Blackack106

Let me share my crazy idea:

The CB radios in trucks and cars served a practical purpose during the 60's and 70's. They allowed you to talk to other drivers around you on the road. For most purposes, we have lost that ability.

Today, I find myself wanting to send messages/talk to other drivers (i.e., complementing their car, tell them they have a light out, indicate a speed trap ahead, etc.) I'd like to have a system in which you could turn to a radio channel to listen and use bluetooth and a phone to talk. Participating cars could have some sort of sticker on back to id that they are part of the system.

I think I have only 20% of the technical stuff figured out (I'm thinking an Apple or Google app) and 0% of the money to get started. I need the money to get something like this started, and I have heard of venture capital.

What do I need to do? Write a detailed proposal and mail it to venture capitalist, patent the idea first, contact an App developer or what?

Thanks for any suggestions.

Malayalee King

iTrader: (1)

you should check out bump.com

Malayalee King

iTrader: (1)

ycombinator is a good start on some funding.

AMUA6

iTrader: (7)

Sounds like a cool idea but have you thought if there really is a demand for it?

Blackack106

BUMP is cool, but texting and driving is becoming illegal in most states. Besides I like the live "talk" feature (a throw back to CB radios) of my system.

Pete2010

I've been in the startup world for over 10 years now and one thing I can tell you is that it's going to be virtually impossible to get any VC to even talk to you unless you have a working product with paying customers or some sort of revenue stream coming in.

This is nothing like the the 90's tech bubble where you could get endless cash for an idea, sadly it just doesn't work that way anymore.

The way things work now is your first round of funding is also known as the "friends and family round". This is where you go and ask friends and family for money, in return, giving them a portion of the company.
My current startup was funded this way, we were able to get 1.1Mil over 2 years in the friends and family round (20k here, 50k there type of thing).

Then when you have a working product and a revenue stream is when you can start to take meetings with VC's. Try to find local VC's in your area, or ones that specialize in investing in your type of business. When you start getting term sheets, GET A LAWYER. Let them negotiate the term sheets on your behalf or you WILL GET SCREWED by the VC.

Anyway - sorry for the long post, but I've been down this path many times before. The key thing is that if you think it's something that could be useful, work at it, work hard, ask for help from friends, etc. It will not be easy, but could be worth it.

Jiggy2dmax

iTrader: (1)

If I were in your situation, I would probably try to figure out a system that will work, prototype it and then start looking for capital.

I'm not too familiar with how CB radios work but if it sounds like its something that could be achieved using RFID's so you may want to look into that. RFID's are fairly cheap as well as Bluetooth receivers so if your able to figure it out, it may be worth a look.

Check out digikey for all and any of the parts you'll ever need.

juniorbean

iTrader: (5)

Good post.

One thing I'll add though is to be careful with sharing your idea so openly...

Blackack106

Thanks juniorbean for the wise advice about sharing. That's my catch 22; I'm trying to determine some sort of demand without revealing too much.

I have already secured a provisional patent application. So I legally can say Patent Pending. The only good thing about that, is that it buys me a year to work on the tech to apply for a real patent.

Thanks Jiggy for the tech advice; I'm working with xCube Labs.

Most ideas flop, but who knows.

Pete2010

Best of Luck!