Mr Foreman,

First off I really feel your the real deal. Every time I see you in person and hear you speak I’m energized with your passion and honesty. You have time and again educated the inventor community with the reality of making an idea into a marketable product. I hope to meet you again in Providence and hopefully my invention/inventions I bring will be ones you and the judges feel are a good fit. Thanks,

Eric Doty

Hi Louis,
I attended the Chicago casting call. I was in the Edison group with a factory sample. I have a question about the buyers that we presented to. Does our portfolio that we left at the final table with DVD, patent info., sell sheet, etc… get passed along to the buyers, or if you did not make it through does all of that get pushed aside?

Just wondering, I actually have my product in two of the retailers stores that were there, but I think I blew my presentaion. Anyway, thanks in advance.

Trent Rousey

Trent,

I am glad that you were able to attend the Chicago casting call. I would be happy to discuss your product further, but for disclosure purposes, please contact me at louis.foreman@enventys.com so I can continue to protect the confidentiality of your invention.

Louis

Thank you Louis. You have shown yourself to be an important and committed leader in Invention Deveolpment. Years from now, we will look back and realize what an important contribution your leadership made to the inventing process for the everyday person.

Hello Louis…nice place you have here! I am becoming a louder and louder voice in the inventor/entrepreneur community. I am a big promoter as the U.S. needs us type of guys now more than ever.

I’ve been talking to Mike Drummond, very nice guy we are becomming friendly, maybe he has told you about me. I have to put a link to Inventors Digest on my site and I guess that includes here to.

I will be learning more about Everyday Edisons. I like an honest invention promoter. VERY IMPORTANT. Inventors build companies and companies build countries. Scam companies I find despicable.

Anyway, just wanted to say hello.

Ron Komorowski
Inventor of Handi-Straps
www.handi-straps.com

Hello Louis,

We attended that Chicago casting call with four product between the two of us and one product made it through two rounds. We have many more products to submit through your site. Could you tell me what happens when you and your staff receive a new submission?

Hi Mr. Foreman I attened the casting call back in January in Atlanta and made to final consideration on your committ of I built a better mouse trap and after you explained felt good about my idea. What I would like to know is if my idea is not selected for the show can it still be picked up by the retailer or retailers that saw the potential in the product. I’m just trying to get things together on my end in the case I don’t make it, because I really think and believe this product will do well in the market for the fact that anybody from company ceos to gas station workers can afford it and it’s a product that compliments something we all use everyday. So thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing from you.

Toby, Darrell, and everyone else who has attended a casting call,

First, I want to congratulate you on following through with your idea and taking the initial step to determining its feasibility. So many people talk about their ideas, but most never do anything with them.

Once the final casting call in Providence is completed, we will begin exploring the patentability of the ideas chosen, and start narrowing down the list to get to the 12 ideas for season 3. A team of over 60 experts are involved in this selection process. This is very difficult because we have seen so many great ideas over the past 4 months. As we get closer and closer to the final 12, the selection gets very emotional and confrontational at times. We all have our favorites that we want to see make it on the show.

At Everyday Edisons, we want to see more dreams come true, and this year, there are opportunities for inventors to still see their products get to market even if they are not one of the final 12 inventors. By working with some of America’s largest retailers including: The Home Depot, Bed Bath & Beyond, Staples, Petsmart, QVC, The Sharper Image, and buybuy Baby, we are looking to get even more of your products to market.

If your idea is not chosen for the show, but made it past the first round, it will be presented to the appropriate buyers at these retailers for their consideration. If there is interest, we will pursue these opportunities and assist in getting your idea to market. If after exhausting this effort, there is not interest or the retailer does not believe there is enough demand for the product to purchase, then the rights to your idea and any intellectual property will be returned to you.

Thank you again for participating in this process and I wish you the best of luck!

Louis Foreman

Mr. Foreman again thank you for your time and insight on this matter, it’s very important to me and I’m sure to other inventors as well to get just a little bit of any kind of encouragement and hope of seeing good things happen with our ideas. You have done something amazing with the creation of the show to give people like me and others a chance to do something nobody else will give us a chance of doing, from the seminars to the edison nation website, alot of tools to help us get started and things to watch out for. Make the show or not I would like to say thank you to you and your staff, because there was so much I didn’t know then, but know now that will help and guide me in the future. Darrell Thomas

Louis,
Is there a place on the website that lists all of the companies affiliated with Everyday Edisons? If not, where can I go to find a full list? I made it through the final round of judging in Dallas and I am excited to get my hands on as much information as I can. I have a baby product and wanted to know if buybuy Baby is my only hope if I am not chosen for the show? Thanks for this great opportunity.

Scottee

Mr. Foreman,

Is anyone accepting bribes?

Tom

Scottee,

I listed in a previous post some of the retailers that attend the casting calls. In addition to those listed, we also seek out the most appropriate distribution channels for the chosen products.

Everyday Edisons has built a sales infrastructure of 5 in-house sales executives and over 30 sales representatives. This team calls on virtually every major retailer in the United States.

This is a long term relationship that we are creating. If your product is chosen, we will work diligently to identify the strategic channels of distribution and seek to maximize the sales potential.

Tom,

The best way to earn points with the judges is to bring a great idea. Bringing candy never hurts.

Louis,

As we missed viewing the first season, what would be of great value to us would be an easy to understand visual road map on what it takes to bring an idea to reality. So clear that after a quick review of the material a person could say, “I get it”. The old PBS School House Rock series come to mind. Though the site now offers written details under the Educational Resources/Frequently Asked Questions, nothing there is of a short few minute road map/resource guide visual/video experience.

The reason I propose this is that once Elissa and I came up with our invention we looked everywhere from books to the Internet, and as everyone here can attest to its not easy to follow through (as we emphatically want to) and bring our idea into reality. Especially when we don’t know how the process even works.

As the second season has not aired yet we are still not clear on the process, and can use the help.

Here’s to hoping our dreams come true!

-Jerèll & Elissa

louis, hi i am in the same position as the position as salus and i need help from beginning to end. i called eventys and no one ever called me back. that really doesnt make me feel good because i want to be fully confident in who i yrust my idea to. this call was made about a couple of weeks ago. thank you for handling this matter for me.

I see alot of cookies and candy in your immediate future!!

louis, i was chosen for commercialization!….but have received very little communications from EN……even though we sign over our rights to our product, is there a way i can follow-up to the going-ons with my product?….eva

Hi Louis,
Attending the casting call in Chicago was a blast, and being chosen for final consideration is almost indescribable!
But since returning back to earth, a couple of questions have come to mind:

1. Is there any data available about how well Edison has done with the inventions from the first two seasons?

2. Is EE profitable with everything they commercialize? And more to the point, how did the inventors fare?

Thanks,
Brian Freeman

I’m new to the inventing arena and I’m excited about finding this community. I’ve got a bunch of questions about it, though:

Do most people have a bunch of great ideas, or just a handful (or one)?

Do most of them approach it as a hobby, or as a business?

Clearly it’s possible to hit a “home run,” but is doing so a question of luck, patience, persistence, or just having a phenomenal idea?

I really appreciate “The Big Idea” with Donny Deutsch. It would be great to have some well-researched info on how people have approached this business.

If I have a bunch of related ideas, should I set up a company to develop them, or try and license them?

I realize I’ve asked a lot of questions. Thanks for your response.

Brad

Hi, Bradley,

Welcome to the forum. I am not new to inventing, but new to actually trying to follow through to put a product on the shelf. Yes, it is so awesome to have a resource like this site. I am learning so much.

I have many ideas, all unrealated. I just thought of a new one this morning, as a matter of fact! I plan to form a company, probably an LLC, that will be for all my products.

I am trying to treat my inventing as a business, but it is really more like a hobby. I am a stay at home mom of teens and that alone keeps me pretty busy. I try to make a with time set asside specifically for inventing and the associated business details. I do take time to go to business development events or inventing casting calls.

What about anyone else?

S Sharp

I have a question about a fairly minor detail: will we be contacted if not selected for the show, or only contacted if we are indeed selected? Also, does the show focus on engineering the invention or more so on branding/marketing?

Thanks!

Jerell,

Going from an idea to making money from an invention is a process. It involves a number of steps, decisions, resources, time, and execution.
I will try to give everyone a general roadmap of the process in this forum, but BEFORE you start investing dollars in your idea, you should be able to answer these 5 questions:

1.What is your product and what makes it unique? There are plenty of products out there today that accomplish the same function. Why is your product better and why would someone purchase yours versus what already exists?

2.Who is your customer? You need to be able to clearly define the end user of your product (age, income, education, geographic location). This information allows us to quantify the size of the market and determine who we are marketing to.

3.How will the customer react to your product? You need to do focus groups and get feedback from your customer (not friends and family). Do they see your product as better than what is out there, how much would they pay for it, where would the buy it from, etc.

4.How much money will it take to get the product to market? You need to know this before you start investing in your idea. If the product cannot generate enough money to justify the investment, then don’t do it.

5.Where will the money come from? Again, you need to make sure you have the resources before you start so you don’t find yourself halfway there and out of funds.

Once these have been identified, then the decision on whether or not to pursue your invention becomes much easier to make.

Louis

OK…now the second part of the question. The roadmap from idea to retail will vary from product to product, and industry to industry, but here is a very general road map:

Feasibility of the Idea – as we discussed in the previous posting

Benchmarking – What other products are out there, what are their strengths and weaknesses, and where are they priced?

Design Criteria – Establish the parameters for which your product is to be developed. Price, features, materials, etc.

Proof of Concept – build a proof of concept prototype to show that the product works and delivers results.

Industrial Design – Design the product to meet or exceed the consumer expectations and differentiate it from the existing products.

Engineering – Engineer the product to meet the requirements of the design criteria and be able to manufacture at a price that the market will accept.

Prototype – This could involve many rounds, but get to a functional prototype that looks as close to the finished version.

Protect your Invention – This step can be done here or earlier, but at some point a patent should be filed to protect your invention. By waiting to file after the engineering and design is complete, you gain the benefit of the knowledge learned in that process. Alternatively, a patent can be filed earlier and then amended if additional discoveries are made.

Manufacturing – Find a manufacturer who can produce this product based on the engineering documentation and prototype you can provide.
Distribution Channels – Determine the appropriate channels for distribution…to get your product to the customer.

Brand and Identity – Develop an identity for your product. This would include a name, logo, and positioning for what it stands for.

Sales – Selling the product into the appropriate channels of distribution.

This, of course, assumes that you are looking at taking the product to market yourself. If licensing your invention is the preferred method, then protecting your idea and building a proof of concept prototype are the bare minimums and the value of your idea increases the further you move along this process.

Hope this helps.

Louis

Eva (and others),

Please be patient…we have not forgotten about you. We are trying to be thorough in our review of your idea and make sure we exhaust the available resources before we contact you. We are just as anxious to see ideas get to market as the inventors are.

Louis

Brian,

Congrats on making it through Chicago!

Products from the first season of Everyday Edisons are already on the market and being sold. Some are selling better than others, but it is way too early to declare the big winners yet. Getting a product to market is a time consuming and expensive process. Some catch on quickly and others take time to cultivate a following.

Seeing your idea take shape and then get to market is an exciting process and we look forward to making this happen season after season on Everyday Edisons.

Good luck!

Louis,

It does help and thank you for taking the time out of your busy commitments to respond to us and the rest of the folks here. We really do appreciate and value it. We are constantly amazed at how professional you and your team have been through this whole experience.

Hopefully you remember us from San Jose, Elissa and I were emphatically high-fiving as we received all ‘Yeses’ while our two boys were enjoying all the excitement. You kept our CAD renderings and not our prototypes (thank you by the way, they cost us a lot to have made). For us licensing our patent-pending invention is the preferred method and is in part why we love the Everyday Edison concept. Even though we know the high value our product brings to consumers and how broad our market appeal is; knowing what we have spent on our proof of concept prototype(s) so far, I cannot even imagine the costs of what it would truly take to bring such a simple product like ours to market. Like so many others these financial and knowledge abilities are out of our reach. That is why we are so excited to have even made it this far in your process, and hopefully we will be selected as a finalist for the third season so we can experience first hand this amazing opportunity.

Here’s to hoping our dreams come true!

-Jerèll & Elissa

louis, thanks!…..john from EN just emailed me with questions in preparation of their presentation to the retailers in Providence……i hope to be a success story of yours, and show other new inventors what you big guys can do for us little guys!

I have really enjoyed meeting you and all of the inventors at the casting calls. Hopefully the time attending these events is worthwhile. There is so much to learn from the experience. I just hope that this will lead to even more succesful inventions and fewer inventors exploited by the invention promotion companies.

Louis

Mr. Foreman I readed a post Matt put on the site about a guy who had an invention for every casting call the show had, and finally struck gold at the last casting call. He stated that the man made it to final consideration, but his idea was pulled off the shelf for patent issues. I’ve been on the back burner since january and was wondering how long did it take to notify the man of what happen, and if there are issues with our ideas would we as finalist be contacted by EE, or with it being so close to the july 31st dead line would it just ride out until then. Thanks for your time and hope to be a part of the show.

Darell Thomas

Very good! You are really reaching the masses! Another good thing was many had your magazine in hand; Inventor’s Digest. GREAT to see that too! It might have been because I was in there partly, thanks to you guys, but more important is that I saw a healthy circulation of your so important magazine to inventors.

I did put in a few good words for you guys at the meeting in my presentation. Keep up whatever you guys are doing! It’s working!

Ron Komorowski
Inventor of Handi-Straps
www.handi-straps.com

Ron,

Thank you for the posting. I am glad to hear that people are using Edison Nation. I am really excited about all the new features that will be announced very soon. We are building an incredible inventor community and we need ingenious inventors like yourself.

Hope to see you (and everyone) at the final casting call on May 19th.

Best of luck to everyone!

Dear Mr Foreman

Please clarify: I purchased a gold pass for the Providence casting but cannot attend myself. Your website only discloses after purchase of the pass that the pass is “not transferable”. I am not able to attend the casting in person and would be grateful for reassurance that the family member attending in my stead will be able to proceed on my pass.

Hi Ron,

Funny you should mention that was discussed at your meeting. I found out about the existence of the local inventor group NSI through the Everyday Edisons links page, and so I e-mailed Stephen Shaw a question regarding the groups’s thoughts about Everyday Edisons but never heard back, so I didn’t attend the meeting – which is a stone’s throw away from me. But I must concur with you that for someone with an invention this forum is invaluable. Mr. Foreman’s creation of an honest and reputable resource for inventors to submit their ideas was long overdue. I would have never even considered Invention Submission because of all the horror stories, but Everyday Edisons is unique in their approach and don’t ask for the tell-tale sign – money up front. Hopefully it’ll flourish and put the bad guys out of business! I’m not in the habit of brown-nosing, usually the opposite (Question Authority)! But giving credit where it’s due – hats off to you Mr. Foreman, and thanks for giving inventors this otherwise unavailable avenue!

Louis, I don’t consider myself a “knit-picker” (although my wife and anyone who knows me well may disagree) however, I believe that the final casting call is going to be held on May 17th rather than May 19th… unless the date has been changed?

Wayne-

Your wife is right and I am wrong. The casting call is on Saturday, May 17th in Providence, R.I. I am looking forward to seeing you and everyone else at the final casting call.

Thanks, Louis

Joane,

I am assuming that your family member is presenting the invention on your behalf. Therefore, your name will also be on the paperwork for the casting call. As long as your name is on the paperwork, the Gold Pass can be used.

Good luck on Saturday!

Louis

Louis,

Since most everyone really wants to get feedback on their submissions. Just a thought…maybe you could provide feedback as a priveldege of those people who have been a Gold Member for some period of time, ie, six months, etc.

This would further incentivize members to join and to maintain their membership over a longer period of time, rather than just joining to get the Gold Pass. It was also provide an unparalleled benefit to loyal members.

On a different note, the RI experience was great. Fellow inventors and EE staff all had such great energy. I consider myself fortunate to have been a participant.

To Rafael,

I am very sorry Steve Shaw did not answer you. I am sure it was by accident. He’s a man that flips out with spam and probably didn’t recognize you and just deleted. I will get him to contact you and he will be reading your post.

Steve actually does my website and I have to help him with something on his house this week. I will smack him in the back of the head for you and then tell him why after.

Please do attend the meetings if you are so close. Next month we will have some SCORE members to try and lecture about entrepreneurship. If there is one thing inventors tend to lack it is this. It’s just the nature of the inventor; the sometimes isolated deep thinker.

Please let me know if you are going to the meeting. I will attend to meet you otherwise I don’t make many meetings anymore.

Ron Komorowski
Inventor of Handi-Straps
www.handi-straps.com

Thanks Ron,

Sure I’d like to attend to see what the meetings are like. Just didn’t want to show up unannounced (or uninvited). The topic sounds good, I certainly could use some entrepeneurship information. Look forward to meeting you and the group.

Rafael

Louis,
First and foremost, kudos to you and your team for bringing EE to life and for being able to touch so many people in such a positive way.

A few Quick Qs: When all of the debate is done regarding the Season 3 finalists, how is everyone contacted (phone, e-mail, etc.)?Are all types notified via the same method or does it vary by final disposition (e.g., TV show participants and commercialization participants are notified via phone while others are notified via e-mail?). If a concept is not chosen for commercialization, what kind of feedback does the inventor receive? Will the inventor get a copy of EE’s investigative file so they can, perhaps, further improve their idea and/or understand obstacles, etc.? Thanks again for putting together a fantastic program to help individuals succeed.

Jeff…and all that participated in the casting calls:

Season 3 brought record numbers of inventors to the 5 cities we visited. I am amazed at the quality of the ideas that were presented. Just making it to filming was a huge accomplishment. Less than 3% made it beyond the casting call.

Our team is diligently reviewing the ideas and narrowing down the list to the most commercially viable concepts. We are looking for the 12 ideas to develop on Season 3 of Everyday Edisons, but also for an unlimited number of products that our retail partners have decided to pursue as well. This means that there could literally be 100 or more ideas chosen! I am excited that we can help so many inventors this way.

So to answer your questions…Everyone will be contacted…I just cannot reveal how. That would ruin the surprise. If you are not chosen, we unfortunately will not have specific feedback on each invention, we just don’t have an efficient manner to handle this. We understand how this could be important to you, and are exploring ways to do so as part of Edison Nation in Season 4.

Good Luck!

Louis

Hi Louis,
I have a question and it may sound crazy but can someone opt out of consideration be for July 31st from being chosen to be on the show. What I understand about the agreement is, your only under contract if your idea is chosen to be on the show? and untill then we should be able to do what we want with our idea’s/inventions? Thanks for any reply,

Tim G.

Louis, Wow! What a great thread! Getting back to your original point, I would like to suggest a little more content on how helpful it can be to empower yourself. One thing many inventors don’t seem to realize is that you can make some pretty good prototypes on your own. I have quite a bit of experience in this area. In fact, my personal experiences of prototyping on a shoestring budget has helped my employers save many thousands of dollare in high-end prototyping. I think that showing people how to take common objects and modify them into parts that are useful to your invention would be extremely valuable. Also, it doesn’t take a lot of talent to create excellent silicon molds and simple parts. Finally, there are great ways to save money by parsing out your parts, such that a rapid prototyper (stereo lith, SLA etc) can produce the difficult parts, while others can be obtained/made by hand. I think the more tricks of the trade people know about, the better they will be capable of generating their own prototypes and ultimately bringing their product to market.

Just a thought.

Rafael

Greetings Mr. Foreman,

My question is: Will a casting call for season 4 be held in Philadelphia, the home of Ben Franklin?

“in his autobiography he wrote, “… as we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours…”

Thank you for Inventing EE & EN!

Jefferson L. Bole

Mr. Foreman,

I unfortunately was not able to attend any of the onsite casting calls do to their location and my work schedule so I was so excited to see the online submission for EN. I am now waiting for more green lights but my question is this:

In the submission form it says there are 3 main stages. Stage 1: Preliminary Metrics; Stage 2: Database; Stage 3: Retail Presentation. Then I looked at my dashboard and there are 7 steps. Could you explain what stage of the process is associated with which step on my dashboard. :) Waiting with bated breath.

Tim,

In response to your inquiry about opting out of the agreement. Under the agreement, the rights to the product revert back to you if you are not chosen for the show by July 31. We want you to achieve success with your product. Please contact me directly and I will discuss this further with you.

Rafael,

Great idea! In fact, I think it would make sense for you to start a thread about prototyping and offer some of your suggestions. This is really what Edison nation is all about. Let’s share the valuable information we all have and empower others to be innovative. I would also encourage you to contact Mike Drummond, editor of Inventors Digest. I am sure he would be very interested in speaking with you as well. He has a profile on Edison Nation…reach out to him.

Mr. Foreman,

I live in New Jersey and would also love for your season 4 to be held in Philadelphia!!!

Thanks,
Patrice

Jefferson,

Already talking about Season 4…I am still getting over the Season 3 casting calls.

We have not determined the dates and cities yet, but they will be posted towards the end of the year. I will definitely keep Philadelphia in mind when we start planning.

Mr. Foreman,

Are there any remote job opportunites available with your company that we could apply for? I live in New Jersey and have a full time job as a Financial Analyst but would love to do research or other things on the side.

Thanks,
Patrice