October 23, 2010 - Saturday

Inventor Boot Camp 2010

Turning Your Ideas Into Profitable Products

It all starts with an epiphany. Every invention begins with a single “eureka moment” or some “brilliant revelation” that causes the inventor to take action.

These epiphanies become the idea seeds planted by inventors around the world. But we can only wish the process was as simple as adding water and fertilizer and waiting for the ideas to spring to life.

Inventions are not just patents to be hung on a wall. They are the starting point for a new business enterprise. So, not only does the inventor have to figure out how to create a working product or device, they also have to drive it forward, creating a business model that will enable it to survive. And that’s where we come in.

The Inventor Boot Camp will help you focus on what’s important. We will show you ways to leverage your time and resources, eliminate unnecessary work, and direct your energies towards driving your product forward. And most importantly, we will teach you what it takes to become successful.

Key Strategies to Learn

How to perform an early stage benefit/market analysis to decide in advance who your end customer will be. Once you fully understand who your customer is, only then can you begin to piece together your business model.
How to develop a profit-centric mindset, the same thinking used by most successful inventors, to maximize your odds of success.
How to decide if your invention needs to be patented. If it doesn’t, this can save you significant amounts of money.
Who you should be listening to. Advice will come from many sources, but not all of it will be good.
How to best position yourself for funding. Hear it directly from the people who have money to invest.

NOTE: People who are exhibitors at the DaVinci Inventor Showcase will receive a free pass to the Inventor Boot Camp.

A great invention is much more than a new product that ends up on a store shelf. Inventions are a hidden force of nature, driving our economy, building a better future for our children.

They can either make you a living legend, or leave you struggling to survive. Our goal is to help make you successful.

Stake your claim on the invention world! Reserve your seat now for this revolutionary event.

Why Should You Attend?

For inventors, the Inventor Boot Camp will be a significant turning point in their life. Some of the topics included will be:

Top 10 Mistakes Made By Most Inventors – How to recognize them before they happen and avoid them.
Intellectual Property Strategies – The deck is stacked against the individual inventor. Understand the tactics and strategies, and how to use them to your advantage.
Demystify the different types of intellectual property (IP) necessary to master your market in a knowledge economy
Learn about IP timing issues to best protect your innovation before it slips into the public domain
Explore strategies for protecting your innovation cost effectively
Top IP mistakes that will doom your company
System Thinking – Learn how to evaluate the system in which your invention will function, and how to maximize your position.
Managing Your Life – Being an inventor is tough work. Learn how to balance and manage your life.
Being Successful – In the end we want you to be successful – very successful. Learn to enjoy the journey. This is the most important work on the planet earth.

EVENT: Inventor Boot Camp 2010
DATE: October 23, 2010 - Saturday
TIME: 08:30am-12:30pm
WEBSITE: http://www.davinciinstitute.com/events/480/inventor-boot-camp-2010-saturday-october-23-2010

LOCATION: DaVinci Institute, 511 E. South Boulder Road, Louisville, CO 80027
DIRECTIONS: Driving Directions

COST: $119, Members: $79, SuperMembers: Free

PHONE: 303-666-4133

TOPIC: Inventor Boot Camp 2010
SPEAKERS: Eric Zeitlin, Gordon Nuttall, Thomas Franklin

SPEAKER: Eric Zeitlin

Product Designer and Lead Consultant at the Boulder Small Business Development Center

Eric Zeitlin’s broad expertise covers every aspect of product development, including idea generation, design, development, prototyping, packaging, patents, marketing, and licensing. He has degrees in business and product design, as well as an MBA, and teaches college-level classes in business, economics, and product design. He has 4 U.S. patents and 7 patents pending, and has signed six license agreements for his products.

Eric developed over a dozen retail products for Marie Callenders, available in supermarkets around the U.S. and Canada. He was the industrial designer for the Zip Pen, and was part of the company start-up. Eric now designs innovative products for the kitchen and home. He is also a Lead Consultant at the Boulder Small Business Development Center, where he helps entrepreneurs launch new products and services.

SPEAKER: Gordon Nuttall

President and CEO of Rocky Mountain Ventures Company

Gordon Nuttall has founded three other small businesses and two non-profits. He has provided consulting to high-tech companies in Northern Colorado, as well as seminars, webinars, and workshops on focusing innovation to achieve rapid time-to-market and exceptional user experience. His successes include leadership positions in the business units that developed digital cameras, desktop scanners, consumer products software, multi-function peripherals, fax, and personal mass storage. He was awarded 4 patents and numerous innovator awards while at Hewlett-Packard Company ("HP").

SPEAKER: Thomas Franklin

Intellectual Property Attorney – Kilpatrick Townsend

Tom Franklin is a partner in the full service intellectual property (IP) firm of Kilpatrick Townsend. Kilpatrick is one of the largest firms specializing in IP with a 150 year history and nearly 200 lawyers in eight different offices. Mr. Franklin supports a national practice where he splits his time between the Townsend offices in Denver and San Diego. Mr. Franklin uses strong IP protection strategies to assist large companies maintaining their dominance and assist startups vying to dominate.

With over a dozen years in private practice, Mr. Franklin specializes in strong patent protection for high tech companies in the electronic and software fields. He regularly performs due diligence, patent portfolio development, expedited patent protection, and other techniques to efficiently achieve his clients goals. Mr. Franklin received his law degree from University of San Diego after a B.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from San Diego State University (Class of 1990), summa cum laude. Prior to practicing law, Mr. Franklin spent eight years as an engineer with Hughes Electronics and a senior engineer with L3 Communications and Lockheed Martin.

8:00 - 8:30 - Registration

8:30 - 9:00 - Introductions, opening remarks - Thomas Frey

9:00 - 10:00 - "9 months - Davinci to Birth" - Gordon Nuttall

It starts with getting impregnated with your passion, followed by days with uncertainty and hard work intermixed with exhilaration
Using innovation with collaboration to co-create
Never, ever give up, even when it looks like the big thing that's growing won’t fit through a small passage

10:00 - 10:15 - Break

10:15 - 11:15 - "Maximizing Your Intellectual Property Investment" - Tom Franklin

Demystify the different types of intellectual property (IP) necessary to master your market in a knowledge economy
Learn about IP timing issues to best protect your innovation before it slips into the public domain
Explore strategies for protecting your innovation cost effectively
Top IP mistakes that will doom your company

11:15 - 11:30 - Break

11:30 - 12:30 - "Developing Your Invention So It Sells Itself" - Eric Zeitlin