Have you ever had this happen to you? A great idea for a new product pops into your head, but you do nothing and someone else patents the product – and pockets the money.
Well, 34-year-old Standish resident Joe Szumowski has and he isn’t about to let it happen again.
Szumowski has developed Puzzle Power, a hand-held brainteaser that has proven a challenge to all who attempt to solve it.
Puzzle Power is a, uh, well, it’s made out of, um, that is to say it looks like a… Actually, Puzzle Power’s shape, design, color, material, and directions are all a secret.
That secret is part of the agreement Szumowski has made with Invention Technologies, Inc. of Coral Gables, Florida, the company promoting his product.
“We are a new product development firm,” George Puertas, of Invent-Tech said. “We deal mainly in marketing – we find a manufacturer, provide legal representation, and help them obtain a patent.”
Szumowski paid the firm $15,000 to get started. But it wasn’t before he researched both Invent-Tech and several other companies.
“I get exposure at 12 trade shows a year,” Szumowski said. “They put together a seven-minute DVD that explains the idea, shows a picture, and includes a bio about me.”
Szumowski, who runs a concrete pump for Northeast Concrete Pumping Corp., said he has been developing Puzzle Power for a number of years. In fact, he started tinkering with some of its pieces in high school. When he left home, the box containing those pieces and other childhood odds and ends stayed behind.
But ten years ago, Szumowski’s mother gave him the box to get it out of her house. It started him fiddling all over again.
“I’ve always been a prankster and I’ve had the access to machines,” Szumowski said. “I was making weird things and I stumbled upon it and it worked. There is a trick to the way you hold it.”
Szumowski made a prototype, which has helped him explain the puzzle to manufacturers. And, although he has seen a similar product on the market, he said “the competition only makes it better.”
His wife Randi was skeptical at first but now that she “sees what could come out of it, she’s getting more excited,” he said.
Szumowski believes the Puzzle Power, suitable for teens to adults, would be a good fit in several markets. He sees its potential for mass merchants like Wal-Mart, brainteaser stores, and the Discovery Channel store, as well as for entertainment at bars and some restaurants.
And after seeing his first invention, a pipe rack washer for a concrete pump, in a trade magazine, Szumowski isn’t waiting for someone else to develop and patent Puzzle Power. The process from idea to marketable product may be expensive, but “if you don’t take the chance, you’ll never know.”
Send questions/comments to the editors.
