First the individual or entity must be accepted as a potential investor.

Next the potential investor would sign the required non-disclosure agreement before viewing the invention(s).

The investor would sign a contract outlining the budget and schedule of intent for getting the invention(s) to market. At the beginning of this process a patent search would be performed, when the results of the patent search are returned if either the investor or inventor are dissatisfied with the amount of prior art returned in the search, the contract may be terminated and all remaining funds returned to the investor.

If both parties are satisfied with the prior art returned in the search then the investor is bound by the terms of the contract to fund the agreed amount until the project's completion.

The other investment option is for the individual or entity to be accepted as a potential investor and then agree in advance to fund a specific amount of money for when an invention(s) becomes available. The benefit of this approach is that an investor can reserve themselves a spot in line and not have to out bid other investors at the time which new invention(s) become available for investment.