Who wants to invest in a wind power innovation that could change the way electricity is generated?

Question

Some ideas are "widgets", and some ideas are truly great! As an example - I don't need a special device to get all of the toothpaste out of the tube (I personally use the edge of the vanity top) - but we all use electricity, and that "need" generates a lot of revenue!

I actually don't have an idea, it's more of an engineering solution to some problems, and also several evolutionary advancements in wind power technology that need at least 3 patents (for sure). It could take as much as $20,000 to secure these patents and I just don't have it!

I'm not a marketing genius or a financial wizard (if I were, I probably wouldn't be here asking this question!). What I am is an unconventional, independent engineer with a working model of my creation that performs magnificently! . . . and I can't demonstrate its potential without its protection. What do I do?

Wind Energy, Innovative Engineering Idea, Vertical Axis Wind Turbine, Angel Money, New Patent Investment

Answer 1

Bringing a new product to market is difficult, and your product is not an easy one. One option is to work for a company that can develop it, and that would be a large enough one with enough capital.

I am a self-employed person 56 years old with my own business, but I chose one that didn't require much capital to get it started, and I operate it out of my home, so I don't have virtually any overhead.

You've got a huge gap between your idea and production/ marketing that you have to deal with. For me personally, I could not do it, and I do not believe there is any easy solution, except to keep moving forward. Join a local business group in your area.

What you need more than anything else at this point, I believe, is to network with other people. essentially, that is what you have attempted to do here in Yahoo Answers. I just posted you information to my Yahoo Los Angeles business group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LosAngeles... to try to get some response there. There are 129 members, but it's best to try.

Also you maybe already know this but I found it interesting.  Mesa Power, controlled by billionaire investor Boone Pickens, ordered 667 wind turbines from General Electric Co. to begin a $10 billion wind-farm project in Texas that will be the nation’s largest.

(CNN) -- Billionaire oilman T. Boone Pickens is sinking billions of dollars into a new wind farm in Texas. It is likely to become the biggest in the world, producing enough power for the equivalent of 1.3 million homes.

CNN's Ali Velshi asked the oil legend why he thinks wind could be the answer to this country's energy problems: Ali Velshi: Tell me about the wind. Now, you are buying, for a start, more than 600 wind turbines from General Electric. You're going to put them on this big tract of land in Texas, and you're going to generate a lot of electricity.

What happens to that electricity? Tell me where you think you're going to make your money and how this is going to help the situation in America.

T. Boone Pickens: Well, that's the first step to a 4,000-megawatt wind farm. This is 1,000 megawatts.

We start receiving those turbines in mid 2010. We will have the total 4,000 megawatts finished by the end of 2015. That power will go into a transmission line that will tie into the Electric Reliability Council of Texas system in the state of Texas, and it will be transmitted downstate.

I have been in Yahoo Answers for only about two months, but I like to answer a small number of questions and answer them well. I don't think I'm doing so well for you, but I'm trying.

I like to go to questions that have been posted several days and have no answers yet. Those are usually tough questions to come up with answers for. They require more research on my part, and I enjoy the challenge and learning experience for myself.

I am a UCLA MBA Finance '75. My online business is at http://forklift1.com

That's the low overhead one I just referred to above. You can email me if you want to keep in touch. Maybe through further discussions, we can develop some more concrete ideas.

Your product requires, it sounds like, some capital investment and some "staying power" to get it going operationally. In order to get investors, you have to prepare some financial statements, a proposal, and, if you want public investment, that's a whole quantum leap, as maybe you know.

I hope I do not sound negative. I'm not. I've been in business 30 years. Researching, and that includes looking at all the scenarios, especially what can go wrong, is necessary to avoid having those things go wrong.

I always look at my own projects very skeptically, because I know I am emotionally attached to them. I would suggest a couple of things you don't do. Don't get any money from family or friends.

If you are uniquely gifted as an engineer, you can look at the option of selling the technology to a larger company. Get an attorney first, so you can protect your rights and get residual benefits.

I think you're in the position of someone who has a gift or talent like singing or comedy, and you've gotten to the point of feeling you're ready to go out on your own. People always say, "Don't quit your day job"! because you've got to make a living.

Before I "quit my day job" and went into business for myself, which meant no paycheck, no health plan, no vacation, no sick leave - I had saved enough money so I could survive.

The question you have posed here is very tough. It requires a very tough answer!

Answer 2

Should have invested in wind energy a while back.  It's all in the "go"  stage now.  If they were all up and running today they would be pumping a whole lot of wind energy!