A patent has no value unless you commercialize it by selling or licensing to a business. Evan Carmichael warns that many inventors waste money on patents that never ship, and advises finding a mentor who has taken similar products to market. Ask to pick their brain, be genuine, and show passion.
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What do I do with my patent? Got a great question from a YouTube viewer, Dejon, who wrote in basically saying that is that I have a patent, I'm oblivious to everything else of what do I do with my business. Do I need a business number? Do I get some guidance and mentoring? What do I do? Having a patent is great, but it doesn't mean anything unless you can go out and sell it to a business or license it to a business that can use it. Tons of people have patents. There's tons of inventors who just sit on their patents and they get nothing from them because they can't market it. I remember going to a young inventor's presentation and the speaker was talking about how there was this toothbrush and the toothbrush could have toothpaste inside the toothbrush and you press a button and the toothpaste comes up into the brush and you can start brushing your teeth right away. So it's a toothbrush and toothpaste all in one. And there were hundreds of different designs for this toothbrush, hundreds of different patents. And how many have you actually seen on the market? None. I've never seen a toothbrush sell that had toothpaste in the handle. And so my point is there's tons of these junk patents that are out there that never see commercialization, and as a result, the inventors don't make any money. Right? You spend all your time, effort, dollars creating an invention, then going out and getting a patent as a next step. Patents aren't free. They cost money to create and they cost money to support every year. And the only reason for doing that really is if you can find a way to sell this thing. If you have zero experience in business, if you don't even know if you need a business number or not, my, my best advice for you is to try to find somebody who can mentor you, who's done this before, who's taken an invention somewhere ideally related to your target market, selling something similar to what you're selling, and let them know what you're all about and try to ask for their advice. This is one thing that I did when I started my software company, and we ended up getting patents for the software. And some of the best advice came to us through other software developers and a guy who had sold his business for a couple hundred millions of dollars. And he was looking over a business plan and, and just tore it apart. And I would never have gotten that feedback myself, right? I thought I had a great plan, and I went to have coffee with him, and he sat down and just tore it apart. And that kind of guidance is super helpful. And how I found that guy was just through my dentist. You know, dentists are angel investors, and I mentioned what I was working on, and he connected me to this other inventor. You'll find if you are genuine and you are willing to listen, that people will help you out if you approach them. Don't go to somebody and say, "I want you to be my mentor," because that implies a long-term, hands-on, detailed relationship. And who knows if they even like you or your product or not? Just start by asking if you could pick their brain for 15 minutes. If they live somewhere close to you, then ask if you can buy them coffee. If not, if they're somewhere further away, then see if you can set up a phone call. But be passionate with what you're trying to create. Show that you've made something that you feel can really have a positive impact on this world and reach out to them. Because yes, you're going to need a business number, and you're going to need way more than that if you want to have success with this invention. And you're going to need help and guidance to move you along the way. So I'd really focus a lot of my time in trying to find an inventor who's done this before. If you don't have an interest in building a business, but you want to license or sell your, your patent, your invention, find someone who's done it before, connect with them, learn from them, and have them help guide you towards monetizing your idea. Believe. For those of you watching, you like the video, please give it a thumbs up below. And I want to hear what you think. Leave a comment underneath. Let me know what you think. Leave, leave your feedback. If you have a question for your business, put it below. I'll make a video response. Thank you so much, and I'll see you soon.
