With the new year fast approaching, now is the time for people to make resolutions for 2016. We’re all going to eat better, exercise more, finally tell off that neighbor that’s been eyeballing us since we moved in. But words are cheap, and few of us meet those goals we so ambitiously set forth in the excitement of a fresh start.
Why we fail at these resolutions is a complex question that is undoubtedly explored in greater depth in esteemed publications read by very smart people. The quick, easy analysis would probably be that it’s hard. It’s hard to make changes suddenly to what we’ve been so used to doing, and it takes real commitment that can’t simply be switched on. But that doesn’t mean that those changes aren’t necessary, or that we should stop trying to do better with our own shortcomings.
Take business owners and their intangible assets. Many entrepreneurs pay too little attention to their intangible assets at the outset. As a result, the attention they do pay to them often comes too late, when they’re losing out on a trademark or dealing with IP theft. As with anything that goes wrong, it’s easy to look back and wonder how things might have turned out had you made different decisions or better choices.
But what if you were to spend the time now to get things right? New Year’s is synonymous with resolutions because the new calendar year is a convenient line of demarcation to start with new habits and practices. And while that can seem a bit arbitrary in the grand scheme of things, there is merit to the idea that you can decide to form better habits and generally be better.
So in the new year, why not think about your company’s intangible assets? They make up the overwhelming majority of a startup’s value. Having protection for your intangible assets will increase your company’s valuation when you seek funding. And holding patents and copyrights allow you to generate revenue by licensing your IP. All in all, protecting your intangible assets is one resolution you’ll be glad you kept.
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