Editor’s Note: Edison Nation is a sister business with Inventors Digest. At our request, Cheryl Dutton held up a mirror to EN to give us an unvarnished look at the site that hosts Live Product Searches linking inventors with retailers and manufacturers. This story appeared in our June 2009 issue.

By Cheryl Dutton

Last year Phillip Avery was among the early birds to Edison Nation, the Web portal that links inventors with retailers and manufacturers through Live Product Searches.enlogo

“Believe me there was hardly anything to the site at the beginning,” says Avery of Bethlehem, Penn. “And no one knew what to post because the searches hadn’t started at that point.”

What a difference a few months make.

Since its debut, Edison Nation has hosted product searches for the likes of Walmart, Bed Bath & Beyond, Hammacher Schlemmer, Lifetime Brands, Spencer’s, WD-40, WestPoint Home and Yahoo! Hundreds of inventors have submitted products for consideration.

“I find it very rewarding and productive to actually work on an idea geared to fit a vendor’s search criteria,” says Avery, who made it on season three of Everyday Edisons with a bakeware product. “I’ve always been creative and have come up with ideas for all sorts of things, but never had the means or the resources to make them happen. Edison Nation changes all of that.”

Edison Nation owes its origins to the PBS television series Everyday Edisons. Unable to feature all the promising products screened at casting calls held in cities across the country, those attached to the show launched the open-innovation Web portal.

To submit ideas, you pay $25 per idea. Edison Nation Gold members get a 20 percent discount, as well as a copy of Inventors Digest for every month they remain Gold members. Other benefits include access to videos of innovation leaders such as James Dyson and Jeffery Bezos, as well as discounts at the site’s retail page. Membership costs $9.25 a month. Gold members can submit their idea for all future Live Product Searches at no additional fee. Inventors can opt out and pursue commercialization on their own at any time if their idea is not selected.

A team of lawyers, designers, marketers and product development experts evaluate the submissions, and deliver the cream of the innovative crop to sponsoring companies. Inventors can track their progress on a colored timeline.

Margaret Pryor of Charlotte, N.C., hasn’t had her home-organization product selected, but she has found the site valuable.

“I had absolutely no idea how to proceed with it,” she says. “As a stay-at-home mom, I had no funding to bring my product to market myself. I didn’t know how to go about finding supplies, etc. I was ready to throw in the towel.”

She’s since learned about intellectual property protection, branding, marketing and other business fundamentals from the site. She’s confident she can make a go of her invention.

“And,” she adds, “I realize that bringing a product to market is not an overnight process.”

Others, such as Rafael Avila of Farmingdale, N.Y., also like the site’s forum, where inventors, professionals and others gather.

“These people have been inspirational, helpful, funny, attentive, sympathetic and entertaining,” says Avila, who created a novelty lighting device. “They add a new element to being an inventor – a feeling that I’m not alone in my daunting, uphill struggle to market.”

As in any community, this cyber village has its benefits and its pitfalls.

“There is a lot of non-invention ‘noise’ and I am more interested in the ‘signal,'” says Bob Kochem of Belmont, Mass., who invented a multi-bit screwdriver. “But I suppose the noise has to be accepted to keep members active.”

Lack of feedback and recognition remain the biggest disappointments of EN, many users say.

“It would be fairly simple for Edison Nation to issue a certificate indicating that a particular idea made it to the finals” of a product search, says Avila. “This piece of information could be tremendously valuable to an inventor who wishes to seek licensees on his/her own.”

Lawrence Wandell, a retired gun manufacturer from Herkimer, N.Y., wants more information.

“When a member is lucky enough to make it all the way to Step 7 (as a finalist), and then at Step 8, you get a big red X, Edison Nation should give an explanation as to why the manufacturer did not choose your idea,” Wandell says.

Adds Adam Clifford, of Ardglass, County Down, Northern Ireland: “The absence of input/feedback is not appealing, the locking up of rights is a bit too non-negotiable for me, and the waves of rejection and anxious waiting is not pleasant.”

According to Matt Spangard, one of the co-founders of Edison Nation, there is a feedback system built into the site but it may not go as far as some would like.

“We have an eight-stage feedback system that allows members to track the progress of their idea via their home page,” he says. “If their idea does not pass a certain stage, that offers a tremendous amount of feedback. We have just added a new feature to our dashboards that further explains each stage.

“Our goal with the Live Product Searches is not to become an invention submission company – they already exist (and cost quite a bit more than $25). Our goal was to provide everyday idea people with unprecedented access to the right buyers at major retailers and manufacturers.

“Our track record is pretty good, too,” Spangard adds. “In just eight months, we’ve closed five searches and successfully licensed nine inventions. We’re in the process of reviewing ideas for a half a dozen other searches, and taking new searches live all the time.”

In a crowded marketplace of ideas and in an inventor industry brimming with unscrupulous inventor promoters, Edison Nation offers refuge and a platform for honest commercialization.

“I have made a number of friends and contacts that would not have been possible if not for Edison Nation,” says Toni LaCava of Melbourne, Fla., inventor of a sleep apnea, neonatal, respiratory device. “I will be a member until I die.”

EN’s 8-stage feedback system

1) Submission Received – Your submission has been submitted successfully.

2) Pre-Screen – Your submission has met the minimum requirements of the search.

3) Initial IP – Your submission has passed our first round of competitive analysis and intellectual property review.

4) Research & Design – We review and benchmark your submission against competitive products. In some cases, our product designers may enhance your idea to take it to the next level.

5) Final Consideration – We benchmark your submission against the other submissions for the search. The best move forward for more in-depth intellectual property review (stage 6). Key review criteria include: market potential, price point, match for the search sponsor, and any other requirements defined in the search description.

6) Final IP Review – We perform a more in-depth analysis of competing intellectual property, patents and ideas in the public domain.

7) Finalists – This is our final review. If your submission passes this stage, it will be presented to the search sponsor for consideration.

8. Success – If your submission has passed this stage, it has been selected by the search sponsor to take to market. We will contact you directly with more details and send you your advance payment.