If two heads are better than one, then what can a few hundred working together achieve?

A new Web site called Quirky.com is harnessing the collective brain power and creative juices from the Internet community to design new consumer products, and then share the profits with those who helped bring successful items to market.

Michael Lacy, a Mogadore native living in New York, is the lead Web developer of the enterprise, which invites armchair inventors to share ideas that they don't have the energy, time or money to pursue on their own.

''Our belief is everyone has an idea, but few people make the effort to bring them to reality,'' Lacy said. ''Together, we can help them get their ideas into the world.''

Here's how it works:

People who believe they have a good idea for a new product can submit the idea for the Quirky community's consideration. It costs $99 to submit an idea. Some ideas amount to a paragraph of explanation; others come with sketches and photos.

''We won't take your money for something too complex'' or something that isn't useful, Lacy said.

The site averages between 10 and 30 ideas a week during this phase, called ''product evaluation.'' People are encouraged to comment on how they would improve the idea while voting on their favorite.

At the end of the week, the idea that receives the most votes moves on to the next phase — the design stage.

Those who don't win still end up with helpful marketing research if they want to pursue the idea on their own, Lacy said. Or for another $10, they can tweak their idea and submit it for consideration again the next week.

The Quirky community is then invited to help fine-tune the winning product's features, name, logo and packaging.

During this process, registered site users (registration is free) are earning ''influence'' points. People who contribute in some way to the product can end up earning royalty payments if the product sells. For instance, the person who suggested the product might earn $2 or $3 per unit, while others who gave input could earn a few cents for each one sold.

Quirky engineers work out production details with manufacturers and suppliers and have a pretty good idea of what it will take to make the item profitable.

At this point, the product is offered for presale, with a set threshold — the number of presales needed before production can begin. This figure can be a couple of hundred units to more than a thousand.

Interested consumers sign up to buy the product and provide their credit-card information, which will not be charged unless the product reaches the threshold and is actually made.

''Sometimes we hit that threshold in a day; sometimes it takes a couple of weeks,'' Lacy said. Some might never receive the necessary commitment.

Once the threshold is met, Quirky finds a manufacturer and starts production. Simple products
could be made and shipped in a couple of weeks. More challenging items could take a couple of months.

The first Quirky product to make the leap from virtual drawing board to a cardboard shipping box was Split Stick, a double-sided USB drive.

Two other products currently shipping are DigiDudes (a key chain that expands into a tripod for a camera), and PowerCurl (a cord wrap for Apple power adapters.)

Three other products have reached threshold and are waiting to be manufactured; 13 others have completed the design phase and are awaiting enough commitments from buyers to be put into production.

At Quirky.com, visitors can click on ''shop'' to see both ready and waiting products, as well as who the top influencers are and how much their royalty is for each unit sold.

''Thirty percent of the revenue goes back to the community,'' Lacy said. People can also earn influence just by leaving comments, participating in product surveys or promoting the product on their own social networking sites.

Quirky employs six full-time people and expects to expand to 20 staffers over the next year.

''We're in a real growth phase right now,'' Lacy said.

The enterprise launched in June, but was a couple of years in development by founder Ben Kaufman, a 23-year-old New Yorker.

Lacy, 34, ended up in New York after getting his college degree in biomedical and computer engineering at Duke University in North Carolina.

''I got into Web development in '97 and was always intrigued about using the Internet to empower groups of people into creating things that are greater than any one person can do,'' said Lacy, whose family still lives in Mogadore.

''With a little guidance, [a group] can do pretty amazing things.''

In 2007, Lacy heard Kaufman was trying to put together a team to launch Quirky and got himself hired as the lead Web site developer.

''Ben is not afraid to fail. He believes so much in his ideas and when you find people like that, you want to work with them. It's so exciting.''

Quirky owns the rights to products that are designed and manufactured by its Web community. Inventors who want to own their own patents and control the destiny of their own products would not want to submit them.