A Quirky Social Network For Product Development

June 4, 2009

Have an idea for an innovative product sitting around in your head, but never have the time or the wherewithal to kick any kind of serious effort into high (or even low) gear? If so, here’s a Web site to check out. Quirky.com, which is being billed as a social network for product development, is trying to become the launching pad for the best ideas among those countless product doodles tucked away in pockets, drawers and notebooks.

Founded by a 22-year, serial entrepreneur Ben Kaufman, Quirky lets anyone submit their product idea for $99 and then the community of users vote, rate and influence those ideas. After a seven-day evaluation period, the Quirky community chooses one of the products as the idea of the week and the social networking spin on the collaborative product development process begins.

The chosen product is put on the Quirky Web site where “influencers” can vote and contribute to all aspects of product’s development, from ideation, design, naming, manufacturing, even marketing and sales. Once the product is completed, it’s pre-sold at the Quirky online store and when (and if) it meets a threshold, it then moves on to production and delivery. The original idea owner and the “influencers” get a cut of the sales. Quirky says even those idea owners who don’t get chosen walk away with valuable research and analytics about their product to help them if they choose to move forward and build the product on their own.

Posted by Beth Stackpole on June 4, 2009 | Comments (9)

August 17, 2009

In response to: A Quirky Social Network For Product Development
Melba Clark commented:

Excellent site, but the "intellectual property" issue is something to seriously consider.
I too have many excellent product ideas...In fact, a whole notebook! Just a few include, new "mom friendly" baby products, functional cosmetic items and an innovative sports drink that feeds the cells continuously and prevents dehydration.
Need funding to make them ALL work! Email ideas for partnership and/or funding.
melba@paradisepotions.com

June 11, 2009

In response to: A Quirky Social Network For Product Development
Rob Ellis commented:

A somewhat similar but zany website that readers might find interesting is Halfbakery.com. No IP element to it that I could see. The site describes iteself as "...a communal database of original, fictitious inventions, edited by its users. It was created by people who like to speculate, both as a form of satire and as a form of creative expression."
The ideas there can be pretty crazy but their existance points to real wants/needs in society.

June 10, 2009

In response to: A Quirky Social Network For Product Development
hughp commented:

Without an NDA from all visitors quirky.com, once an idea is posted to this site it is deemed to have been "disclosed" to others. The idea is no longer patentable and goes into the great pile of "prior art" (aka - ideas in the public domain).

June 10, 2009

In response to: A Quirky Social Network For Product Development
hughp commented:

June 10, 2009

In response to: A Quirky Social Network For Product Development
Diamond commented:

I agree with Dave. There are too many IP issues with a site like this. I can picture a lot of litigation down the road if one of the ideas catches on and really takes off. Ben Kaufman wouldn't happen to be, or aspiring to be, an IP litigation attorney would he?

June 10, 2009

In response to: A Quirky Social Network For Product Development
Dave commented:

The concept sounds good at first, until you start to realize the Intelectual Property (IP)implications. By having different people contribute to the patentable subject matter, they are legally required to be listed as a co-inventor on a patent application, provisional or not. By taking this approach, one may lose their patent rights and ultimately lose their chance of success on a broad scale. It would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to determine the value of one's input based on this platform. There are legimate businesses out there that can help with these efforts. There is a business that has a former Director of the United States Patent Office (USPTO) on staff. His name is Don Kelley, and the business can be found at frompatenttoprofit.com Their material have been purchased by the SBA.

June 10, 2009

In response to: A Quirky Social Network For Product Development
Dave commented:

June 9, 2009

In response to: A Quirky Social Network For Product Development
Chris Gammell commented:

It's an interesting concept but one that requires critical mass on the Quirky site to really gain any traction. I at first was a little thrown off by the idea of basically open-sourcing a patentable idea to a community like this but when you think about it, the same thing happens at corporations. While you have to use all of your own resources up front in this case, you probably also get a greater cut of the profit at the end. I'm interested enough to check it out, which these days says a lot considering the flood of social networks that I really don't care for.

June 8, 2009

In response to: A Quirky Social Network For Product Development
mr. inventor commented:

glad this site exist......have hundreds of great ideas.....need a partner to help launch them....call dale at 541-297-7569

Design News Partner Zones

Light Matters: The Unsung Heroes of Modern Health Care
First, let's define "no-compromise." In an ideal configuration, this lamp would use a high-brightness LED (HBLED) that is built into a small, integrated package and is able to produce a large quantity of focused light, operate with a high level of reliability and generate no audible noise. Is this difficult? Yes, but it is possible.
Read More

Design Engineers' Portal for Sensing and Machine Safety
Whatever industry you're in, or whatever product you manufacture, the right sensors to automate your plant, and to improve your overall efficiency, quality and safety are a must. You'll find Banner Engineering to be an amazing resource of products, training and people with expertise.