Inventing on a Budget: What You Can Do with Your Ideas Without Breaking the Bank

So you have an idea for a new invention, but don't have the time or money to develop it. What should you do now? Well before you toss that idea aside, I want you to know that you have some options. Thanks to three relatively new organizations, you can now give that invention of yours a chance at development without investing loads of time and money. You don't need to file for a patent or even hire a professional to design your product. These are legitimate companies that have been tried, tested and produce results for products that have potential. Each of these has a unique set of goals and requirements; explore all three to find the one that will best suit your needs.

Quirky
This is an interesting site where inventors can submit their basic product idea. The invention's success is entirely dependent on whether people want to buy it or not; what a novel idea! The product development process is very quick relative to other options. It's $99 to submit an invention, then each week the Quirky community will vote for their favorite ideas. If your invention is selected, it moves on to be influenced by the community; the product's design, name and logo will tweaked to make it appeal to wider audience. The Quirky development team will create a 3D rendering of the invention and then it goes up for pre-sale where people can commit to buy the product. If enough people commit, then the invention goes into production and the inventor will start to receive income.

Edison Nation
This is my favorite of the group and is the one I use most often. At Edison Nation, companies in need of innovation will post invention searches with a set of basic requirements. You pay $25 per invention to have the Edison Nation team review and develop your product, and if it passes the review process, they will present your invention to the client company. If the invention is selected, you will receive an upfront payment of at least $2,500 plus a percentage of sales for a period of 20 years. I've used Edison Nation for several inventions and have been pleased with their service. Their support staff consistently clears up any confusion in their very active forum as well as through email.

Innocentive
The focus of Innocentive is industry changing inventions and those that solve major world issues with the potential to make a major impact; new ways to clean up an oil spill is just one example. They cater mostly to scientists and engineers, with many of the challenges being highly technical in nature. There are different challenge types, some only requiring a written proposal and others requesting a prototype. Idea submission is free, and most challenges offer large rewards to the selected solver.

Granted, you probably won't make near as much return using these companies as you could developing your invention yourself; but the convenience and low investment makes any of them a good choice for the budding inventor.