Dear ELP Members,
My name is Roger Koyle. I am the new site leader for the Kaysville Entrepreneur Launch Pad. I am a business owner and moved here about six months ago from Boise, Idaho. As a business owner and entrepreneur, I have been overwhelmed with the resources available to entrepreneurs and business owners in Utah. I find ELP to be extremely valuable for those who wish to launch or expand their business ideas or resolve issues relating to their current business or project.
At first, I was very skeptical of the ELP concept and for several weeks I just sat back and observed. I am now in a partnership with one of the other ELP members working on an idea that I have been sitting on for 18 years. If not for this type of forum, I might likely have taken this idea to the grave. I am sure that there are many others in our community that fit into that same category. I am certain that many great ideas that “could have been” never reach more than a few people’s set of ears.
The goal of ELP is to help individuals who wish to launch, who are currently launching, who are expanding, or who might be stuck in their business project to advance to the next step in their process. While ELP cannot do the work for you, as a collective group, we are often able to point you in the right direction to find the answer, hire the necessary staffing/expert, or possibly help you connect to a strategic partnership or investor.
ELP embodies the phrase “it’s not what you know but who you know” and in business, who you know is everything. Many wealthy men and women list as one of their most valuable possessions their Rolodex, who they know. Knowing who to turn to for help before situations arise is very much like preventing a forest fire instead of fighting a forest fire. It is much cheaper to prevent a forest fire than to fight one and everyone know that the worst time to try to find a water source to put out a fire is when the fire is in full blaze. Great entrepreneurs prepare, bad entrepreneurs wish they had.
We know that not everyone can attend our weekly ELP meetings but we do appreciate those who make it a priority to attend and further the progress of our end goal. When asked why I bother to volunteer with ELP, my answer is somewhat selfish. I am an entrepreneur and having built several businesses without these type of resources and support, I recognize the value of this type of organization. Once a week, in a matter of minutes, I can find the answers to questions or needed resources that on my own might take me weeks to resolve.
We look forward to having you at our weekly ELP meetings. We look forward to your success. We hope to be able to call on you one day for expertise and support that only you might be able to offer. We hope to grow our ELP membership and representation so that together we might help even more people take the steps they need to progress towards their dreams of business ownership. Maybe your story will be the next Ancestory.com sale of 1.6 Billion dollars or maybe a story similar to that of Dano Ybarra’s story of 1.2 Billion Dollars.
Special Thanks to ELP member Dano Ybarra who spoke to us two weeks ago about his experience with a startup computer router company that due to much of his effort was sold later for 1.2 billion dollars. Dano spoke of the struggle, challenges and excitement they faced as they navigated the pathways to developing and expanding a new technology worldwide. Great story Dano and thank you once again!
Also, a special thanks to Bruce Needham who spoke to us this past week. Bruce is an engineer, registered patent attorney with Kunzler Law Group in SLC and an entrepreneur with a patent pending product of his own. Bruce articulated very well several steps of the process of legally protecting one’s intellectual property. Bruce added great clarity to some of the elusive questions that most entrepreneurs have regarding legal protection of their intellectual property, including:
#1 Why and when a trademark? The purpose of a trademark and why is it different than a patent? Would a person need to have a trademark or just a patent or both?
#2 What is the basic difference between a trademark and copyright?
#3 What is a provisional patent and the basic fundamental steps of the patent process? What might be the purpose of a provisional patent and does it always make sense to carry through with the utility patent?
#4 What happens to your provisional patent if it doesn’t move to utility? Does it get opened or does it get shredded if the utility isn’t submitted?
#5 Does the United States patent office publish abandoned patents and if a patent is abandoned is that intellectual property fair game to the general public?
#6 During the time that a patent is pending, is there any recourse the potential patent holder can take to order a Cease and Desist on your potential intellectual property?
For me, Bruce goes to the top of the list into my personal Rolodex of patent attorneys for when that time comes into necessity. Should you need a patent attorney, he can be reached at BNEEDHAM@kunzlerlaw.com or 801-994-4646 His website is www.kunzlerlaw.com.
Sincerely,
Roger Koyle