When Clinton Fleenor of Richmond had an idea to illuminate his computer keyboard, he didn't spend hours toiling away in a garage perfecting a prototype.
He turned to Quirky.com, a product development company that taps into a robust online community to help inventors bring their ideas to life.
The result is the Mantis, a battery-powered clip-on light that can be used to illuminate more than computer keyboards. Fleenor's invention was featured at 5 a.m. today during Quirky's showcase on the Home Shopping Network.
Quirky asks its nearly 65,000 members to determine which inventions should be manufactured. Inventions must pass three steps before they are available in stores.
First the Quirky community selects an invention or idea to pursue. After the community recommends an invention, the Quirky staff selects the idea for development. Finally, the item must reach a presale threshold at Quirky.com before it is brought to market.
The Mantis is in the final stage.
"Quirky really works with inspiration," Fleenor said. "You put in your inspiration and they take it from there and design it, engineer it and manufacture it."
Company spokeswoman Tiffany Markofsky says Quirky is changing the way inventions are given life.
"We're part of a movement," she said. "We're making invention accessible."
While many inventors keep their ideas as closely guarded secrets, Fleenor said he wasn't worried that a fellow Quirky member would steal his idea and claim it as their own.
"I have no ability to manufacture this thing," he said. "It's the choice of either keeping it in my head and carrying it around for my whole life wishing I could do something with it or just put it out there."
Fleenor said asking Quirky members for input helped make his idea better. For example, one member came up with the idea to use a clip instead of attaching the Mantis directly to a computer monitor, while another suggested built-in legs so that the device can be used as freestanding light.
Fleenor said he expects to get about 3 percent of profits, if the Mantis sells. In addition to sharing profits with inventors, Quirky rewards members who influence a product with small cash awards, ranging from pennies to hundreds of dollars, depending on the influence. They also get their names on the packaging. The people who submit the idea get their photos on the packaging.
For example, dozens of influencers, including Fleenor, are listed in the booklet that accompanies Quirky's Pivot Power, a flexible power strip.
Fleenor said he earned about $600 for naming a product called the Wrapster, which helps keep the cords of portable headphones from becoming tangled.
"Edison said genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration. It's been that 99 percent that's kept so many good ideas from the world," Fleenor said. "That's what Quirky does. They extract that 1 percent, and then they provide the other 99 percent."
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