It depends on you and the idea but you've got a start. On that track you want something that has a critical mass of investors who understand your technology, i.e. if its a specialty chemical than you might not find anyone comfortable enough with the concept to invest. You also need to show the patent is defendable, that you can go from lab to sales in a reasonable amount of time, and that you have a $100M+ addressable market. If you don't have any business experience or training it might be worth bringing in an MBA type to be your CEO, even Brin and Page did that. The sites listed here, Startengine, AngelList, Republic are all crowdfunding sites. You may have to create a fake account and say you're an accredited investor. I'd use them for research, but again if you've got an idea that good you might as well put together a business plan, get an in to a couple of VCs through your network (thesis advisor, other PhDs you knew in school...) and pitch your idea. A good VC will give you constructive feedback on your pitch even if they flat out reject you, so you'll get something out of it no matter what. As someone who's had a company with a large number of investors and one with a small number of investors, I can tell you it would be a nightmare to deal with 100s of investors when you want to do your second funding round or any major corporate move that required their consent, even if you remain the majority shareholder, so while VCs can be a pain at least you only need to deal with one or two.
Sig makes great points as crowdfunding relates to the traditional dynamics of fundraising. However, this landmark is symbolic of the changing nature of fundraising at the frontier of financial markets. You don't need a PhD and you don't need a patent. You idea can be small <100k or big, >5M, key is tht now you have the opportunity to pitch it to a large number of potential investors, some of whom are accredited, most of whom will be people willing to invest between $500 and $1k in about 10 to 20 ideas apiece. This means, literally, that you can raise 250k by raising $500 from 500 people from around the world who believe in your wacky, niche, fringe idea. That's why this is huge. It's an economic enabler, sort of like legalizing hemp.