Author Archives: mwillee

On the surface, the job description of a marketer is to help their company or their client raise awareness of their brand or educate customers in the hopes of generating sales of whatever product they have to offer. So while it’s logical to view marketers as an extension of sales, they’re every bit as inventiveContinue reading “How Can Marketers Be Better at their Jobs? Add Intellectual Property to Your Knowledge Bank”

Risk is something of a mature subject. That’s not to say that risk is solely the providence of people past a certain age, but we become more aware of it as we age and mature. As kids we don’t ponder the idea of our own mortality or the possibility of failure; it’s less that weContinue reading “How to Avoid Business Risk”

The business world is a rough place. It’s a hyper-competitive ecosystem, and just as animals in the wild will fight tooth and nail to protect their territory, so to must businesses fight to protect what belongs to them. While the actual physical property of a company may seem the obvious example of a business’ property,Continue reading “Protect Your IP from Being Stolen”

Intellectual property is the most valuable asset for all businesses. But too many startups incorporate and hit the ground running without first identifying and taking proactive steps to identify or protect their IP. Without the right coverage, your brand, your name, your slogans and anything else you create is vulnerable to theft.

Busy CFOs, CEOs, and in-house counsel cringe at the thought of preparing for due diligence. Creating and maintaining a deal or data room is of course now a virtual exercise. Gone are the days of inviting auditors and attorneys to your office to review files. However, the initial set-up can be daunting!

Over the past week, Mary has done quite a bit on crowdfunding, with blogs, webinars, and even a TV appearance. And why wouldn’t we? Crowdfunding is a popular subject right now, with entrepreneurs raising funds for their inventions and products and potato salads. So while we continue to wait for the SEC to release theContinue reading “Crowdfunding Compilation”

The final step is to create a pitch. The video is critical as you have a short period of time to capture someone’s attention.  Keep it high level and if there is a compelling angle, use it. As we saw in last week’s blog,  the success of the G3Box campaign came from tying fundraising forContinue reading “Practice Safe Crowdfunding, Part IV: Create a Pitch”

In the first part of our innovation series, we examined the concept of capturing, leveraging, and growing intangible assets for small and medium sized businesses. We care about innovation as it is at least eighty percent of your company’s value — more if you are a startup.

Once you know where you will fundraise, the next step is NOT campaign creation. Instead, you need to start the process of planning your campaign. Planning and executing a crowd-funding campaign takes months, not days.

In today’s global economy, inventions and products easily cross borders.  For multinational corporations with intellectual property (IP) at the very foundation of their business, keeping IP secure is essential to survival. This security requires treating the invention as a trade secret or filing patents in specific jurisdictions around the world. Obtaining patent protection in multipleContinue reading “Guest Blog: Three Reasons Your Patent Translations May Be Inaccurate – and Why It May Potentially Cost You Millions”