Meghan Wolfgram is probably the most incredible woman that I have ever stumbled upon. Fresh out of University, she started a company based on her invention that has gone viral in the past few years. This is like … Every Inventors Dream !!! So how did she do it?

Ever hear of Lure Coursing? Me neither, but here is where her passion begun. It is a competition sport for dogs which began as an alternative to chasing rabbits. A lure (which use to be a plastic shopping bag) is tied to a cord which drags it just out of the dogs’ reach and the dogs try to catch it.

Meghan wanted to buy a machine for her dog but they were too expensive. So she and her dad built their own. One thing lead to another and she started selling her invention , Swiftpaws https://swiftpaws.com/ , as a commercially-built alternative for professional lure coursing. Skip ahead 6 years and her Kick Starter campaign raised $70,000.00 to lunch their first consumer  version of the product. Three years later, she ran an Indiegogo campaign to launch HomePlus, with a goal of $25,000.00 which, 30 days later raised $130,840.00. She was then one of 23 finalists for the 2021 Florida Venture Forum’s Early Stage Capital Conference. That is where I found her. 

Little did I know at that time that she has become a legend in Lure Coursing as can be seen in this video by the American Kennel Club’s Fastest Dog Competition  https://bit.ly/3JIcbw6 . 

The most recent news is her SharkTank episode that aired on 4/8/22. She must have done well because she ran a viewing party at “…one of (her) favorite places on earth, Groundswell Startups!” This, I soon learned, is an incredible resource for startups. It sounds like a team effort, building prototypes, developing business plans, helping each other doing all sorts of stuff. 

I thought that I was well versed in getting from point A to point Z in the world of inventing but doing research for her flyer made me realize that, “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, / then are dreamt of in …” my little world.    

That’s why, I can’t wait to hear her story, learn specifics as to how she went from concept to Shooting Star. If you ever want to go from dreaming about success to actually achieving it you need to hear this presentation for yourself.

Here’s Looking At You, Kid

Mary Lou and Dennis Green are brilliant serial inventors and entrepreneurs whose success rate has been phenomenal! They also love to share their hard-earned knowledge through books, as well as video courses, and private mentoring through their Big Idea School https://bigideaschool.com/ 

They are working on a new course due out later this summer. That is tentatively titled:  The Seven Ways Investors and Licensees Evaluate Your Product Before Investing. When I heard about it I said, “You’ve gotta give my group a preview.” This is information that every inventor needs to hear. Below is the description that they sent me and I couldn’t improve on it at all. 

“Let’s say you have a great idea for a product that will benefit millions of people. You consider looking for investors or possibly licensing your idea. You’ve even developed a 60-second elevator pitch and a pretty good sell sheet. But what if the prospective investor or licensee wants to know if you have done any market research or what it costs to manufacture your product? Will you impress them with your business insight, or have to apologize for not being good with numbers?

To prepare for investors’ or licensees’ questions, you need to know how they think. Of course, they want to make money, but exactly what motivates them to invest in some products and reject others? Whether you are an entrepreneur or an inventor, evaluating your big idea from the investor’s point of view will help you provide investors with the information they need. That will increase your odds of landing a deal, help you negotiate a better license agreement and possibly a higher royalty rate.

If you have taken any of their courses at BigIdeaSchool.com, you know Dennis and Mary Lou Green are lifelong inventors, entrepreneurs, and investors. They’ve created and marketed more than 50 simple consumer products over the past 40 years and have earned 17 patents. They have licensed 15 of their inventions. And on the other side, they have also licensed products from inventors and sold them to their retail customers. What they learned over 40 years in business is that investors and licensees have seven fundamental ways of evaluating the products and people they invest in.

Way too many inventors believe that all you need is a great idea and the world will beat a path to their door. Didn’t they ever hear the famous Thomas Edison quote, ” Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration”? It is called product development for a reason. You must Develop the product. 

The most successful product developers are big companies like Procter and Gamble or Black and Decker. They put together a team of experts to work on a project. Designers, engineers, prototypers, marketing, but do you know who they consider the most important element? Market Research. The Voice Of the Consumer or Customer, what they call the VOC. They use that information to develop a product that their demographic will buy. 

Jennifer Dale of  www.insideheads.com is a market research junky. She is addicted to finding answers to questions that most other people would never even think to ask. As a practicing researchaholic myself, I found this woman to be a fountain of knowledge with incredible focus.          

She will show you how to define your demographic, conduct a number of different information gathering-techniques, use that information to create a profile or define additional issues that need to be addressed, the difference between quantitative and qualitative analysis, etc., etc.. What you will learn in one afternoon will astound you but it doesn’t stop there. Through her website she can help you do it yourself or do the research for you.

One of the most important things any professional and inventor needs to do is evolve with their field of expertise. Ms. Dale has done so with a vengeance. She worked with Amy Yoffie at Research Connections to develop two of the first web-based online platforms for conducting surveys and focus groups. Jennifer also co-authored Qual-Online, the Essential Guide and published innumerable articles regarding the subject. 

If you ever watched Shark Tank you know that the make or break question always is, What are your sales? You can’t have sales without product but doing even a short run is costly. I know or know of a lot of inventors who really believed in their invention and now have a garage full of product with very little sales. 

Professional Help

Every inventor that I know, at some point, needs Professional Help. No, I don’t mean that they have mental complications. Even if you are handy and can do your own prototypes or CAD drawings, there comes a time when you may need an engineer to work out some technical issues or need “real” machinery to accomplish your vision.

Nicholas Tamborello just might be your guy. He started out working for a machine shop in high school. Then worked his way up to a CNC machinist / programmer. He went on to get his mechanical engineering degree. This lead to various jobs including production engineering.

In 2019, he opened his own company IntelliTrace Solutions https://intellitracesolutions.com/  and started working with inventors / entrepreneurs. Then things got really interesting. Some may just need some design for manufacturability or a 3D printed prototype. Some may have an idea of what they want it to do but haven’t a clue as to how to even get started.

Nicholas is very customer orientated. He tries to build a relationship by educating his clients. I spent some serious time on the phone with him and I was impressed by his knowledge as well as his experience but I was equally impressed with his interest in inventors.

I believe you will be impressed as well which is why I decided to start the year off by bringing him in as a speaker. You will learn how to plan a project from start to finish, what to watch out for, and so much more.

2021 was a tough year for everyone and I’ve seen so many people lose their motivation. We need to jump start that motivation. We need to adopt a Can Do Attitude for 2022. 

Patent Searching Made Easy

The easiest way to do a patent search … is to hire Patent Search International (PSI) to do it for you. At $250.00, including a patentability opinion by a patent attorney and a FREE Trademark search, it doesn’t pay to do it yourself. 

Of course, there is always a catch. The quality of the search will depend on how well you answer the questioner. On the other hand, even if you made a weak disclosure, you can use this search to expand your own search.     

Ronald Brown founded PSI http://patentsearchinternational.com/  in 1974 and mainly worked for attorneys and businesses. In 1985, he expanded his clientele to independent inventors. He felt, that the inventors were getting cheated because the attorneys would mark up his work by $800.00 to over $1000.00. He also worked with his state attorney offices to put Invention Promotion Companies out of business because he cares about independent inventors.

He will go over how to do a patent search as well as what a good search entails. He will also share some of the tricks of the trade that he learned along the way. This will make a good primer if you want to do your own search.

However, most inventors that I know, Hate patent searching with a vengeance. Consequently, do a horrible job or spend an hour or two and are convinced that there is nothing out there like their invention. This could turn out to be a costly mistake because the examiner Will find something and every time they do, your attorney will have to answer the rejection. The more they find, the more it will cost you.

Worst case scenario, PSI does your search and finds your invention is unpatentable. You can decide to move on to something else without incurring all the cost of prosecution or use their search to expand your own to learn more about the art. This is how the patent system is suppose to work. By learning from other patents, you may just find that gold nugget that inspires that ah-ha moment that will bring you to commercial success.

Successful Inventor Stories

Don Debelak knows more about inventing than just about anyone I know. He writes articles on every facet of the subject including marketing, development, research, you name it. He is even a patent agent so he can answer questions related to patent procedures. So picking a topic for his presentation was not going to be easy. 

He suggested, Inventors Who Made It Big (How You Can Duplicate Their Success) and I said WOW !!! When I saw the slides I knew this is going to be fantastic. 

The USPTO tells us that 97% of all issued patents never make back the money spent on their development. That means only 3% are doing something right and I want to know what they are doing that I’m not doing so I can start doing something right. Don’t you?  

The inventions that he picked to be in the presentation cover a variety market agendas from sports to cleaning products, consumer goods to music software. So you will be able to identify with the issues these inventors faced.

He will then bring it all home by pointing out specific areas of research and development such as;

• The importance of Trade shows, magazines and organizations.
• Early research marketing and production
• Key attitudes you Must have to succeed
• Quick start tactics
• Where to find help

If you have any desire to get a product to market, you cannot miss this presentation. It will give you the foundation from which your creativity can flourish.