BizSugar.com › Startups › Bulbstorm.com: Creating an Online Community of Innovators

Bulbstorm.com enables its clients to air their ideas and get precious feedback not only from other inventors, but also from marketers, designers and even manufacturers. Posting your project to the Bulbstorm site is like leaving the isolation of the outside for a lively community inside.

Bulbstorm documents your idea the moment you enter the site, including the actual date the concept was posted -- helpful in the event that you later need a patent. Then Bulbstorm helps connect you to others with similar ideas, who use the site to give their input. This engagement is a powerful asset when approaching investors. You can tell an investor, "Hey, I have 3,800 business people across the country endorsing my product/invention. You need to invest in this."

All of this helps accelerate your innovation process, Steiner said: "The idea is not dormant and is growing all the time."