Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 13, 2023

These days, you can find existing patents and trademarks through Google and the US Patent Office online site without spending thousands of dollars with your favorite patent attorney. Of course, existing patents don’t stop you from innovating, but charging ahead into a wall is no fun.

Ideas 106

Ideas Technical Review Patents Startup 106

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 8, 2023

So before you decide to move your manufacturing, software development, or call center out of town, make sure you understand the following considerations: Don’t give someone else control of your competitive advantage. Saving cost won’t help you if you can’t make the daily innovations required to stay competitive.

Software Review 114

Software Review Technical Review Outsource Development Outsource 114

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 10, 2021

Experienced entrepreneurs will tell you that the initial idea is the easy part, and it’s the later implementation, and the competitive business marketing that are the real creative challenges. Sometimes it’s helpful to imagine contradictory approaches, or working with opposites.

Ideas 171

Ideas Patents Training Entrepreneur 171

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2020

Most aspiring entrepreneurs look to their alma mater, or any university, as a source of classes that can help them, but neglect to think outside the box or take advantage of all the other resources to be found there. Get help with grant funding and incubator resources. Online or evening entrepreneurship classes for anyone.

Class 124

Class Startup Resource Mentor 124

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 2, 2022

There are dozens of sources to help you construct your business model, and a good example is a classic book by venture capital investor Elizabeth Edwards, simply named “ Startup ,” which is really designed as a handbook for launching a company for less. Competition. Investors look for a sustainable competitive advantage, like a patent.

Sales 102

Sales Customer Custom Outsource 102

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 10, 2010

Yet, it does nothing to help you execute your business model. Patents held by startups generally have a limited ability to reduce competition. The average time required to obtain a patent is 36-to-40 months, during which there is no guarantee your adVenture will ultimately receive patent protection.

IP 256

IP Patents Company Companies 256

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 23, 2020

Every school recognizes the power of “hands-on” work to help you develop your own ideas into a business. They provide peer group organizations, usually called incubators, with free resources, practice environments, and outside mentoring that can help you learn and pivot with minimal cost.

Entrepreneur 157

Entrepreneur Mentor Class Resource 157

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 10, 2021

A while back I received a discouraging note from an entrepreneur with a patent and a medical software application who couldn’t find a dime of investment, and was grousing that seed funding just wasn’t available anymore. It is not helpful to you for funders to love an idea that does not fit the criteria for their investing capability.

Software Review 123

Software Review Seed Funding Funding Startup 123

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 11, 2022

After many years of working with angel investors seriously trying to find new ventures worthy of their hard-earned money, I find their frustration often exceeds that of entrepreneurs sincerely looking for financial help. For seed stage funding, entrepreneurs should be looking to friends and family, crowd funding, and relevant institutions.

Entrepreneur 108

Entrepreneur Invest Funding Patents 108

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 13, 2020

So before you decide to move your manufacturing, software development, or call center out of town, make sure you understand the following considerations: Don’t give someone else control of your competitive advantage. Saving cost won’t help you if you can’t make the daily innovations required to stay competitive.

Outsource Development 122

Outsource Development Outsource Software Review Technical Review 122

Tech Zulu Event

JUNE 23, 2014

We connect YOU (the passionate enthusiast) with expert video and our active community to help you embrace and practice your wellness passions. Grokker’s patent-pending approach allows us to cost effectively shoot and produce beautiful, compelling video classes of all kinds at scale. What makes you unique from the competition?

Help 87

Help Content Activity Organization 87

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 2, 2020

Then, he'll need to patent it and create a plan to show opportunity, competition, and financial projections. I find the best business plans are not books, but may actually should start as a one-page “elevator pitch” that succinctly encompasses your business goals, problems and solution, opportunity, competition, and business model.

Ideas 126

Ideas Writing Examples Outsource 126

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 15, 2020

Sponsor some friendly competitive events with prizes. Elon Musk and Tesla made their battery patents available to anyone, to clear the path for market infrastructure growth and compatibility, which of course benefits Tesla. Include marketing initiatives to educate and help customers.

Marketing 170

Marketing Examples Startup Custom 170

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 25, 2021

Find out if something very similar is already selling, and who your competition would be if you proceed. File at least a provisional patent and one or more trademarks. Be wary of crafty shysters who will flood your mailbox with official-looking mail offering to help for a fee, or demanding fees you forgot to pay.

Ideas 136

Ideas Entrepreneur Mentor Resource 136

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 23, 2021

These are the ultimate chess players in the game of business, always looking to be two or three moves ahead of the competition. Too many Innovators are like Dean Kamen , still struggling with the Segway Human Transporter , while holding over 1000 other device patents. The Builder loves building a business from the ground up.

Entrepreneur 134

Entrepreneur Framework Mentor Web 134

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 26, 2012

For example, “I just patented a new cell-phone technology that will double battery life for half the cost. I need your help in getting it to market.” Ask for time to give a full presentation, or ask for a referral to someone who can help. Unlike [competition], we [differentiation].” About 150-225 words.

Startup 113

Startup Patents Template Competition 113

InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 13, 2016

A friend recently asked me to give his startup-minded daughter some advice to help her vet undergraduate entrepreneurial programs. Ask: How many patents were filed by students and faculty during each of the past five years? Is there a venture competition with cash prizes? A version of this article previously appeared in Forbes.

Technical Review 100

Technical Review Venture Capital Class Patents 100

socalTECH

APRIL 29, 2014

A number of teams have recently been looking to turn that vision into reality, as a result of the Qualcomm Tricorder Prize , a $10M competition being run by the X Prize Foundation to create a real life Tricorder. That''s essentially how the Tricoder competition was formed--it''s time for this to happen. Mann implantable device area.

Startup 262

Startup Competition Software Review UCLA 262

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2016

Most aspiring entrepreneurs look to their alma mater, or any university, as a source of classes that can help them, but neglect to think outside the box or take advantage of all the other resources to be found there. Get help with grant funding and incubator resources. Online or evening entrepreneurship classes for anyone.

Entrepreneur 55

Entrepreneur Capital Class Startup 55

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 12, 2016

As an investor, I always listen carefully to what an entrepreneur says, and does not say, about competition. Every business area has competition and every customer has alternatives, so a smart entrepreneur needs to acknowledge these as a positive in defining a big market, and position the features of a new solution in this context.

Competition 62

Competition Entrepreneur Patents Custom 62

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 14, 2020

After many years of working with angel investors seriously trying to find new ventures worthy of their hard-earned money, I find their frustration often exceeds that of entrepreneurs sincerely looking for financial help. For seed stage funding, entrepreneurs should be looking to friends and family, crowd funding, and relevant institutions.

Funding 123

Funding Startup Entrepreneur Invest 123

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 8, 2017

For example, “I just patented a new cell-phone technology that will double battery life for half the cost. Opportunity segmentation and competitive environment. List key competitors and alternatives, highlighting your sustainable competitive advantages, such as patents and trademarks.

Startup 65

Startup Writing Patents Competition 65

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 30, 2014

Did anybody hold patents that would prevent us from using this technology? I seldom hire patent attorneys during due diligence but this was too important. Meredith Perry came up with the idea for uBeam while still in college at University of Pennsylvania and like many great inventors won her school’s business plan competition.

Technical Review 418

Technical Review Software Review CTO Hire IP 418

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 14, 2015

The bad news is that many are already doing it, with competition growing, so the longer you wait, the less chance you have of getting there first. Look for free help at a local university or find one of the new maker spaces, such as TechShop , where you can rent time and equipment to do the job yourself.

Startup 108

Startup Search Engine Optimization Social Media Outsource Development 108

socalTECH

JUNE 19, 2014

We reached out to a few molding companies, but they all said we were too small and couldn''t help us with what we needed. However, one company in Indiana took us on, and helped us develop a snap-on filter that was pretty cool. It was made specifically for the GoPro, was form fitting, and very easy to put on and take off. READ MORE>>.

Startup 196

Startup Van Nuys Patents Santa Barbara 196

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 24, 2014

Los Angeles-based Tilofy (www.tilofy.com)--out of USC''s Viterbi Startup Garage--is doing just that, helping to highlight what is going on around you, by absorbing all of that location data out there at any particular time and place. We spoke with Ali Khoshgozaran , founder and CEO of the company, to learn more about the startup.

USC 236

USC Southern California Organization UCLA 236

InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 4, 2012

Hopefully this straightforward format will help you avoid overly obtuse verbiage, while keeping your executive summary to two pages. Patents and Trademarks. Competition. Jeff Carmody, Co-Founder of Agility Capital and a successful institutional investor, provided me with the outline shown below. Opportunity. Management Team.

Venture Capital 211

Venture Capital Summary Technical Review Template 211

Xconomy

JUNE 3, 2016

Merck also saw some expected fruits of its 2014 big-ticket acquisition of Cubist Pharmaceuticals wither away this week, as the Supreme Court wouldn’t reverse a decision that shaved years off the patent life of the top-selling antibiotic daptomyicin (Cubicin). —When Merck (NYSE: MRK ) bought Cubist Pharmaceuticals for $9.5

San Diego 62

San Diego Patents Acquisition News 62

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 27, 2012

If you can’t get the message across in ten minutes, more time and more charts won’t help. Fuzzy terms like “not user-oriented” or “too expensive” are not helpful. Describe your technology patents and “secret sauce”. Competition and sustainable advantage. Solution product & technology. Opportunity sizing.

Slides 99

Slides Competition Sample Sales 99

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 13, 2011

Jonathan Simkin: What makes us unique from other sites, is we're here to help students save time, in addition to money, when they buy books. Jonathan Simkin: I was actually in high school when I decided I'd either start a company when I graduated, or go into patent law. They act as mentors and help companies grow.

UCSD 185

UCSD Course Startup Sites 185

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 9, 2010

Helping entrepreneurs succeed. www.pitchtheangels.com) Join Tech Coast Angels members and other start up investors at the 5th Annual Los Angeles Fast Pitch Competition. Thanks to all of our sponsors, who make our coverage of Southern California's technology industry possible: Sponsors. Redpoint Ventures (www.redpoint.com).

Southern California 113

Southern California Tech Coast Angels IP Orange County 113

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 13, 2016

This is also the place to first mention patents and any other differentiators that put you ahead of competition. Good causes such as feeding the world’s hungry may help your marketing but may not sustain a business. Every new offering has competition and alternatives, so it’s not credible to claim no competitors.

Invest 108

Invest Startup Slides Equity 108

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 27, 2015

What we bring to the table is competitive analytics, where we consider your security adversary, and figure how they are trying to break your system, under different scenarios, and recommend a plan which optimizes your security strategy. We''re now scaling it up, and we''ve also filed seven patents in that process. Coast Guard.

Research 100

Research Patents USC Software 100

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 26, 2018

It may sound counterintuitive, but when you are creating a new market, competition helps legitimize it and increases the size of the pie. Position competitors positively around you, and continue to find ways to keep yourself ahead of the crowd, with both product offerings and thought leadership.

Marketing 92

Marketing Demand Examples Social Media 92

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 1, 2013

Experienced entrepreneurs will tell you that the initial idea is the easy part, and it’s the later implementation, and the competitive business marketing that are the real creative challenges. Sometimes it’s helpful to imagine contradictory approaches, or working with opposites.

Startup 100

Startup Ideas Patents Training 100

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 10, 2010

Here are a few thoughts to help you get started: What is your product or service? Who is your competition? Successful competition is a positive - they are proof your business model and/or concept work. What is your competitive advantage? A request - At the end of your pitch, you must ask for something. Who is your market?

Startup 93

Startup Competition Summary Patents 93

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 26, 2012

Experienced entrepreneurs will tell you that the initial idea is the easy part, and it’s the later implementation, and the competitive business marketing that are the real creative challenges. Sometimes it’s helpful to imagine contradictory approaches, or working with opposites.

Ideas 109

Ideas Entrepreneur Patents Training 109