Why Does A Startup Need a Patent? Transcript

Speaker 1: (00:09)
Hello, I'm D'vorah Graeser, founder and CEO of KISSPatent with 20 years of experience in helping startups stand out from the crowd and raise the money that they need by using patents to increase their startup's valuation. I want to tell you about how patents helped Groovebook get acquired for $14 million in 2014. Get ready to get your patent "groovebook" on. Groovebook created technology to inexpensively produce books of photos, not web-based albums, but actual physical books that you could hold in your hand. These books were sold inexpensively for only a few dollars. Users would upload photos online and then Groovebook would arrange them nicely and add some personalization. You would pay for as many copies of your photo album book as you wanted and then Groovebook physically printed and sent them to you. It doesn't sound very high-tech does it? But Groovebook had a secret weapon. Technology that allowed it to print and mail the books cheaply enough so that it was very profitable even at the low price that it charged per book. What was the secret weapon? The groove. No, I'm not kidding. The special groove of Groovebook meant that after printing, it's photo album books lay flat so they can be shipped in cheap postal service envelopes. Without the groove,the books would have been too large because they would have been too expanded. The shipping costs would have been too high and Groovebook would have lost money, not made money on its photo albums. Of course, Groovebook needed other things to be profitable as well. For example, it focused tightly on execution so that the printing process was low cost and super efficient. But the groove technology was the make or break tech for the company. The secret sauce. Without it, Groovebook would have been bankrupt. Groovebook protected its secret weapon, the groove, with a patent. This simple, but highly powerful technology, could not now be copied by rivals. Shutterfly didn't have a choice but to buy Groovebook for its profitable and super efficient tech, as the heart of the process was protected by a patent. Let's say you want to take a page from the Groovebook strategy. You also want to succeed in a low margin, but ultimately very profitable niche with technology that can disrupt an existing business model of the big guys just like Groovebook. To start, you need to identify those areas where lack of efficient technology increases your expenses and reduces your margins. Next, you need to improve your tech in those areas, always focusing on super efficient execution. But don't forget to file for at least one patent, if not more, or else you could find your competitors stealing your ideas and even driving you out of business. Want more information? At kisspatent.com we have guides and information to help you launch your patent. Click the link below to download our free guide on how to protect your startup's future with a patent. That's it for now. If you have any questions, please leave your comments below or email us at info@kisspatent.com.