Millions from the Mind

Alan R. Tripp

Contents

But First, This Message...
     Acknowledgments

                             Part I
             Money: The Creative Part of Invention

Chapter 1 Going for the Gold
     A Tradition of Ingenuity
          Glossary
     Who Says It Can't Be Done?
     What Do the Winners Do Right?
     Looking into the Crystal Ball
     How Much is this New Product Worth... and to Whom?

Chapter 2 Dealing with Money
     The Five Bridges to Success
     What Makes Investors Say 'Yes'
     What It Takes to Win
     Dramatizing the Opportunity
     Gold at Opposite Ends of the Rainbow
     A Very Independent Inventor
     Reality in Raising Money
     How to Create Converts
     Letting the Investor Participate

Chapter 3 Finding the Money Sources
     Money Is Where You Find It
          Relatives and friends
          "Angels"
          Limited Partnerships
          Private Placements
          Venture Capitalists
          Your Banker
          Your stockbroker
          Government Agencies
          Investment Bankers
          Underwriters and IPO's
          Partners
     All the Friends You Can Get

                            Part II
               Protection: Guarding the Gold Mine

Chapter 4 Using Patents as a Business Weapon
     Using Patents for All They're Worth
     A Patent Primer
     The Business Side of Patents
      Before You Go for a Patent
     Making Your Patent Potent
     What is Patentable?
     A Picket Fence of Patents
     The Right Patent Lawyer
     Writing the Patent Application
     Suing and Getting Sued
     A New World for the Little Guy
     Royalties and the Common Good
     A Stance for Independents
     Winners and Losers in Courtroom Battles
          Losing and Winning and Why
          Knowing When to Say Yes
          Judgment Pending
     Patent Lingo Glossary

Chapter 5 Building Other Proprietary Picket Fences
     What's in a Name?
     Trademark War Stories
     Trademark Asset Management
     Getting the Best Trademark
     Protecting Your Trademark
     Copyright? Right!
     Designing Design Patents
     Trade Secrets Sssshhh!
     Buying Instant Exclusivity
     Other Pickets for Your Fence

Chapter 6 Capitalizing on Intellectual Property
     Patent, Patent, Who Gets the Patent?
     Gould's Legacy for All Inventors
     The Guys in the White Hats
     What's it Really Worth?
     Whose invention is it, anyway?
     Getting Millions from the Mind to the Bank
     How High is Up?
     Another Round of Invention
     Solving a Marketing Dilemma
     What Are the Right Questions?

Chapter 7 Handling Foreign Rights...and Wrongs
     Around the World in Eighty Ways
     The International Patent Maze
     Partnering Abroad
     Exporting the Right Stuff
     Licensing Abroad
     What's So Different Over There?
     Picking Partners, Market-by-Market
     Do It Right or They'll Do You Wrong
     Deciding Who Really is the Best Person

                            Part III
          Product Concepts: Finding Pathways to Market

Chapter 8 New Product Marketing Insights Part I
     Spotting the Instant Winners
     Spotting the Natural Opportunity
     A New Twist on Corkscrews
     Turning a Nightmare into a Business
     Winners and Losers:  Looking for Clues
     Learning from Mistakes
     Answering the Eagerness Equation Through Market Research
     Focus Groups
     One-on-One Interviews
     Telephone Interviews
     In-use Placement
     Which Crystal Ball Should You Choose?
     Uncommon Sense and Business Judgment
     Watch the Blind Side

Chapter 9 New Product Marketing Insights Part II
     Finding the Channel to Market
          Singer's Electric Sewing Machine
          Lever's Gel Toothpaste
          The Razor Blade Wars
     Using Hindsight for Foresight
     Differentiating New Products
     Visualizing a Target Market
     Inventing the Package; Packaging the Invention
     The Myth of New Product Failure
     Invention Marketing 101
     To Market, to Market
     Merging the Product and the Concept
     Innovation Thought-Starters and -Stoppers

                            Part IV
         Pathways to Millions: The Selling of Invention

Chapter 10 Licensing:  The "Easy Route" to Money
     The Licensing Preliminaries
     A Many-Faceted, Happy Example
     The Lot of the "Company Man."
     What Do You Have to Sell?
     What Should you License?
     Placing Limits on the License
     To Whom Should You License?
     The Point of Entry
     Permutations of Presentations
     Making the Best of the Unexpected
     LETTER OF AGREEMENT FOR INVENTION OWNER MAKING DISCLOSURE
     MUTUAL SECRECY AGREEMENT

Chapter 11 Licensing Agreements:  Getting Yours and Keeping It
     How Much, How Soon, How Sure
     How High is Up?
     Statesmanship in Licensing
     A Licensing Map and Compass
          Setting the financial terms
          Front Money
          Beating the Lawyers
          Be Flexible
     Whence Cometh My Help?
     Chasing Rainbows, Chasing Money
     An Example of "Heads of Agreement."

Chapter 12 Start-ups: The "Hard Way" to Money
     Inventing Answers to Business Problems
     Starting-Up as a Road to Licensing
     Making a Business of "Small" Inventions
     The "Big Time" Small Start-Up
     Turning a Small Product into a Big Business
     Start-up as a Prelude to Licensing.    
     Not Just a Promise, but a Threat
     Profile of the Successful Inventor

Chapter 13 Start-ups:  The Common Ground Rules
     "Take It in the Ear!"
     Finding a Niche and Possessing It
     Packaging Inventions
     Computer Start-ups:  Hard and Soft
     A Case of Not-So-Artificial Intelligence
     Is There a "Right" Way?
     Inventing Answers for Start-up Companies
          1. Who is going to run the company?
          2. What kind of company do you want to build?
          3. What is the real competition?
          4. How can you build credibility?
          5. Can you take care of yourself?
     To Start or Not to Start, Always the Question

Chapter 14 "Together or Separately"
     The Human Side of Invention
     Wisdom for Independent Inventors
     Thinking Critically About Inventions
     Wisdom for Corporations
     Reaching In
     Taking the Fear Out of New Products
     Stretching the Outreach
     Six Steps to Dialogland

                           Appendixes
Appendix A Inventors and Their Inventions Index
     By Inventor
     By Invention
     By Company
     By Trademark
Appendix B An Inventor's Bookshop
Appendix C Comprehensive Index

Figures
     Figure 1 - Dental Rinse Method Patent, Richard Berger, Plax
     Figure 2 - Plax Trademark, Richard Berger
     Figure 3 - Ad from United Technologies "Think" series
     Figure 4 - Dental Rinse Composition Patent, Richard Berger, Plax12
     Figure 5 - Colorocs' First Patent
     Figure 6 - More of the first Colorocs Patent
     Figure 7 - Colorocs Patent Detail Images
     Figure 8 - Do's and don't's of gift giving abroad

                            Tidbits

     Davis (Levi's) riveted pocket-openings pantaloons drawing
     Davis' (Levi's) riveted pocket-openings pantaloons specification
     Ford's fuel injected engine drawing (large)

Chapter 1
     Eli Whitney's cotton gin
     Samuel Colt's first U.S. revolver patent...
     Bell's first telephone patent
     Gray's caveat drawing/Bell's patent cont'd
     Ford's fuel injector patent
     Edison's light bulb patent
     Whittle's main jet engine patent heading
     Otis' elevator safety brake

Chapter 2
     Bell's first telephone patent cont'd, with claims
     Carothers' first nylon patent
     Plunkett's Teflon patent.
     Ford's fuel injector viewed from above
     Ford's fuel injector detail drawings
     . . .

For the complete list of illustrations visit the Sample Illustrations section of the Millions from the Mind pages.

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