Plan4IPSM
A 4-step Process for Startups
Our Proposal for Startups
The 4 Steps
The first step is to identify the innovations within your company that may qualify for IP protection. This includes:
- Reviewing your products, services, and processes for potential inventions.
- Assessing trademarks, trade secrets, and other forms of IP relevant to your business strategy.
- Collaborating with your team to complete the Invention Disclosure Form (IDF).
Key Outcome: A comprehensive list of potential IP assets and a clear understanding of their strategic
Once your IP assets are identified, the next step is to secure them. This involves:
- Preparing and filing patent, trademark, or copyright applications.
- Establishing confidentiality policies to safeguard trade secrets.
- Setting up agreements (e.g., NDAs) to protect your IP during collaborations.
Key Outcome: Official applications filed for relevant IP protections and clear steps to safeguard confidential information.
IP is more than just protection—it’s a strategic business tool. This step focuses on continuously refining your IP portfolio to maximize its value and relevance. It includes:
- Aligning Your IP Strategy: Ensure your IP strategy evolves in line with your business goals and market developments, adjusting as your company grows.
- Ongoing Evaluation: Regularly assess your patent portfolio to ensure that your IP investments are delivering the maximum value and protecting key innovations.
Add: patent pulse meetings, patent steering committees and patent operations
Key Outcome: A robust IP strategy tailored to your startup’s growth trajectory.
In this step, which may be run in parallel to step 3, the focus shifts to gathering insights on the competitive landscape. This includes:
- Competitive Intelligence: Conduct an analysis of competitors’ IP to map their portfolios and identify potential risks of infringement. This helps to position your IP in the market better and avoid conflicts with existing rights.
- Clearance Search: Evaluate the IP landscape to ensure that your innovations do not conflict with existing patents, trademarks, or other intellectual property rights. For this step, we can collaborate with our network of IP patent attorneys to conduct thorough searches across various jurisdictions to identify potential obstacles.
- Identify Licensing and Deal Opportunities: Leverage insights gained from competitive intelligence to spot potential licensing opportunities, strategic partnerships, or acquisition possibilities that align with your business objectives.
Key Outcome: A comprehensive understanding of the competitive IP environment, with clear steps to avoid infringement and identify opportunities for licensing and strategic business deals.
Monthly Subscription
Our unique monthly subscription offers ongoing, cost-effective support for all your IP needs. With a fixed monthly fee, you gain unlimited access to expert advice with no unpredictable hourly billing. For early-stage companies, deferred fee options are also available.
Whether you need help with filings, strategy, or day-to-day IP questions, our subscription ensures you always have dedicated support. Through a secure client portal, you can easily upload documents, ask questions, and receive timely, actionable guidance.
Stay focused on your growth—we’ll take care of your IP.
How We Work With You
We offer a modern, flexible approach to IP services, built around your company’s goals and growth.
Moving beyond the traditional billable hour, we focus on tailored IP strategies aligned with your business and product timelines.
Our services include:
- Strategic IP portfolio evaluation
- Patent filing and claim drafting
- Freedom-to-operate and patentability assessments
- Drafting of NDAs, MTAs, and collaboration agreements
- IP strategy support for investor communication
- Deferred fee options for early-stage companies
Secure Client Access
We offer each client a private, secure communication space to easily share documents, ask questions, and stay informed about their IP matters in real time.
This dedicated access ensures efficient collaboration, quick responses, and full transparency throughout the process — so you are always connected and in control of your intellectual property strategy.