How to Turn an Idea into a New Product

Denis DaSilva

A: Denis DaSilva, co-owner of DevaConcepts (devaconcepts.com), says, "My ideas that have turned into new products and tools started from a desire for better performance.

"When I need a more efficient and effective way of styling hair with better results, I start thinking about it-a lot. I begin to look around and research if something exists that works better. If I can't find anything, I start thinking out of the box. My motivation, always, is the desire to make things easier or better for my stylists and clients. One of my biggest challenges was for our curly-haired clients to dry their hair at home with salon results. The only available option was a traditional diffuser, but it doesn't produce the results we wanted. This led to my re-invention of the diffuser and I created the DevaFuser, which cultivates fuller curls.

"I work in steps. Step one is the desire for solutions to improved performance and quality, which leads to the idea. I then play around with different materials and hardware, piecing these things together to create a prototype of what could work better.

"Once I have a basic prototype of the tool I'm designing, I move on to step two, hiring a patent attorney to perform a patent search. If a patent is not found, we begin the legal process of patenting the tool. This is time consuming and expensive. This step alone can cost between $5,000 and $30,000.

"In step three I work closely with a product design company that specializes in designing hair tools to create a final prototype until we have the perfect tool that meets my expectations.

"Step four is the courage to take risks and do it! It's important to assess whether or not you have the resources to see the project the whole way through. It's critical to be realistic about manufacturing and distribution, and how you will market and sell your product.

"Once you've decided to make the leap, it's important to find the right manufacturer who will make it for the right price and the distributor you have a good relationship with.

"The last step is public relations and marketing. I have a great team who have been with me since the beginning. I just leave them alone and trust them do their job."