This site uses cookies to improve your experience. To help us insure we adhere to various privacy regulations, please select your country/region of residence. If you do not select a country, we will assume you are from the United States. Select your Cookie Settings or view our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Cookie Settings
Cookies and similar technologies are used on this website for proper function of the website, for tracking performance analytics and for marketing purposes. We and some of our third-party providers may use cookie data for various purposes. Please review the cookie settings below and choose your preference.
Used for the proper function of the website
Used for monitoring website traffic and interactions
Cookie Settings
Cookies and similar technologies are used on this website for proper function of the website, for tracking performance analytics and for marketing purposes. We and some of our third-party providers may use cookie data for various purposes. Please review the cookie settings below and choose your preference.
Strictly Necessary: Used for the proper function of the website
Performance/Analytics: Used for monitoring website traffic and interactions
Pasadena-based OnGreen , the online marketplace for green and clean technology businesses, said today that it has launched a new, patent marketplace focused on allowing users to license or sell their intellectual property (IP). According to OnGreen, the new marketplace will provide additional funding avenues for entrepreneurs.
Even fewer might not be aware that they might just owe some thanks to the firm, after it scored a patent win against a so-called "patent troll" which was plaguing dozens of online retailers, demanding licensing terms for using shopping card technology it said it owned the rights to. READ MORE>>.
But only recently did I read a clear document on the risks and rewards of patent strategy. Thanks to Russ Krajec, a patent attorney, for the quick improvement in my education, here are some important points to consider when thinking of your patent strategy. What is the true cost of patenting an idea? And private.
Back in November I agreed with Nivi over at VentureHacks to do a series on the ten most important attributes of a successful entrepreneur. Unfortunately, I don’t believe it is perfectly correlated with what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur. Tags: Entrepreneur Advice Start-up Advice Startup Advice.
Dressed in suits with questions and passports in hand, a delegation of over 15 US entrepreneurs and investors--including a number from Southern California--entered the seat of the British government at 10 Downing Street Thursday. 10 Downing Street is the equivalent of the White House here in the United States.
” It’s the most common refrain I hear from investors and even entrepreneurs these days. The patents Overture held became known in small circles as Google’s ’361 problem as outlined here. LA in fact has more entrepreneurs as a percentage of its population than anywhere else in the country.
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. Even if you are granted a patent, the scope of your claims may be significantly denuded.
In my role as a mentor to aspiring entrepreneurs, I find that most have the technical challenges well understood, but many are a bit short on some basic street smarts , or basic business realities. Although Elon Musk doesn’t talk about it very much, he owns over 350 patents through Tesla, just one of his many companies.
I always advise software startups to file patents to protect their “secret sauce” from competitors, and to increase their valuation. The good news is that a patent can scare off or at least delay competitors, and as a “rule of thumb” patents can add up to $1M to your startup valuation for investors or M&A exits (merger and acquisition).
A continuing question I hear from young entrepreneurs is whether a university degree is important to startup success, or just a distraction in achieving their purpose in the world. Both provide entrepreneurial “head start” programs for aspiring entrepreneurs, free legal guidance, and access to experienced staff members.
An invalidated patent or one deemed to infringe the rights of another party can devastate a startup. Defensible Claims - Some companies take pride in the number of patents they own. However, there is not a direct correlation between a patent portfolio’s value and the number of patents which comprise the portfolio.
A core patent or “thicket” of patents protecting your offering? Profit margins are higher for unique products or services early in the life of an industry niche, or for products protected by patents that prevent others from undercutting you simply by releasing a cheaper product. Are margins high enough?
A core patent or “thicket” of patents protecting your offering? Profit margins are higher for unique products or services early in the life of an industry niche, or for products protected by patents that prevent others from undercutting you simply by releasing a cheaper product. Are margins high enough?
Last week a company we enthusiastically backed, uBeam , led by a very special entrepreneur, 25-year-old Meredith Perry , announced a $10 million round of financing. Here I make the case that entrepreneurs must stay focused on the prize, not the doubters. Entrepreneurs. ” **. It can be one of the strongest motivators.
With the appearance of do-it-yourself services on the Internet, entrepreneur curriculums at every university, and a wealth of new books on the subject, the need for expensive consultants and business advisors has also been mitigated. The same is true for filing patents, registering trademarks, and filing copyrights.
In my experience, consummate entrepreneurs tend come up with more startup ideas than they can ever implement, and some of the ideas may not even make business sense. But how does any entrepreneur know which ideas to implement, and which ones are best left behind? business entrepreneur idea reality check startup'
It''s a place where people can submit their ideas and patents, and we provide a platform for them to try to find entrepreneurs who would like to work on those patents together with us an the crowd. How do entrepreneurs get involved? That gives us access to the patents from those federal labs and universities have.
In my experience, consummate entrepreneurs tend come up with more startup ideas than they can ever implement, and some of the ideas may not even make business sense. But how does any entrepreneur know which ideas to implement, and which ones are best left behind? Check for intellectual property barriers in your way. Martin Zwilling.
Most of you aspiring entrepreneurs have new ideas on a regular basis, and find it hard deciding which to pursue, or try to tackle several at the same time. Good examples of initial focus by an entrepreneur would include Jeff Bezos when he started Amazon as an online marketplace for books only, and Elon Musk starting PayPal as an online bank.
How an entrepreneur answers this question speaks volumes about their knowledge of business realities, customers, confidence, and their ability to handle investor funding. I like patents, trademarks, and trade secrets, so this answer is a better sustainable competitive advantage than the other five answers. Don’t bash the competition.
As a mentor to aspiring entrepreneurs, I’m always surprised by the fact that some never seem to be able to that first startup going, while many others never seem to stop, starting their second or third initiative before the first one is fully hatched. I’m now convinced that serious entrepreneurs relish the startup process more than success.
Saturday, June 22, 2019 -- LAVA First Time Entrepreneur Workshop. LAVA is extremely pleased to announce its next First Time Entrepreneur training program. The program is open to entrepreneurs that are starting companies in areas that are likely to draw venture capital investment. The program is not open to service providers.
Most entrepreneurs I meet are reluctant to disclose anything about their idea to investors before getting a signed confidential disclosure agreement (CDA). Yet I can assure you that people who are paranoid, or want to avoid all risks, won’t be happy as entrepreneurs, so it’s all about balancing the risk-reward scale.
As a mentor to many aspiring entrepreneurs, I challenge them to think beyond what I call linear extensions to a current trend, such as another “easier-to-use” app for smartphones, a new dating site for pets, or another niche social network. Great social entrepreneurs are rare. Why doesn’t this product or service already exist?
Anyone who works with entrepreneurs will tell you that all are different. The Opportunist is the speculative part of the entrepreneur in all of us. The Specialist entrepreneur will enter one industry and stick with it for 15 to 30 years. Of course, discovering your entrepreneur type is only the beginning. Specialist.
Most technical entrepreneurs I know demand the discipline of a product specification or plan, and then assume that their great product will drive a great business. Is it any wonder why so few entrepreneurs ever find the professional investors they seek? Yet I’m still often approached by aspiring entrepreneurs who have neither.
Many new entrepreneurs are so excited by their latest idea that they can’t resist contacting every investor they know, assuming the investor will be equally excited and want to contribute immediately. They only want a quick overview of the product, not detailed features and patent secrets. Marty Zwilling.
This series describes how entrepreneurs can craft company-changing agreements with BDCs, while avoiding Kiss of Death contract provisions. Entrepreneurs should never agree to the following provisions when negotiating with a BDC, no matter how lucrative the potential relationship. Kiss of Death ConTraps.
It seems like everyone wants to be an entrepreneur and get rich these days. File at least a provisional patent and one or more trademarks. They safely assume that an entrepreneur with the right attributes will start with a great idea, and spend their time honing and presenting a great plan to deliver, leading to a successful business.
He was a life-long entrepreneur and the first business he created out of college (actually, he founded it while he was at Caltech) was a company that manufactured high quality audio speakers. Too many entrepreneurs focus on dilution. We talked about patents. The idea actually came to him from the Yellow Pages business.
You don’t need to invent an innovative product to be a real entrepreneur. Many of these new entrepreneurs were regular employees a few years ago, focused on a skill specialty. We are becoming a society of entrepreneurs. specialist entrepreneur startup freelance business' Writing specialists. Information specialists.
In my experience mentoring new entrepreneurs and aspiring business leaders, I see far too many who seem to be driven by all the wrong reasons. He makes a convincing argument that the best leaders and entrepreneurs follow their intrinsic rather than extrinsic motivations. To be a successful entrepreneur, one can never stand still.
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. Access to entrepreneurs-in-residence, business mentors. Access to intellectual property and current research.
New entrepreneurs who want to survive, and optimize the growth of their startups, need to think globally, and act locally, from day one. At present, no world patents or international patent process exists, so you need to apply in every relevant country. business entrepreneur glocalization localization startup'
In my experience, inventors and technologists arent interested or arent very good at building a business, and entrepreneurs arent usually good scientists. Historically, its also not often that a good inventor was also a good entrepreneur. Most good entrepreneurs are idea people, and can flood you with ideas.
There is so much written these days about how to attract investors that most entrepreneurs “assume” they need funding, and don’t even consider a plan for “bootstrapping,” or self-financing their startup. In fact, most of the rich entrepreneurs you know actively turned away early equity proposals. Need expensive resources up front.
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.
Everyone recognizes a great entrepreneur when they work with one, but most entrepreneurs don’t know what to look for in themselves that will drive that perception by others. The points are great, but can be made even simpler and more actionable by adapting then to the world of the entrepreneur: Demonstrate character.
As a startup mentor, I’m always amazed that some entrepreneurs seem to be an immediate hit with investors, while others struggle to get any attention at all. Some entrepreneurs love to talk and produce videos, but hate to write anything down. Registered patents and other intellectual property.
Every entrepreneur realizes that change is now the norm, and they have to adapt their business quickly to survive and prosper. In fact, the best entrepreneurs seem to see breakthrough changes coming even before they really happen, and are able to turn them into huge new opportunities. Technically, this is known as perceptual acuity.
As a startup investor in this age of the entrepreneur, I see many more startups, but innovation is still hard to find. An entrepreneur looking for a sure thing will never innovate. Creating intellectual property, including patents, is the key to long-term value and a sustainable competitive advantage. No risk, no innovation.
Most of the technologists I know inherently believe that the terms inventor and entrepreneur mean the same thing, so they are frustrated and surprised when they build their products and no business evolves. The term entrepreneur has always been defined as a person who builds a new business, which may or may not involve inventing a product.
Unfortunately, many entrepreneurs seem to prefer to fail their way to the top, rather than do some research and learn from the successes and mistakes of others. In general I try to focus on the positives and tell entrepreneurs what works, but sometimes it’s important to reiterate the common things that simply don’t work.
We organize all of the trending information in your field so you don't have to. Join 5,000+ users and stay up to date on the latest articles your peers are reading.
You know about us, now we want to get to know you!
Let's personalize your content
Let's get even more personalized
We recognize your account from another site in our network, please click 'Send Email' below to continue with verifying your account and setting a password.
Let's personalize your content