The Stragegic Guide

A team effort requires four partners monitoring four concurrent processes. The team members are:

1. Inventor: You are in charge of the inventing process.
2. Patent attorney: He is in charge of the patenting process, although does not usually get involved until a little later on (column 2, 3 or 4).
3. Manufacturing expert: Can mass produce the innovation at the right cost.
4. Marketing expert: Is in charge of the marketing process.

Your journey starts in column 1 when you get an idea. From there, you should complete the items in column 1 before moving to column 2, then 3, and so on.

This timeline is somewhat flexible. However, if you are filing patent applications (column 4) on prototypes that have not been qualified by marketing (column 2) or manufacturing (column 2) you've got the cart way before the horse! Without input from manufacturing and marketing experts you're taking a serious gamble.

This chart is a simplified version of the Strategic Guide chart that's in the book From Patent to Profit and the Scientific Journal. In the complete version, you will check off each box as you go. You're never in doubt as to what to do next.