New effort at licensing!

[TedM]

It's been years since I started a thread here. This one isn't so complicated, so let's see how it goes.

Note that, about 10 years ago (!?!?) I went through Stephen Key's training to understand the ins and outs of licensing my ideas. I'm going to use that process here.

I've had an idea kicking around my head for a few years. A consumer product that I just cannot believe noone makes/is selling.
I finally got around to doing something about it:

Progress so far:

• Hired someone on Fiverr to make a couple of simple diagrams. - $22
• Wrote up a Provisional Patent (with ChatGPT's help - but I edited it some.)
• Submitted the patent application to the USPTO - cost $60 (certified myself for micro-entity status)
• Had ChatGPT create a list of 15 companies that are in this space who sell in the retail market, along with the link for submitting a product idea.

Time invested: about 6 hours.

Next steps:
Create a "Stephen Key" style sell sheet - now with the words "Patent Pending" - 1 hour estimate.
Populate a follow-up spreadsheet, to keep track of who I contact and when. - also 1 hour
Start the product submission process. - maybe 10 minutes/submission....

 

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[RightyTighty]

How many products have you tried to license and have you had any successes?

I went the licensing route last year. I found it frustrating and decided to venture. Licensing can be a good gig to get some seed money, but Control and Scalability are limited. Also, unless you have a disruptive innovation or get a DRTV contract the ROI tends to be limited. I can name half a dozen people I know personally who became fastlane through venturing, but I’ve never even heard of anyone who became a fastlaner through licensing royalties. Even Stephen Key, who has licensed over 20 of his own products and is the accepted ultimate expert in the field, makes his living by selling courses on licensing, not from royalties. But I realize it can be the best choice for some and I wish you good luck! Please keep us informed of your progress.

 

[TedM]

How many products have you tried to license and have you had any successes?

I went the licensing route last year. I found it frustrating and decided to venture. Licensing can be a good gig to get some seed money, but Control and Scalability are limited. Also, unless you have a disruptive innovation or get a DRTV contract the ROI tends to be limited. I can name half a dozen people I know personally who became fastlane through venturing, but I’ve never even heard of anyone who became a fastlaner through licensing royalties. Even Stephen Key, who has licensed over 20 of his own products and is the accepted ultimate expert in the field, makes his living by selling courses on licensing, not from royalties. But I realize it can be the best choice for some and I wish you good luck! Please keep us informed of your progress.

I've tried a few in the past, but frankly they were kind of crappy ideas.
And Stephen did make a lot of money from licensing before he went guru on the courses. And he's had many students who have done well going this route.

Personally, I'm doing this to scratch an itch.... the product is one that should be available to everyone and needs an established company in the field to pull it off successfully, as a line extension basically.

I have a startup product I'm working on that I'm more invested in.