Curating a Portfolio
Webinar: IP Due Diligence in Two Questions
There are two questions to ask every time you are dealing with patents: Can you tell if someone infringes? How hard is it to design around your patent? With these two questions, you are 90% of the way there on IP due diligence. Here is my presentation to Band of Angels in October, 2020.
Read MoreTerminal Disclaimers – One for the Price of Two
Terminal disclaimers are costly for the client – but an easy money maker for patent attorneys. Terminal disclaimers are where you pay twice to get the same thing. They are a money maker for the USPTO – and your patent attorney. They should be avoided at all costs. In most cases, a terminal disclaimer is…
Read MoreStartup Funding: Apply for BlueIron Non-Dilutive Funding
BlueIron provides non-dilutive startup funding. BlueIron provides $60K or more non-dilutive startup funding for companies with great inventions. Our model is to invest in the full cost of getting patents for a company, including international (PCT) filing and expediting the patent through the United States Patent and Trademark Office. We fund companies *before* angel or…
Read MoreMy first invention
My first job out of college was at McDonnell Aircraft in St. Louis. At the time, we made military fighter jets: the F-15, F-18, and Harrier AV-8B. I was assigned to a little research group exploring different ways to use thermoplastic composites. It was there that I had my first “invention.” I wrote up a…
Read MoreWhy Marketing Is More Important than Patents
Entrepreneurs have been fed this lie that the first thing they need to do is get a patent, then work on the business. This is a bad strategy. As an investor who finances IP for startups, I want some data to support the investment in patents. The best strategy is to do the marketing first,…
Read MoreInventing and “Feeling It”
It is easy to think you were an inventor when you really were not. When I was an engineer at HP, I wrote up 3-4 invention disclosures before a meeting, where we were going to discuss a new product. At the meeting, I pitched a couple of the ideas *I had already submitted* for patenting. …
Read MoreAre you thinking of giving up on your patent application? Think again. Patent financing is available.
Many companies are abandoning their patent applications. In fact, the abandonment rate has tripled since the Covid-19 crisis began. However, there is specialized financing to keep your patents pending – and even build out a bigger portfolio – so you will be in a powerful position when the economy opens up again. BlueIron is the…
Read More1% Patent – 99% Execution
As we all know, business is usually 10% idea and 90% execution. The successful companies rarely have the single best product on the market, but they do have successful execution. Startup companies – and any business with a new product – spend more time doing product market fit than anything else. Figuring out what the…
Read MoreData Driven Patents
Updated April 2021. The patent system requires that we look ahead and guess the future. If we are right, there is a huge reward. This process can be powerfully addictive, as it is the same psychology as lottery tickets. Patents are bets that the marketplace will adopt a technology. The interesting characteristic is that the…
Read MoreThe Entrepreneur and the Angel Investor – The Story of Bad IP Protection.
An angel investor will ask the entrepreneur “Do you have a patent?” The next thing the entrepreneur does is run out and gets a patent. Is this smart? Note: this excerpt is from my forthcoming book “Startup IP Strategy.” The calculus is simple to the entrepreneur: they think a patent will help to raise money,…
Read More