How to Pitch Your Invention to Investors

If you’ve done market research and came up with a new product, the next step is to sell it. Sure, you can always keep it for yourself. But, if people find your invention useful, it may become very popular. So, why not make some money from it? Selling a product can sometimes be even harder than coming up with it, so here are some guidelines that can help you.

Know the Market

Before you rush into trying to sell your product, you need to acknowledge whom it may benefit first. After this, be sure to find an investor who’s interested in selling your product. Sometimes, it may be easier to find a group that would enjoy it. From this point, finding a supplier for those groups would be much easier.

For example, there are many brands that are connected to skating. If you had an invention that would fit the skating community, you could try to pitch your idea to some of those brands. It sounds like it’s hard to find potential investors, but you’re going to find it easy once you start investigating the market. You’re going to notice that there could be a potential investor for anything, as long as you find the market that needs it.

Prepare Your Presentation

Preparing your presentation might sound easy, but keep in mind that you will only have a several minutes to explain to your potential investors exactly why they should believe in you and your product. After they hear you out, you will either sell your product or be stuck with it. Simple as that. This is why you need a perfect presentation.

A perfect presentation depends on fluency. Fluency can easily be secured in two ways. One way is making a script and sticking to it. This method can be helpful, but there are some problems that might occur. For instance, it could sound like you’re reciting your pitch, which can throw your investor off.

These problems don’t occur with the other way of securing fluency – bullet points and practice. Bullet points are there to remind you to stick to the topic. Practice your presentation using bullet points and you will surely be fluent. Not only that, but if any questions get thrown at you during the presentation, they are mostly going to be connected to a bullet point you’re talking about. So, it’s easier to focus both on your interaction with the investor and your presentation.

Give Them What They Need

Find what your investor needs in a product and give it to them. Explain to them why your product is something they need. However, keep in mind that exaggerating is a common mistake. It’s quite tempting to bend the truth if the interview is doing well. The last thing you need is to sell a product that doesn’t really do everything you promised.

Find out what investors look for in a new invention. If your product is something they could be interested in, then it’s going to be easy explaining why they need it. However, if you find that your product might not interest them, it’s better to find a different investor.

File a Provisional Patent Application

Your pitch is going to mean nothing if someone steals your product. A provisional patent application isn’t essential, but it’s the only way you can be sure your product will stay safe. It’s happened quite often that people lost their product because they didn’t provide it with a patent pending status.

For a small fee your product can get a patent pending status. Have in mind that obtaining a patent might cost you time and money. However, a patent pending status can be turned into full patent status with a help of interested investor or manufacturer.

Adam Richards

About Adam Richards

Adam Richards is a semi-retired business professional originally from Bangor, Maine. He spent the majority of his career in sales and marketing where he rose to the marketing lead of a Fortune 1000 company. He then moved on to helping people as a career counselor that specifically helped bring families to self-sufficiency through finding them rewarding careers. He has now returned to Bangor for his retirement and spends his free time writing. This blog will be about everything he learned throughout his career. He'll write on career, workplace, education and technology issues as well as on trends, changes, and advice for the Maine job market and its employers.