventive games, creative people, creative products and useful information.  People responded very well, many people shared their ideas and interests in bringing products to market. The kids intentness playing the games was really a pleasure to watch. Its amazing how inventive kids can be.  Thanks to Chris Brown, one of our designers, this will now be a yearly occasion for us, you can expect to see us with a new and inventive booth each year. Checkout our facebook page of the event to see photos of our booth and pictures of the wonderful inventions.

Hello Fellow Inventors,

Wow! What a busy (and hot) summer it has been here at Trident Design, LLC. We have been working on some very interesting products for independent inventors in the last few months. We are working on a game-changing camp chair for our good friend Larry Murray. Larry identified a need for a better lightweight, sturdy, compact chair while IT contracting in Afghanistan for the last year. Of course, it also has an exciting, innovative angle we can’t tell you about yet.  He hired us to help him bring his idea to life and we just received the first round prototype from the manufacturer.  We are super excited about this product! Larry just came back to the States for a few weeks’ visit to ride in the Hoka Hey Challenge, a 10,000 mile motorcycle race!

A few other products we are working on are a water rescue device, a green home décor item, a travel accessory kit, an innovative cell phone case, a bike lock and a medical sleep device, amongst others. Our licensing division has really been making some great strides this summer. We have established some great new contacts in Toys, Infomercials ( i.e Snuggie) and in housewares.

Chris and Andy spent a few days in Southern California presenting a new, Russian  robotic toy technology to two of the largest toy manufacturers in the world. The initial feedback was amazing and we are hoping to see the technology incorporated in some very well-known established toy brands.

We recently had the pleasure of seeing another Trident invention hit the shelves of Petco.  We helped inventor Bill Holmberg design and license the QuickView dog nail clipper. Bill received his first (of hopefully many) royalty checks in July.

We have also been having a great time working with our corporate clients helping them introduce new products to their existing lines. We have recently finished up a child safety lock, a children’s training potty and a series of new dishracks.  All of these products will be sold into the major retailers of the world. There is nothing like the rush of walking into a store and seeing a product you created on the shelves. It’s an anonymous type of fame!Trident welcomes Inventors to contact us with your idea or product to find out how we may be able to help you bring your idea or product to market.

Please give us a call at  614-291-2435 to learn more about how we may be able to help you with your idea or product. We offer free, no obligation phone consultations for inventors companys with products in all stages of development. Please be sure to visit our facebook page to get interesting articles and tips on inventing.

Invent the future!

Regards,
Team Trident

We Would Love to Hear Your Idea!

Please Call  614-291-2435 or Email Us at info@trident-design.com to Schedule a Free Invention Consultation

The Arch

It’s been a bit since I put my fingers to the keys and gave you all a good look into the life of Trident, but I am back in action and promise to keep you better informed.  I spent last month in South America and while I was cruising through the jungle and climbing in the Andes, Chris, Abe, and the whole Trident team were hard at work bringing new ideas to life and getting products out on the market.  I’m not sure if you saw this feed on our new facebook page but Trident Design, LLC recently presented some very cool Russian robotic toy technology to two of the largest toy companies in the world.  If either of the two or both move forward with this new technology this could be a huge breakthrough in the world of toys, mark my words.

We have also seen one of our licensed products, the Quickview dog nail trimmer, sold into Petco stores nationwide. We recently received new samples of our Pitzo, a redesigned pizza cutter, from Rosle, our German licensee and manufacturing partner. This product is very exciting. It should be making its appearance in stores very soon. Chris also just got back from a 3 day trip to St. Louis for a brainstorming session with our VP of Sales, Andy Welty, on new strategies and angles for the licensing portion of our business.  Keep your eyes open for cool new inventions and ideas from Trident,lots of cool products are on the horizon.

After a long, eventful, and very productive week Chris, Andy, and I have parted ways and returned to our respective homes. We lived the life for four days in Las Vegas walked numerous miles through the convention center for the National Hardware and Garden Tradeshow and had many great business dinners and breakfasts. All in all it was one of our most productive tradeshows to date. We secured many great leads for licensing products, caught up with old friends and and industry contacts and made new ones. Las Vegas is an interesting place its like a huge mirage in the middle of the desert, nothing seems real and it at times seems like one big illusion. The fun things I highly suggest you doing when in Vegas: If you have a chance, see a Cirque De Soleil performance( there are seven to choose from) they are all stunning, visit Tao in the Venetian Hotel there is 30 foot Buddha in the dining room and the food is amazing,lf you need a break from the bright lights head out to the desert,within 45 minutes there are several fantastic national parks.

A few things that we noticed from the show and everyone should keep their eyes open for are:

1. Powersquid- Had great exposure at the show, it was relaunched under the Stanley brand and was front and center in their booth, they are releasing four new models and have more lined up for the future.

2. Command 1- The line of 14 products that we redesigned for the Westinghouse brand were out front and center as well, looking very stunning I might add.

3. The Tough horse- is an innovative take on the sawhorse which solves the problem of them just being awkward and having multiple components. Not to mention its just cool which means a lot in the world of design.

If you want a closer look at our trip you can see our pictures on our new facebook page at Trident Design, LLC.

-Nile