Inventors' Roundtable a Haven for Creatives

Denver Business Journal

Earnest Feiler is a retired thoracic surgeon who's invented what he hopes will be a groundbreaking cardio-surgical procedure that saves lives and money.

And he's recently performed the procedure for the first time -- on a pig. In fact, real pigs will serve as his guinea pigs for about another 12 months.

Feiler, 76, has to prove to the FDA and the Institutional Review Board -- the committee that decides if the procedure is safe to do on humans -- that the procedure can be successful. Feiler said he uses pigs because their hearts, among all animal hearts, are most similar to humans'.

The Denver resident invented an infrared diagnostic imaging system and a process to surgically create new channels for blood flow when the coronary arteries are blocked.

But he faces a problem common to first-time inventors -- he doesn't know how to get the new product to market.

There are questions every step of the way, and taking a wrong step can be costly.

Rita Crompton said that's why she created the Inventors' Roundtable, a free-to-inventors monthly meeting that brings them together with experts in the field -- attorneys, licensing agents, engineers, bankers and consultants -- so that the creators can ask questions before they spend their money. The first roundtable was in February, and there have been three more; the May 11 meeting drew 68 people.

Crompton teamed with the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, the State’s Small Business Development Centers and Warren Roh, a licensing agent at Littleton-based The Idea Place LLC, to create the roundtable.

Crompton is managing director of FLeCusa International, an Aurora-based consulting company that provides inventors and small businesses with financial and legal help.

Crompton said she can offer the roundtable for free because she keeps the costs down by renting an inexpensive site (Brooklyn's by Invesco Field for $25) and by asking experts to donate their time.

She said the goal is to treat people's inventions like a business. The motto is, "Don't spend a dime before its time."

"First we ask what their product is, and then if anyone would buy it," she said. "And then we help them figure out the appropriate next step."

Crompton said the first thing they do with new inventors is to teach them how to do market research (and if one wants a deeper market report, they can hire a consulting company such as her’s).

Next, she said, the inventor needs to build a prototype. Then, they can get help from the roundtable's patent experts on protecting their idea.

After that, Crompton said, there are different steps inventors can take:

§ They may have to prove their invention works if they haven't done so prior to attending the roundtable.

§ They might need to find funding.

§ They may have to create a brand identity.

§ They might need help with marketing.

Rita Hamburg, a graphic designer and owner of RitaDesign Inc. in Denver, is the inventor of Zip-Zac, a towel with a zippered pocket. Hamburg said she came to the roundtable for help with such things as marketing, contracts, trademarking, licensing and importing.

She said she got help with all her questions, though not all of them were answered by the experts.

"It's a great place for networking," she said. "It was all uncharted territory for me. I got a lot of help from the other inventors who had been through it. I got names of companies that people had used, I got leads on who to sell my product to."

Hamburg said her product will be available by the beginning of August.

Feiler said Roh met and talked to an angel investor on his behalf because "most companies don't like to talk to inventors."

"I learned that what investors are interested in is a top-notch management team," he said, "and not necessarily a top-notch idea.

"And most companies don't want to talk to me, so I'm better off having Rita [Crompton's] company or Warren [Roh] talk to them for me."

Crompton and Roh also set up a Web site (www.inventorsroundtable.com) where inventors can post their ideas, and angels or venture capitalists can search for inventions to back. The site also offers a forum so that inventors can ask questions of expert, and a library of resource articles with titles such as, "Writing an Effective Business Plan," "Marketing Tools" and "Government Grant Guidelines."

Feiler also said he'll save money because of advice he got at the roundtable. He wanted to make a DVD showing surgical demonstrations and their results.

"Someone there told me a better way was to contact people in the field -- people who could explain the process -- and use them instead of DVDs because most people wouldn't watch the DVD," he said.

Roundtable meetings are held in Denver the second Thursday of every month.