Million dollar app idea, quick questions

[Danimal1209]

I have an idea for an app that would be extremely popular, without a doubt. I have some programming knowledge, but not near enough to get this to market. Is there some sort of way that I can patent or claim the rights to the intellectual property or "idea" of this app? If so, I would want to sell them to a developer.

I have had a lot of app ideas before that I thought could be mildly popular, but this app idea I have is a sure hit. Any advice? Please, only responses that would be helpful.

 

[lothar]

I have an idea for an app that would be extremely popular, without a doubt. I have some programming knowledge, but not near enough to get this to market. Is there some sort of way that I can patent or claim the rights to the intellectual property or "idea" of this app? If so, I would want to sell them to a developer.

I have had a lot of app ideas before that I thought could be mildly popular, but this app idea I have is a sure hit. Any advice? Please, only responses that would be helpful.

I'll tell you how if you make me the assignee of your patent.

 

[Danimal1209]

Well, I've been reading online that apparently a person cannot patent an idea. But, a person can sell that idea to a company. How would this be accomplished?

 

[Mopetar]

You can patent a particular implementation of an idea. Even then, there's no guarantee that anyone will be interested in licensing your patent or even developing your idea. Also, there is a fee for filing patents.

May want to look into something like http://www.uspto.gov/inventors/iac/index.jsp which might be able to give you more information.

 

[slugg]

I'll tell you what I tell everyone else who has a million dollar app idea... If your idea is so good, why don't you just contract me to make it for you and then you make a million dollars off of it? All of a sudden, once "idea guys" are asked to put their money where their mouth is, they seem to have a different opinion.

 

[Danimal1209]

I don't want to contract anyone to make it, I just want to sell it. But, I guess that's not possible.

 

[slugg]

But if the idea is so good, why don't you contact the development and rake in the profit?

 

[NetGuySC]

You can patent a software idea, you just have to be able to articulate a very detailed description. Probably cost you 4k-12k.
Talk to a patent attorney with software patent knowledge.

 

[soccerballtux]

You can patent a software idea, you just have to be able to articulate a very detailed description. Probably cost you 4k-12k.
Talk to a patent attorney with software patent knowledge.

^that could also cost 4k-12k

 

[lothar]

You can patent a software idea, you just have to be able to articulate a very detailed description. Probably cost you 4k-12k.
Talk to a patent attorney with software patent knowledge.

You don't have to articulate a detailed description on any patent, period.
Where do you think the term "broad patent" comes from?
Broad patents are patents with purposely very little detailed description.

 

[pm]

If you really think it's a great idea, contact an app developer - you can find plenty on Google - and write up an NDA and then get an estimate for the cost to have the app written paying particular attention to the clauses about who owns rights to the source code and how updates will work, then start your own business (a fairly simple process that takes less than an hour), write up a business plan, go to the bank and apply for a business loan for the cost of the app plus enough to get it to market, get a round of alpha and beta testers to test it, and then release it on the app store.

I have 3 friends who have done this, and while they aren't millionaires, it's worked out fairly well for two out of the three.

 

[lothar]

If you really think it's a great idea, contact an app developer - you can find plenty on Google - and write up an NDA and then get an estimate for the cost to have the app written paying particular attention to the clauses about who owns rights to the source code and how updates will work, then start your own business (a fairly simple process that takes less than an hour), write up a business plan, go to the bank and apply for a business loan for the cost of the app plus enough to get it to market, get a round of alpha and beta testers to test it, and then release it on the app store.

I have 3 friends who have done this, and while they aren't millionaires, it's worked out fairly well for two out of the three.

What's going to stop the app developer from pulling a "Mark Zuckerberg"?

 

[pm]

What's going to stop the app developer from pulling a "Mark Zuckerberg"?

A contract. A sense of ethics. The risk of a lawsuit. It's probably worth spending some time researching the app developer, but at some point, you have to trust people. And, in general, most people are worthy of that trust. In business, there is - by necessity - a required amount of trust. The bank has to trust your business with the money they loan you... what's to stop you from spending the money on a really nice vacation around the world and then saying your business lost it... I think trying to make an app with a contract developer is much less risky than trying to sell an idea to a larger company. And more work... but probably more profitable too.

 

[lothar]

A contract. A sense of ethics. The risk of a lawsuit. It's probably worth spending some time researching the app developer, but at some point, you have to trust people. And, in general, most people are worthy of that trust. In business, there is - by necessity - a required amount of trust. The bank has to trust your business with the money they loan you... what's to stop you from spending the money on a really nice vacation around the world and then saying your business lost it... I think trying to make an app with a contract developer is much less risky than trying to sell an idea to a larger company. And more work... but probably more profitable too.

None of those seem to have stopped Mark Zuckerberg.
But yes...Trust is the key test.

I'm pretty sure(or I would hope at least) that banks don't just loan money to a random small business with no history without any collateral unless that business is a corporation(which in most cases shouldn't be considered a small business anyway).
Collateral can be anything including your house, headquarters or office buildings, etc...
Not many new small business owners would go on vacation knowing their house a collateral on their loan. At least I would hope not....

 

[Ancalagon44]

If you have the skills, your best bet is to develop it yourself.

If you have the money, your best bet is to file a patent and then pay someone else to develop an implementation for you.

If you have neither the money nor the skills, you are out of luck!

 

[ericlp]

well, you could sell you idea to people that have the cash. Kinda like you invest 5K dollars and get 20% of the profit. So 10Grand for two money investors.

10 Grand to go to develop the app and market it. That's just to write the app for ios/android and put it on the market to see how many users pay for it.

I have 5K but I wouldn't just risk my cash like that I would want to see what I'm investing in. That's why I'd have a from to sign that I couldn't just develop the app or steal your idea.

Anyway! Good Luck on your idea!

 

[Ancalagon44]

well, you could sell you idea to people that have the cash. Kinda like you invest 5K dollars and get 20% of the profit. So 10Grand for two money investors.

10 Grand to go to develop the app and market it. That's just to write the app for ios/android and put it on the market to see how many users pay for it.

I have 5K but I wouldn't just risk my cash like that I would want to see what I'm investing in. That's why I'd have a from to sign that I couldn't just develop the app or steal your idea.

Anyway! Good Luck on your idea!

Nobody would do that. You are asking those developers to take all of the risk and put in all of the capital, for 20%? No way.

Ideas are worth absolutely nothing. Not $5k, not $1k. They have no value on their own. Implementations of ideas however, can be extremely valuable.

Any good developer will be asking what the OP would bring to the table in the new business, and the answer is, not much. Just an idea. If he had market research, a proof of concept to back up his idea and a patent then maybe he could get someone else to invest.

 

[runawayprisoner]

I have had many guys coming to me saying stuffs all up and down the Earth.

And most of the "good ideas" run into technical issues or limitations (sometimes due to the maturity of hardware performance), and the whole project is put on hold indefinitely. Neither they nor I can make anything off of it other than that "oh, it doesn't work".

So yes... definitely, implementation is much more important than the idea itself. You should test and see whether your idea is feasible with current technology by first... implementing it. Otherwise, it's worthless IMO.

I wouldn't want to buy an "idea" myself. If it's "idea", I can probably spend the next 30 days doing nothing and thinking of random things to implement... and it'd be more profitable. (actually tried that and it worked)

 

[Deeko]

Ever since I started writing apps, everyone I know has came to me with their "million dollar idea". Most of them are stupid, or largely impractical, usually from a data perspective.

 

[slugg]

Ever since I started writing apps, everyone I know has came to me with their "million dollar idea". Most of them are stupid, or largely impractical, usually from a data perspective.

This.

 

[hasu]

Ever since I started writing apps, everyone I know has came to me with their "million dollar idea". Most of them are stupid, or largely impractical, usually from a data perspective.

>> largely impractical

You are very right. There is a distinction between imagination for the future and imagination for the fiction. But some new "entrepreneurs" don't realize that. They even quote Bill Gates's 640kB remarks to back them up!

That being said, a good software idea can certainly be patented. But it is not going to be cheap. Be ready to spent about $15k to $20k. A cheaper alternative is "Provisional Patent", which will give you one year protection - good enough to find a buyer or a VC.

 

[dagamer34]

I don't want to be mean, but your million dollar app idea is really worth about 2 cents. What makes an app "worth a million dollars" is a lot of time, energy, effort, and stroke of luck. If you aren't a developer, you have no idea what some of challenges it will take to make your "million dollar app idea" actually successful.

 

[Deeko]

I don't want to be mean, but your million dollar app idea is really worth about 2 cents. What makes an app "worth a million dollars" is a lot of time, energy, effort, and stroke of luck. If you aren't a developer, you have no idea what some of challenges it will take to make your "million dollar app idea" actually successful.

I would assume you meant to target this at the op, not me, yes?

 

[A5]

In general, you can't protect your IP until you do something with it. Even if it is just thinking out and producing a very detailed work-flow of the program's operation, you need to have more than just the basic idea.

No reputable company is going to pay you just for your idea. It's legally possible, but in reality this almost never happens. If you were able to execute the idea, you might receive buyout offers after that.

If you already have some programming knowledge, learning what you would need to do to implement this great idea probably isn't that hard. Once you know the basic ideas of programming, learning a new language is just syntax and practice.

Finally, if your app pitch is "it's like (popular app), combined with (other popular app)" or "(popular app), but with (minor addition)", someone else is probably already working on it.

 

[dagamer34]

I would assume you meant to target this at the op, not me, yes?

Yeah... I'll remove the quote.