ABOUT US
For Innovative Entrepreneurs
If You’re an Entrepreneur
Are you an entrepreneur who wants to change the world, but are either concerned with how to keep others from stealing your customers or idea (or sick over watching your dreams be stolen right in front of you)?
- Especially if you are using a new product or service to grow your business …
- If you are about to talk to about it with a supplier, manufacturer, or customer (heck, with anyone) …
- Or if you just discovered someone using your ideas or brand to steal money that belongs in your pocket …
…then you’ve arrived at the right place. I built my practice for you.
Or If You’re An Entrepreneur and an Inventor
That’s me, also. As an entrepreneur with exits and an inventor with patents, my journey likely mirrors your own. Now, you are just a few minutes away from discovering how to protect yourself, and leverage that protection to the end-goals including licensing, funding, more sales and higher profits.
Whether this is your first serious run at a business, or your tenth trip around the block, you’ve found the right place for you. Since starting my first business and receiving the first patent, there have been some nice successes, and, yes, some painful failures. My goal for you is that you’ll experience all the joys of success – emotional and financial – without the pain of failure and loss.
You Need a System
By taking arrows in my back and stepping on traps (too many) during my journeys, I’ve learned a few things — and over time built a system that I use to protect and monetize my own ideas. That same system is now used by other inventors and entrepreneurs.
Now, clients have received funding, made it on Shark Tank, and built successful enterprises.
Since you’re here, you’re full of energy and ready to start doing something real with your idea. And, whether this is your first effort or your fiftieth, we can help you on your journey. Your journey is my mission: to turn your ideas and knowledge into assets you’ll use to bring your dreams to the world to change it, while saving you months of frustration and thousands of dollars.
Lisa Lloyd
Funded on Shark Tank
“Really, really good at patents! Beyond patents, Steve understands the business world“
Brad Taylor
Funded Startup, Acquired by Fortune 500
“Steve has impeccable skills, and a love of innovation and entrepreneurship.“
Rod Martin
Took Business Public (NASDQ)
My Journey Began As A Wide-Eyed Entrepreneur
So, you may want to know a little about me?
Yes, I’m an entrepreneur.
My story starts back when in high school, mowing lawns, walking dogs and even cleaning houses when the grass wasn’t growing. Fast forward 20 years later and my business portfolio included a pet store, licensing practice and software startup.
That’s when the trouble began . . .
Probably a lot like you, I wasn’t rich, and so I sought angel funding. My angel investor would guide me through what was then a new, confusing, and challenging process.
Like most startup entrepreneurs, I was cash-poor but had faith, energy, and a passion for bringing a cool idea to market. The enthusiasm was gripping(!) — the business kept me up long nights for weeks!
So, I gambled, and took all the money I had and turned my primary source of income over to a colleague.
Steve Goes For Broke, and is Nearly Broken
You’re probably shaking your head right now and thinking that was crazy. . . . well, it was.
To make a long story short, that ‘angel’ investor liked my idea so much he tried to steal my company!
In fact, he even had a practiced strategy in place to steal it.
In the end, the chance to bring that dream to the market, and the money and years and dreams . . . were lost.
Frustrated, embarrassed, broke, angry, and feeling powerless, sitting at an old office desk in Richardson, Texas, I resolved to crawl out of that hole. It was personal — no one should feel that way.
It became my personal crusade to ‘figure out’ the intellectual property laws confronting entrepreneurs better than anyone else, and to guide others in the same boat. Today, I devote my career to helping spare others from those same feelings.
To right the wrong, a few years later it was my privilege to be part of another startup: Proxomo Software.
This time, things turned out differently: four short years later we were acquired by Lucent Mobile (by the way — it feels really good to have an exit worth talking about, and to read a press release with your name on it). 
Of course, not every business has been successful (not by a long shot). So, every day my palms sweat and my heart beats hard with the excitement of waking up and doing business on another new day. It’s part of being a professional, and an innovative entrepreneur.
Through all this experience – my own and by helping clients – I’ve picked up on a few tricks: things very few (if any) patent attorneys know, and put them together in systems you should know more about . . .
Today: Helping Entrepreneurs Like You
Since my rocky start, hundreds of entrepreneurs have benefited from these systems. Today, ‘my’ inventors and entrepreneurs have received licenses, funding, cash sales, and been acquired. Many have made it to market.* And, maybe you’ll make it on this happy list!
Today, in addition to identifying the traps you want to avoid, you’ll learn ‘the right way’ to invent and create innovative businesses. Do yourself a favor and avoid my long, expensive path!
Where Will Your Journey Take You?
Maybe you’ve crafted a solution to a big problem that the world just has to solve. Maybe in a moment of desperation or necessity, you tapped your ‘inner MacGyver’ [a really cool fictional inventor who saves the world with duct tape and a Swiss army knife] and came up with a creative solution that can help others. You know deep inside that your idea has the potential to become something that will both help mankind, and help you find joy and enjoy the financial rewards of providing it. But, like me a few years ago, you probably don’t know where to start.
The Systems
That’s why I created The E5 Invention System, and The E5 Trademark System — to get you started the right way.
They’re like trail-maps of where to go and what to do once that metaphorical lightbulb appears above your head.
If you have an innovative business, you’ll have a guide as you refine and distill your ideas into a growing powerhouse.
Your New Opportunity
There’s a maze of issues that make the difference between unusually good success, and, well, just barely making it.
Speaking of barely making it . . . one client used inventing to go from living under a bridge to appearing on Shark Tank, and another who used her inventions to go from being addicted to drugs to doing a deal with Marc Cuban (that’s her next to Steve Harvey)! Creative ideas and imagination transcend socio-economic boundaries and make almost anything possible!
You may feel overwhelmed and confused by all there is to learn, and the horror stories you’ve heard about or seen in the media. But, isn’t the real question what will your life be like if you don’t take action?
Are you willing to wake up every day knowing that another chance to make a meaningful impact on this world has passed you by? What are you doing today that is different from what you did yesterday that is moving you towards your goal, and what will you do differently tomorrow, and the day after that, to get there?
Yes, it’s sad that if you don’t file for a patent within a year of the invention, **poof** it’s gone. But isn’t there much more at stake? Life only brings you so many almost magical insights and opportunities . . . don’t you owe it to yourself to explore this while you still have the chance?
You deserve more. I’ve created these systems to get you further down the next steps in your journey the right way.
You can start your journey here, by clicking below and setting up an appointment:
And, of course, I’ve got a lot more you can read about at my Blog by Clicking here.
*Such as Shark Tank clients Lisa Lloyd and Lori Cheek, or others who raised millions in funding (such as Semantra: $7M raised), and yet others who bought their own products at Home Depot, Lowe’s, Walmart, Walgreens, Target and many other retailers. And, yes, there are more . . . of course, your success depends on the quality of your ideas, leadership, plans, and execution over the long-haul.