Sayville’s Chris Heisig is a regular at the Inventors & Entrepreneurs Club of Suffolk County.
Standing in a knot of other members before the most recent meeting at the county’s office building in Hauppauge, Heisig said that nearly a decade ago he had an idea for a flashlight that never saw the light of day.
“I come for inspiration,” he said.
Nine years ago Heisig’s hopes for a light-emitting diode flashlight went south when a business partner got lost in personal and financial troubles. In addition, his prototype wasn’t terribly attractive.
Asked how he became an inventor, Heisig said he’d always been a tinkerer. “Some kids watch sports,” he added. “Some kids take the toaster apart.”
Not all in attendance were inventors. A patent attorney spoke about protecting ideas and a financial advisor networked among the crowd. A man in the toy business weighed in on the difficulty of getting an inventor’s vision to store shelves.
The purpose of the club is not to share inventive ideas. Who wants the million-dollar baby stolen from the cradle? Inventors attend to get information on how to create business plans, prototypes and decoding the mysteries of the patent office.
Bob Zounek, client manager of Long Island Forum for Technology, reminded inventors of the high cost of taking the plunge.
He along with Steve Cohen of the United Inventors Association stressed market research as a priority. Find out if you have customers before you take too many steps along the road, they cautioned.
Check here for an inventor’s group near you.
Photo by danzo08.
Inventors’ Paradise
September 5, 2008 by Rich | 2 Comments
In Advice, Ideas, Inventors
cassy on September 6th, 2008 at 12:40 am
We should be thankful for the people who dont stop finding new inventions. We are lucky enough to have used their invention and enjoy it!
jaeda on September 7th, 2008 at 5:43 pm
yeah, exactly . . things we have right now is somebody’s invention.