What types of products does MAKO Invent specialize in?
MAKO Invent specializes in a broad range of products, primarily in Consumer Products – Home ware, garden, tools, toys, consumer electronics, games, furniture, etc. With years of experience developing hundreds of products for home inventors and small product firms, our design and research team is well diversified in mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, plastics, metals, wireless transmission, PCB chip boards, and textiles. We also have developed a wide array of partners, distributors, and factories across many product categories.
Why do you focus on Home Inventors and Small Business?
Simply put, we love the small-time inventor, and we have good reason… While all of the other development firms were scrambling to take a piece of the big-bucks from the large product corporations, we decided to go against the profit-driven grain and focus on the home-inventor with a small budget. Our philosophy was to streamline and simplify the product development process so that we could offer the same caliber of service for a fraction of the cost, and thus make it affordable for a regular person to get a product to market. At first, the competitors shrugged us off; however, what they didn’t realize is that 1) 40% of products are derived from home inventors, 2) Home inventors put way more thought into their product idea than a corporate employee, as it is something they truly and deeply care about, and 3) Regular people are the ones thinking of the best ideas because they are the ones who are identifying a real solution to a real problem in their own day to day lives… So, what happened when MAKO Invent took this route? Within a matter of only months, MAKO Invent saw explosive growth. A huge and unforeseen need was out there, and now that need had a realistic option available. By 2008, MAKO Invent became the largest invention development firm in North America catering to small business and home inventors, and we are quickly overtaking the US (it will just be a matter of time).
Can you help someone go from just an Idea all the way to Store Shelves?
Absolutely! That’s literally been our motto for over 15 years. Everything that we do here is intended to streamline the product development process so that literally anyone, from any walk of life, can turn their product idea into a successful business. We do all of the heavy lifting in the back end, so that you can focus, through our advice and guidance, on getting your product to market. Give us a call to learn more, it’s really quite amazing what we have developed over the years all to help inventors and startups.
I came across your site on the net, tell me more about your company.
We would love to show you everything about our company! As a quick re-cap, we are the largest physical product development services firm in Canada, and are well on our way in the US and England. We’ve been around since 1999 (how time flies), have developed literally hundreds of projects, have won a number of design and invention awards, have products in 71 countries and over 500 retail stores, have thousands of inventors on our Social Media platforms, and have creative think-tank product development shops right downtown Toronto Ontario, Austin Texas, and London England. Check out the many news articles on us too, we get written up all the time. The best thing you can do is just come in and see us, even if it requires a quick flight – Meet the actual team of designers and product strategists that will be the actual ones working on your project – They are unreal, and well known in the product development industry. And if you think this sounds expensive, it absolutely is not, for many reasons (see more FAQ below for more info on costs, etc.).
Do I get a Patent first, or Develop first?
MAKO works with many 3rd party patent agents and patent lawyers to help protect our clients’ intellectual property. Most of our clients file a patent after they are at least part-way through product development, and usually after the prototype is complete. If you patented first, then made any changes in the development, you would then have to do a second patent, which might even be nullified due to the first one! Most of our clients file at the end of development so that they have their intellectual property protection stretched out as long as possible. In the mean-time, prior to filing, you can protect yourself in talking with a company such as ours through signing a Non-Disclosure Agreement, which basically is an agreement between two parties to keep discussions confidential.
Do you help with Patenting a Product?
We work with many amazing and cost-effective 3rd party patent agents and patent lawyers. Since we have long-standing relationships with them, we are able to get substantially better pricing for our clients on patent work from them, and we know who is best suited for most specific product types. We want to ensure that your intellectual property is protected so that you have the best chance of success in the market. Since every product and business is unique. MAKO helps to ensure that the client’s business strategy, design, and patent strategy are aligned.
I'm on a limited budget, what does all of this COST?
This is the beauty of our business model – By bringing all development services in-house including research, design, prototyping, patenting, and sales/distribution, we have exponentially streamlined the development process. Simply put, our startups get to utilize world-class design on a shoestring budget. We also have spent years developing an unreal design philosophy called ‘Brilliantly Simple Design’. This design process ensures that we only develop what you need to succeed, without any unnecessary frills – And it also means that our designs look super clean, sexy, and modern (check them out on the ‘Our Work’ page), AND are simple and reliable to manufacture.
I'm interested and I would like to learn more. What is the first step?!
Contact us for a free consultation, like right away! If you’re sitting on something, the worst thing you can do is procrastinate – No matter what you decide to do with your idea, at least do something with it! We are always more than willing to talk through what you are looking to do, and advise you the best and most practical way of doing it. Even if you don’t want to use our services or even if we don’t think it is likely to work, we’re still happy to help where we can as we love anyone who is helping to bring inventions to the world.
If we want to go to Production, where do you manufacture?
We manufacture in North America, Europe and Asia, and many times a blend of two or more of those countries. We will work out a detailed strategy to determine, based on each product’s unique requirements, which is the best avenue for production. As often as we can, we like to keep manufacturing local – You would be surprised, due to increased efficiencies and modern Western processes, many times local manufacturing is a cost-effective option!
How do I spot a Licensing Company or Invention Submission Scam?
Unfortunately, there are groups out there that try to rip off inventors, and we can give you the 3 simple steps to ensure that you don’t become one of them:a) Right off the bat, be wary of any organization that uses ‘royalties’ or ‘licensing’ as a sales buzzword. b) If they are offering royalty agreements, licensing deals, or something like this, ask what their success rate is. They will likely either try and deflect the question, or they will have already been sued and thus legally have to disclose the rate. If it is less than 10%, turn right around (and 10% even seems low!). c)If they pass the first two, ask them what specific industrial design software they use. Most of the bogus companies use low-end computer game software to make fake designs of what the product might look like, not the actual engineering of it. If they are not using AutoDesk, Solidworks, AutoCAD, Rhino, or ProE (the 5 industry standard software providors for product engineering), then back away.
