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INDIANAPOLIS, IN – - American inventors are struggling to get their products to market, which is posing risks to America’s strategic advantage as a nation of innovation and new product design. The recession is making it difficult for inventors to raise initial capital from “angel investors” or family and friends, traditional sources of start up capital. Other inventors are finding very few market opportunities to launch new products, as wholesalers, retailers, and other product distribution companies are reluctant to take a chance on new, unproven products.

“Inventors often turn to family and friends to fund product research and prototype development,” said Matthew A. Griffith, an Indianapolis business attorney with the firm of Thrasher Buschmann Griffith & Voelkel, P.C. “With 401(k) balances down and the increased risk of layoffs, fewer family members and friends can or are willing to take a chance on an invention,” Griffith explained. “Today more than ever, inventors have to be creative, resourceful and patient,” he further explained.

One Indiana company is finding a way to make economic lemonade from a sour economy. WireProUSA, LLC was formed this summer to introduce a revolutionary wire pulling device- SpeedyPull- which its inventor hopes will benefit from the federal Economic Stimulus Funds expected late this summer. SpeedyPull’s inventor, James “Buddy” Baughman, who is a career-long electrician, has waited years to get his product ready to be marketed and sold. He hopes his timing is perfect.

“I have something that every commercial electrician, wire supply house and wiring company can use to build bridges, parking lots, schools, airports, office buildings, large ships and anything that uses long runs of wire,” states Baughman. “I hope my timing is perfect. I just need to get the word out that I have a machine that pulls wire safer, faster and cheaper than can be done manually.” Baughman hopes the Stimulus Funds will create more demand for SpeedyPull. One other advantage Baughman might have in marketing his invention is that SpeedyPull enables construction at lower costs and with less time, which would give WireProUSA customers an advantage in bidding for and winning large construction contracts.

Another inventor, Tracey Shaw, has several ideas for products but lacks the funds to build prototypes. “I have several great ideas that could benefit Indiana and people across the country. I just can’t get the funds to develop my ideas. It’s sad really,” Shaw explained. One of Shaw’s inventions has been developed through a cooperative arrangement with a machine shop in Brazil, Indiana. “I was able to develop the SM 1000 physical therapy machine only because a machine shop owner, Jeff Starks of JWS Machine, believed in me and took a chance. Now we have a great medical device to sell. We just need therapists to see the machine and have funds to purchase it.”

Indiana is spending less money this year than in years past through its 21st Century Fund (“21 Fund”) to help Indiana companies develop products and compete. The 21 Fund was created by the Indiana General Assembly in 1999 and brought under the leadership of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) in 2005. The 21 Fund focuses on entrepreneurial ventures that have demonstrated a market potential for commercialization of innovative technologies. “Indiana has made tremendous progress in developing an entrepreneurial culture, but we do not have the angel funding network and risk takers that other states do. State funding is desperately needed to encourage angel investors to help Indiana’s start up companies,” Griffith stated. These budget cuts will hurt Hoosier inventors even more, Griffith believes.

Forming strategic relationships may be the key to surviving the recession, until capital and loans become more easy to secure. Shaw, for example, has enlisted a consultant in medical sales to help develop a marketing and sales plan for the SM 1000. In exchange, David Horvath, an experienced medical sales professional, accepted a profit sharing arrangement with Shaw. “Shaw Technologies, LLC has a great product in the SM 1000. That device needs to be distributed to and used by physical therapists, hospitals, home care professionals and nursing homes. And I am willing to give this invention and this inventor a chance, even during these tough economic times. If not me, who then?,” Horvath asked.

Information on Indiana 21st Century Fund can be found at http://www.21fund.org

For more information on SpeedyPull, visit www.WireProUSA.com.

For more information on Shaw’s SM 1000, visit www.shawtecnologies.net

Contact:

Lorraine Ball, 317-569-1396
Fax: 317-569-1389
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