Stephen Key

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About Stephen Key
Stephen Key is the world’s leading expert in licensing consumer product ideas and a 2018-2019 American Association for the Advancement of Science-Lemelson Invention Ambassador.
He achieved repeat success as an independent inventor, including defending his intellectual property against one of the largest toy companies in federal court. The innovative packaging solution he brought to market is protected by more than 20 patents and received 15 industry awards, including two Edisons.
inventRight, the coaching program he cofounded in 1999, has helped people from more than 60 countries license their product ideas. He explains how to take advantage of the power of open innovation on his popular YouTube channel inventRightTV and in Forbes, Inc., and Entrepreneur online.
In 2017, he cofounded Inventors Groups of America with the goal of educating and empowering inventors and inventing group leaders. He is also the cofounder of inventYES, a free program for high school students worldwide.
In 2019, he taught University of Newcastle in Australia students his 10-step strategy for licensing ideas, originally published in his bestselling book One Simple Idea: How to Turn Your Dreams Into a Licensing Goldmine. He is also the author of One Simple Idea for Startups and Entrepreneurs, Sell Your Ideas With or Without a Patent and Become a Professional Inventor: The Insider’s Guide to Companies Looking for Ideas.
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Titles By Stephen Key
With must-have updates, a new edition of the bestselling method that shows how anyone can turn their one simple idea into millions – without lifting a finger!
Stephen Key is an award-winning inventor who has licensed more than 20 product ideas. In 2011, he shared the secrets to his success in the bestselling book One Simple Idea. Since that time, many changes have occurred in the entrepreneurial world.
One Simple Idea, Revised and Expanded Edition has been revised and updated to reflect current trends and practices in the industry. In addition to teaching readers how to turn their ideas into marketable products that companies will want to license, Key expands upon his cutting-edge product development, sales, and negotiation strategies, making note of the new opportunities and technologies available to creative people today. The book also features real-life success stories from people who have used the author’s strategies.
To put it simply: Key knows how to use intellectual property to profit.
This book will teach you how to:
• Get a licensing contract with or without intellectual property
• Write a provisional patent application that stops others from stealing your idea
• Find and hire a killer patent attorney (they are not all created equal!)
• Save thousands of dollars on legal expenses
• File patents that have true value
• Negotiate a win-win agreement
It also details Stephen’s experience defending his patents in Federal Court—a David versus Goliath saga he has never before written about at length—as well as provides tips about how to avoid a licensing contract from going bad.
You have decided the job of your dreams is to be able to share your creativity with the world while creating a nice income. You long to see your product idea come to fruition so you never have to work for anyone else again. Stephen Key has been living this dream for over 30 years and has provided the roadmap for others in his best-selling book about licensing inventions, One Simple Idea. One Simple Idea has helped thousands license their product ideas. Stephen has reinvented the inventing process.
Forget the patents, forget the prototypes, forget starting a business. Sell the benefit first instead! Today it’s all about selling first and selling fast. His roadmap for licensing success is now being taught in major universities.
Become a Professional Inventor is the follow-up to One Simple Idea because people are now asking...
I love being creative and I want to do this for the rest of my life, how can I become a full-time professional inventor?
How can I go from amateur to professional full-time inventor?
What industries create the largest revenue?
What is the best way to work with these companies so I build a successful long-term relationship?
How can I license even more products ideas?
Why aren’t companies getting back to me?
How do I get the highest royalty rate?
Why are my product ideas getting rejected?
What type of protection do I actually need?
What is the best way to submit my product ideas?
How can I tell if a company is truly inventor friendly?
How do I use non-disclosure agreements?
How do I license ideas without any intellectual property?
How do I negotiate a licensing agreement to make sure I get paid regardless of intellectual property?
For the first time ever, Stephen has uncovered the consumer product licensing industry from the inside. He has interviewed 28 leading experts across 17 different industries, as well as professional inventors, to share their knowledge with you — so you too can now become a full-time professional inventor.
Here are a few industries included in this book:
- Kitchen
- Hardware
- Automotive
- As Seen On TV
- Pet
- Dental
- Hospitality
- Toy and Game
- Cannabis
- Novelty Gift
- Health and Beauty
- and more!
Stephen peels back the curtain to give you an insider’s guide to how companies evaluate your product submissions so you can become a professional inventor.
Also included:
- Sample Sell Sheets
- Sample Non-Disclosure Agreements
- Sample Term Sheets
- Sample Licensing Agreement
- Sample Calling Scripts
- Sample LinkedIn Contact Scripts
Do you have great ideas, but don’t know how to get them to the right people at open innovation companies so you can license you inventions?
Start using LinkedIn®, the professional networking platform with nearly 700 million members, but you have to use it the right way. LinkedIn® has fundamentally changed the game for inventors, product developers, entrepreneurs, and anyone with an idea. Now creative people can identify, research, and get in touch with the right employees at the right companies within a matter of seconds, anytime and anywhere, day or night. Never waste your time hunting down a marketing manager’s phone number again! In fact, by using LinkedIn®, you can license your idea for a new product without making a single cold call. But, there’s a right way and a wrong way to use this unbelievably powerful tool. This book will teach you how to present yourself as the kind of professional open innovation companies want to work with, and not an amateur.Let Stephen Key, the world's leading expert on licensing inventions, and LinkedIn® licensing expert Benjamin Harrison, creator of SmartPitch, show you how to take advantage of this uniquely awesome opportunity. What you will learn...- • How to Use LinkedIn® to find companies looking for product ideas
- • How to Build your network of inventing industry leaders.
- • How to Pitch your product professionally.
- • How to Answer questions from potential licensees.
- • How to Work towards a licensing agreement.
- • How to Reach out to potential licensees anytime and anywhere!
TWO E-BOOKS IN ONE
One Simple Idea
Stephen Key has been living this dream for 30 years. The developer of such lucrative products as Michael Jordan’s WallBall®, the Spinformation® rotating label, and HotPicks® guitar picks, he knows better than anyone how to make a great living as an entrepreneur. Key develops ideas for new products, licenses them out, collects royalty checks, and doesn’t look back. You can do it, too. All you need is One Simple Idea.
“Ever heard of Teddy Ruxpin or Lazer Tag? Both have Stephen Key’s mark on them. He is the Yoda or ‘renting’ ideas for serious passive income. From how-to to war stories, this is a great book.” —Tim Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Workweek
One Simple Idea for Startups and Entrepreneurs
Stephen Key helps you live the entrepreneurial dream by delivering a proven, straightforward process for starting, growing, and running a business—without the need for an MBA or millions of dollars in funding. Case studies, tips, and advice from other successful entrepreneurs underscore key principles to make it easier than ever for you to achieve your business and life dreams.
From award-winning entrepreneur, inventor, and business owner Stephen Key comes the highly anticipated follow-up to his bestseller One Simple Idea
Stephen Key is back, and he’s delivering a proven, straightforward process for starting, growing, and running a business—without the need for an MBA or millions of dollars in funding.
Key draws on his own experience as a billion-dollar inventor to offer how-tos and other takeaways you can use to get off the ground and into the black. Case-studies of his most successful students and other innovators further underscore “key” principles from the book, while strategies for testing, protecting, and marketing a product make it easier than ever for you to follow achieve your business and life dreams.
Stephen Key has successfully licensed more than 20 simple ideas that have generated billions of dollars of revenue. The course he teaches has attracted more than ten thousand students around the world.