Avoid This Major Mistake Made By Startup Entrepreneurs

You’ve been struck with the next big idea, are spending your sleepless nights, multiple coffee pots, ignoring friends, doing everything you can to build your business from the ground up. After all, it’s an idea you’re extremely passionate and energized about - and you want to make sure it is a success.

Before breaking open a bottle of champagne and sending out your first press release, you want to make sure that your product is as innovative as you think it is. Diving in on blind enthusiasm is so easy to do when enraptured with your big idea, but it is important to slow down, and assess the landscape to make sure it is a product you are actually able to bring to market.

“Diving in on blind enthusiasm is so easy to do when enraptured with your big idea, but it is important to slow down, and assess the landscape to make sure it is a product you are actually able to bring to market.”

Assessing the landscape can seem overwhelming, and challenging to identify what aspect of your innovation might infringe on previously patented ideas. Not knowing this in advance can greatly impact your potential for success.

Don’t Waste Money

When starting up a new business, you may be throwing your own money in, or handling investor funds with kid gloves. Early-stage IP research can help precisely calibrate a technology against the competitive environment, and help you decide what changes need to be made before losing lots of money later down the road.

Don’t Waste Time

Make sure anyone assessing your innovation has a strong background in your field of expertise. Having someone blindly assess your landscape can be costly, as they may miss a crucial detail that can have significant impact on your business.

Fine-Tune Your Target Market

Figuring out the target market for any innovation can prove challenging. Having the ability to identify your ideal client, and pinpoint your marketing message is the key to success. Performing advanced IP research can help you understand exactly what your competitors are doing so that you can effectively carve out a niche to make the most money.

Dismissing the important aspect of effective patent research can often lead to a hard-stop later on in your journey. Having a solid game plan of action from the get-go not only gives you an advantage over your competitors, but ensures your product fits the precise opportunity your customer is looking for.

“When prioritizing between start-up/business duties– outsourcing of invention discovery and patentability tasks is valuable. [SPSG], with its thorough and quick results, expedited our invention process– helping us make important decisions faster, making pivots earlier.” – Kyle Prawel, CEO, Affian Solutions