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What should I do with my concept?

Some time ago I finished a concept of human-computer interaction based on 10/gui from 2009. When I saw it in 2010, I couldn’t get it out of my head and started working on my own concept, taking into account imperfections that 10/gui definitely had.

My concept takes imperfections arising from using mouse, touch screen and 10/gui into account, lets user free of any wearables, rapid changes in habits and information overload. At this point, I won’t unveil much information, though anybody could say “I’ve seen something like that somewhere”, but the strength of my concept lies in many details and the whole thing seems quite finished on essential basis. I mean, there is always something to add or describe in more detail, but there is no point to do it at this stage.

Right now, I have 40-slide “short” presentation and 150-slide earlier presentation. I had to remade whole presentation from scratch to be able to show it to someone who doesn’t have enough enthusiasm to study something like this for hours. It took a year extra.

During the making of these materials, some prototypes of similar kind appeared in media, such as Leap Motion, Ractiv Touch+, Apple Force Touch, Sensel Morph, and some others. They all have one thing in common: incompleteness. Solving one thing while adding others, improving A while overlooking B. But the message is clear: there is a certain need for advanced human-computer interaction concept (among those outlined in 10/gui) therefore there is a gap on the market. My problem? Not sure what should I do with that. I tried to consult it with people in business incubators, but the concept, even it’s described quite well, is still just weightless idea. I’ve literally run away from contest for business ideas. It just didn’t fit between other ideas (like ‘We are developing an app called Fnargelblarg developed in Knurkelplurg++ and we need $$$’), moreover mine was too technical for those businessmen and it just couldn’t be described in 5 minute limit. Plus I can’t build it from scratch as I have no skills and don’t know bunch of geek enthusiast to do so. All the people I’ve shown the concept gave me positive feedback, but I don’t know anybody who would say something like ‘I get it, it has great potential and I want to do it”.

I tried to contact one startup and university, but without an answer. I would try more, but I’d rather ask you what would you do in my position. I just want to make this happen and to have some control when implementing the idea. I know what should it be, what the target market should be, which features to add in future and how the end-user devices and advertisement should look like.

Is patenting a good idea? The concept would be protected and accessible to public on database, so it might interest some relevant people. What do you think?

Thanks

Sample slides (7, 13, 30) from shorter (human-readable) presentation: slide 7, 13, 30

Answer 9041

Startups are terribly hard. I would encourage you to find someone else who is as passionate about your idea as you are. A cofounding team helps each other all throughout the existence of the company, and is vital to its success. If you are looking for a co-founder, you can have a look at Startup Weekend, pitch your idea there, get some feedback and see if people are interested in working with you on that. If you believe you already have a draft of a business model, you may wish to approach pre-seed accelerator programs? If you are in the UK, have a look at Entrepreneur First.

Patents cost a lot of money and you only get money out of it if someone uses your invention without paying royalties. Even then, you have to prove that in a five to ten year long trial. So, I wouldn't go with a patent right now, but it may be worth it down the line once the company is establish and funded.

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