Bring it to Market, But HOW ?

[rayzrocket]

Be open with your ideas.

Sharing your ideas will automatically attract good meaningful (and usually free) help by those who have similar passion to see that idea become reality, and furthermore brought to market.

My past personal experiences have taught me that one must be very carefull and secretive(generate trade secrets) once your product begins to flourish, since that is when the bad-guys come lookin' to steal, cheat, and clobber you.

Maybe you should start an 'Idea Farm' or an 'Incubator' in this forum or at your own website. Many collaborative projects exist out there; actually this forum is one of sorts in itself. Once you have working prototypes, there are many large co's, small companies, investment firms, professors, military brass, and the like that welcome presentations. Many will pay for your trip to visit them or webinar to demonstrate. Plenty have hit it big (relatively speaking).
You should always 'push', don't expect to be 'pulled'.

[rmteo]

Another possibility http://www.licensingexpo.com/

[Demon]

Watch a few episodes of Dragon's Den and observe what the pros look out for in new ideas/inventions.

I noticed the first thing they consider is how fast can they get a return on investment, how big is the market, is there competition, is the idea/concept solid, is the "first impression" about the product positive, does the product already have a customer base, what is the potential growth, does the inventor know what he is talking about, etc.

http://www.cbc.ca/dragonsden/

[Archangel]

Anyone have an idea how much it costs to get U L Approval for an AC Mains powered device ?

[Demon]

Wouldn't it depend on the complexity of the device? A lamp would be easier/cheaper than a professional grade sound mixer?

[Archangel]

Probably to some extent. I do not know what they test for, do they overvoltage, shake and recheck ? I do work for a test lab, they test spacecraft components, I doubt UL does the same kinds of tests they do. My device has just a simple electrical circuit, much less than say a dishwasher does. But if you expect to get business insurance you need UL approval.

[Demon]

I remember Melanie and a few others got into a discussion about this subject. The topic didn't stand out to me 'cause it related to testing European standards. so I couldn't give you a good search string to look for.

You could look under Melanie's profile and see where she posted.

EDIT: This one, http://www.picbasic.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=3490.