A key idea: innovate, protect, launch, license and then repeat
Carla M. Paton Book Review
A Simple Idea: Turn Your Dreams Into a Licensing Goldmine While Letting Others Do the Work…In 15 Minutes: The Innovator’s Summary of Stephen Key’s Bestselling Bookis another smart offer that saves time at the In 15 minute summary corporate author series, 2 Minute Insight. Although the title of the book is a mouthful, the well-organized content, which summarizes the most relevant points of Stephen Key’s innovation, a simple idea It is not.
Key is a licensing and innovation guru with over 13 patents to his name and has licensed over 20 products over 30 years. He also runs a licensing course, “10 Steps to Bring His Idea to Market.” Key wrote his book, A simple idea: turn your dreams into a licensing gold mine while letting others do the work to help other aspiring inventors and innovators overcome the difficulties of bringing an idea to reality.
Some of the contents of Key’s work that the Innovator Summary the covers are how to find the right ideas, protect them, present them and close the license agreement. Once you discover your good idea, you must file a provisional patent to protect it for one year while you present the idea to various companies. When presenting, to present yourself professionally, you will need a Statement of Benefits and a Sell Sheet.
One of the essential points of Key’s book is that by licensing your idea to a company, you free yourself from the hassles of running a business, production, marketing, and sales. Instead, he receives royalties and moves on to the next big idea of his. Key also cautions against conventional design development and licensing methods, which involve spending thousands of dollars on prototypes and patents. Part of your license agreement with a company should be for them to prototype and file a patent.
Finally, contrary to conventional thinking, creating a new idea does not mean reinventing the wheel. Some of the best ideas are simple improvements and adjustments to existing products and services. However, being a successful innovator means knowing your target market well and designing with that market in mind.
What I appreciated the most 15-Minute Innovator Summary, was the balanced assessment of Key’s book given at the end. Some of these criticisms are the lack of details for the development of ideas, the frustration that can occur with failed ideas, the lack of information on applying for a patent and the potential risks of a PPA – provisional patent. Some excellent additional resources are also listed at the end.
Although you would learn a lot from reading Key’s book, be a smart visionary and save time for your next big idea. Instead, read this well-written, concise 15-Minute Innovator Summary and then get to work.