Here's a quick round-up of 20 things I wish I'd known when I started to develop my own modular crockery set in 2002…

1)      A new product idea with a unique edge that is protectable and which matches a growing trend or specific demand in the marketplace makes a very good recipe for starting a business, earning an income and attracting investment. IF you go about it the right way.

2)      Most people develop their product idea first, look at ways to protect it and then start to look at ways to sell it. Success comes from reversing this process.

3)      An idea with a strong element of Intellectual Property (IP) is more likely to win investment as well as distribution deals.

4)      The main forms of IP are patents, registered design, trademarks, copyright and design right, and know-how and confidential information.

5)      A patent is often described as the strongest form of IP. But to be patentable, your idea must have an original and technically innovative angle.

6)      You can check online databases for free to see if your idea has been patented already. The most commonly used is the espacenet database developed by the European Patent Office, but giving information on most worldwide patents.

7)      Just because you CAN patent your idea (according to a patent attorney), doesn't mean it makes good business sense to do so.

8)      Although it the fee to the UK Intellectual Property Office is only £200 to file a patent application, costs mount when you take a patent attorney on to prepare the application (£2000 upward), and in fees on the anniversary of your filing date (which can run into tens of thousands of £). Registering a design yourself online costs just 350 Euros for a pan-European registration, with no significantly larger follow-up fees, but gives you a weaker form of protection.

9)      For lone inventors and designers, a low-tech product idea is usually easier to handle and more likely to reach the market. Development is less costly and less dependent on outside risks.

10)  There is rarely any government funding or grants available to solo inventrepreneurs towards developing and protecting a commercial idea.

11)  That said, high tech ideas more easily attract funding if the technology has the potential to be industry changing.

12)  You're more likely to be successful if you stick to a type of product within your experience. Household products, items for pets, baby and children products for busy parents, health a fitness ideas, gardening products, DIY tools, help with hobbies and crafts.

13)  Building YOU into your product will help make it more credible, easier to sell and increase your self-confidence and motivation. 

14)  Many good ideas are simply not worth developing. The market is too small, or the development costs are too high to recoup. Not all good ideas make good business sense.

15)   There are useful free tools online to help research if there is a consumer market for your product, such as the Google Keywords Tool

16)   The British Library's Business & IP Centre in London houses one of the best collections of free business and market research information in the world. And it's free to everyone.

17)  Many people set out to develop a product believing it will take a couple of years. Very often it takes 5 to 8 years to get it to market, though significantly less if you don't actually patent your concept.

18)  Most original product ideas aren't patentable, and registering a design won't stop a competitor making a product that works or looks slightly differently, but does the same job for your customer. In this case, developing a brand and trademark is likely to be an important IP strategy.

19)   Licensing your idea to manufacturers or distributors is often the preferred route for solo inventors. It avoids the steep learning curve and high costs of manufacturing yourself.

20)   Entrepreneurs usually seek out manufacturers and distributors with whom to discuss their new ideas way too soon. Seek out sales and marketing functions early on, but with a view to asking, listening and learning about the market for your product. Don't talk about or try to sell in your idea before it is adequately protected and developed.

21)  Inventors are usually so close to their idea they fail to learn the knack of talking about their product without giving the game away. Talk about customer benefits rather than how your idea works, and you will be able to keep potentially valuable Intellectual Property in your idea confidential.

22) Find out the basics of pricing your product and margins you need to give over to retailers and distributors BEFORE you invest in your idea. Generally, the market will need to be happy to spend 4 times the manufacturing cost for you to have a hope of making any money.