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starting an electronics business

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tracidfish

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Well i am not sure if this is in the right place but its the best I could find.

I am looking to start a small business making electronic products.
I have 3 products prototyped, just waiting for the finished products to be
completed over then next week or two.

I intend to build the products myself to start of with. For an example the cost of the products are around £28 to make. similar products sell 2nd hand for £60 and new for £120.

None of the products are new, but have a different spin on products already on the market.
The prodcuats are aimed at nieche markets (3 different markets) all of wich i have an interest in
through other hobbies of mine.

I am aware of the need for CE marking in europe (I am in the UK) and I am currently investigating what is required.

I am currently emplyed full time, study part time and would like to start to developpe a small business over time. At the moment I have no intention of leaving my full time employment.

I have yet to come up with a name for the products or a business name. I am not sure how to go about this, do I have one business covering all of the 3 different nieches?

I wonder if any one has any hints or tips or can share their experiences in doing something similar?

Thanks
 
I have yet to come up with a name for the products or a business name. I am not sure how to go about this, do I have one business covering all of the 3 different nieches?

You should decide whether you are starting a business as a 'Sole Trader' or a 'Limited ' company, then contact a local small business accountant.
He will register the company and do the required paperwork.

What is your intended market outlet.?? commercial, industrial etc.?
 
Thanks

My intended market is domestic. seing as my ideas stem from hobbies of mine they tend to be focused
on the lesiure industry.

So if my products were to span a couple of different nieches would I start a business for each market or one that covers everything?
For example if one of the niches is X i would quite like a business name that suits that, such as X's whatevers, and likewise for the products in Y Nieche I would quite like to do similar like Y's whatevers.

Hope that makes sense.
 
I would just have the one company, it will keep the bookkeeping/accountancy/insurance etc costs down, also the Banking will be simplified.

Regarding the company name, choose a generic name that would cover the initial three products for the 'leisure' industry.
 
Well i am not sure if this is in the right place but its the best I could find.

I am looking to start a small business making electronic products.
I have 3 products prototyped, just waiting for the finished products to be
completed over then next week or two.

I intend to build the products myself to start of with. For an example the cost of the products are around £28 to make. similar products sell 2nd hand for £60 and new for £120.

None of the products are new, but have a different spin on products already on the market.
The prodcuats are aimed at nieche markets (3 different markets) all of wich i have an interest in
through other hobbies of mine.

I am aware of the need for CE marking in europe (I am in the UK) and I am currently investigating what is required.

I am currently emplyed full time, study part time and would like to start to developpe a small business over time. At the moment I have no intention of leaving my full time employment.

I have yet to come up with a name for the products or a business name. I am not sure how to go about this, do I have one business covering all of the 3 different nieches?

I wonder if any one has any hints or tips or can share their experiences in doing something similar?

Thanks

I had a "Lint and Leak Detector for Domestic Appliances" we Proto Typed 1 and then built 50 of them to see if I had a potential Market for them. It used the same circuit board for both operations and could power a 15 amp pump motor.

I didn't market them because G.E. holds so many Patent's ................ http://www.uspto.gov/patents/process/search/

Quick Search is a little easier to use..............Quick Search

This is the U.S. Patent Office site you can look them up yourself. Some friends have come up with good idea's only to find someone already did the Patent.

I have no idea if you have something in the U.K.
 
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kv has a very important point.

I spent beaucoup time and money developing a "seawater quality monitoring and control system" for aquaculture.

As dissolved oxygen (DO) is the most critical assessment aquaculture activities and the most expensive to monitor, I designed a digital system that made use of what I thought was a very clever adaptation of a "public domain" equation from which I created an algorithm that worked like a champ and was way cheaper to implement that any commercial DO monitoring system on the market at that time.

The entire project was shot down when I discovered after enering my patent application that 2 years earlier, a student at Rhode Island U. had already patented "my" algorithm.

Research, very, very carefully your conceptual/actual changes (spin) to the products your emulating.
 
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Thanks for the advice.

cowboybob I work in the sewerage treatment industry and utilise DO controll every day. Interesting that you feel the concept was patented as it is used widley throughout industry. im not saying you are wrong though just not sure how you can patent a DO controll system when it is used world wide on many different plants and in so many different ways.
 
Thanks for the advice.

cowboybob I work in the sewerage treatment industry and utilise DO controll every day. Interesting that you feel the concept was patented as it is used widley throughout industry. im not saying you are wrong though just not sure how you can patent a DO controll system when it is used world wide on many different plants and in so many different ways.

Interesting.

In fact, I used "Capital Controls" probes (widely used in the sewage sanitation industry), especially because their's would give reliable readings in "still" water (no need for stirrers, as with "Royce" DO systems, for instance) but I took the DC voltage generated by the probe directly and fed it to an A/D chip where I then digitally "massaged" the values with "my" algorithm, which included temp and salinity. This was in the late 80's. The probe provided a very linear output across the range of DO one sees in seawater temperature regimes (salinity has a negligible effect). And I went through extensive chemical titration tests for calibration.

At that time, all commercial DO systems (including Capital Controls) used analog electronics for massaging the probe outputs into meaningful data.

As I edited in the above post, I only found out about the previous patent after I attempted to patent my algorithm. The U. of RI sold their patent to some company in PA (I think) that then just sat on the damn thing. I have no idea what happened after that.
 
It is vital to check that methods/processes/equipment involved in the items you will be marketing aren't covered by national or international patents effective in the country you will be making, using or selling them in (presumably the UK). You can search patents online for free at various national and international Patent/Intellectual Property Offices, or you can employ a Patent Agent (UK) or Patent Attorney (US) to do patent searches for you. For UK patents go to www.ipo.gov.uk
It would also be advisable to check on the European Patent Office and WIPO sites.
 
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