Do you have an idea for a great invention?
You’re not alone. But your idea stands a better chance of becoming a reality if it’s derived from personal experience, and if you have a crystal-clear vision of how your invention will work in the marketplace.
That’s the advice of Henry Keck, co-founder of Keck-Craig Inc., a company in Pasadena that specializes in building prototypes of inventors’ ideas. With the right help, the idea can become a business.
“We invented a golf cart that puts less pressure on the ground than a human being walking,” said Roger Pretekin, president of Solo Rider Industries Inc., based in Englewood, Colo., whose single-rider cart is intended for senior and disabled golfers. “We found a way to equally distribute the weight, to between five and six pounds per square inch, so the cart can go literally anywhere on the greens.”
As a result, Pretekin says, any amputee or paraplegic can play 18 holes without getting out of the cart. Pretekin came up with the idea at his former job wiring golf courses for network TV cameras.
“On a golf course, there’s always an area set aside for people in wheelchairs,” said Pretekin. “I started reading the Americans With Disabilities Act, and found out there are specifics for handicapped parking, but nothing about a golf course.”
Pretekin took his idea to Keck-Craig Inc. for a preliminary product model. Keck-Craig supplies the tools, the parts and the ingenuity to build the product or the machine and then helps find vendors and production shops for manufacturing and assembly.
“We were looking for design engineers to design the body of this cart,” said Pretekin, who managed to privately raise $3 million for the invention. “I had the idea, I just didn’t know how to make the cart’s shell.”
Pretekin, Keck and Keck-Craig’s team of 10 employees came up with a weight-distribution design for the Solo Rider. Keck has an undergraduate degree combining engineering and business from Dartmouth College, and a graduate degree in product development and industrial design.
“We look for people who are enthusiastic and have an idea that was derived from their personal experience,” said Keck. “When you have that combination, you know they want to see the idea through to fruition.”
Inventing opportunities
Keck-Craig has been in business since 1951. Its annual revenues are around $1 million. According to Keck, 75 percent of the firm’s business comes from corporations; only 25 percent from individuals. “Most inventors don’t have much money,” Keck said.
Still, he tries to give every inventor an opportunity, and the preliminary appointment is free. Before that first meeting, an inventor should know exactly what he or she wants to accomplish with the invention.
“Some people simply want a patent for their ego expansion,” said Keck. “Others really want to do something to help people.”
Another client of Keck-Craig is Elwyn Ewald, who returned home to the United States from a trip to New Guinea and the Philippines and asked Keck-Craig to help license an ultraviolet device that can purify water for as many as 1,000 people a day.
“I knew the senior scientists that had developed the technology,” said Ewald, president of Waterhealth International in Napa. “I had left a job at a lending firm, and I was looking for a business that might help the people I lived with abroad.”
After seven prototypes, the model went to market in 1999. There are now 200 systems in use in Mexico and 200 in the Philippines; none yet in the United States.
Ewald said the process took far longer than he anticipated. He said he is just now getting his investment returned. “This business is high-risk,” said Ewald. “We thought it’d be two years before we got money; now, it’s three years, and it’s only just reached the market.”
It takes between three and six months for Keck-Craig to do the preliminary work, create a prototype, test it, and start production. Development costs range from $10,000 to $200,000. The golf cart cost $150,000 to develop.
Keck said his firm can help with everything but the marketing. Keck-Craig will give almost any idea a chance, except things that verge on the pornographic and things that aren’t practical.
“Like a pet rock we’re not about to help that,” said Keck. “Our time is too valuable.”
The latest inventions, said Keck, are in the world of electronics.
“People don’t realize how many things have already been invented,” he said.
Tips for inventors
Keck, Pretekin and Ewald provided these suggestions for entrepreneurs with ideas for inventions:
– Know what you want to accomplish with your invention. Do you want to market it, license it, or have it made yourself? Ask yourself why you want this made.
– Take a careful look at how much money is required and be sure you have access to it. The testing process becomes very costly if you have to remake the model.
– Raise twice as much money as you need.
– Keep in mind that the model that you come up with has to last. Be sure the thing is sturdy, safe and unbreakable. If something does break, you will have to go through the whole testing process again.
– Give yourself three times the amount of time you think the whole process will take.
Jane Applegate is the author of “201 Great Ideas for Your Small Business,” and is founder of ApplegateWay.com, a multimedia Web site for busy entrepreneurs. She can be reached via e-mail at [email protected].
