Before the death of the late Billy Mays, I was a big fan of the TV show pitchmen. Each week the program showcased several inventors that sought to get their invention marketed by Mays and Andrew Sullivan.
Last night I was sitting thinking “What if there was a website that emulated this show?”
Inventors could put their ideas on the site. They could be ranked by users looking to buy new gadgets. Manufacturers and marketers could use this site to find their next new product. I think it could do for inventions what myspace and youtube have done for music. Provide a no cost venue for showcasing their talent. Word of mouth would help the best ideas get the most coverage, and the cream of the crop could be picked by the top companies in the industry.
1. Is it a good idea?
2. If so, has it been done yet?
3. If not, what is the best way we can get it done?
4. What could make this idea even better?
I liked Pitchmen too. I think the only concern here is that people are not going to be willing to submit their uncopyrighted ideas to a site that is out there for the world to see … someone with the money to copyright those plans and ideas could steal it away. I don't think it's been done for this reason.
Perhaps a combination of Pitchmen and Shark Tank would work. A big corp pays to copyright it and build a prototype, and then the top products go out for field tests. At that point, the website would come into play: visitors would vote on their favorite products and the whole thing goes viral. Winner gets a spot in the product line that hits stores or goes on the infomercial circuit.
Good point. I didn't really think about the copyright issue. That would probably be fairly prohibitive