OM DENNE EPISODE
Is product licensing really a good way to turn your ideas into products? Or are you better off manufacturing and selling your products yourself?
Stephen Key has done both. He's licensed ideas to companies and collected royalties, but he's also ventured products himself, built a business, managed employees, and sold millions of units around the world. In this video, he takes a deep dive into the realities of product licensing versus venturing — including the work, money, risk, control, potential rewards, and tradeoffs involved with each path.
If you've heard that licensing is easy “mailbox money,” Stephen wants you to understand the reality. Licensing takes time, persistence, good ideas, effective marketing materials, proof of concept, and the ability to reach the right people at the right companies. And even when you successfully license a product, there's no guarantee it will become a commercial success.
But manufacturing and selling a product yourself comes with its own realities: inventory, advertising, employees, financing, distribution, cash flow, knockoffs, and the ongoing challenge of creating enough demand to actually sell your product profitably.
So which path is right for you?
Stephen explains why that answer may have as much to do with the kind of person you are as the product you've created. If you want control and enjoy building a business, venturing may be a better fit. If you have a steady stream of ideas and want to spend your time creating rather than operating a company, licensing may give you more freedom to do that. And sometimes, the smartest strategy involves doing both.
In this video, you'll learn:
The realities of product licensing
Licensing versus venturing — and how to choose
What companies need before licensing an idea
What you can realistically expect to earn
Chapters
00:00 The Truth About Product Licensing
00:20 How to Take Control of Your Career
01:01 Is Product Licensing Really Easy Money?
02:14 Licensing vs. Venturing: Which Is Right for You?
03:22 Do You Need More Than One Product Idea?
04:04 How Much Does Product Licensing Cost?
05:06 How Much Does It Cost to Manufacture a Product?
06:02 Why Is Selling a New Product So Difficult?
06:38 Are You an Inventor or an Entrepreneur?
08:11 Why Stephen Key Chose Product Licensing
09:18 Does Product Licensing Really Work?
10:13 Why Companies License Ideas From Inventors
11:11 How to Find Companies That Will License Your Idea
12:14 Do You Need a Prototype to License an Idea?
13:00 What Do You Need to License a Product?
14:47 How inventRight Gateway Helps Inventors
15:47 What Is a Typical Royalty Rate?
17:03 Is Product Licensing Really “Mailbox Money”?
17:26 Product Licensing Success Stories
19:52 Can You Get Rich From Product Licensing?
20:27 Should You License, Manufacture, or Do Both?
21:28 Who Should You Learn Product Licensing From?
22:24 How to Know If You Have a Good Product Idea
23:28 The Reality of Licensing Your Ideas
24:02 How to Keep Going When an Idea Doesn't Work
Finding companies to contact is easy. Knowing which companies are right for your product — and getting the right people to pay attention — is much harder. Gateway was created to help bridge that gap by connecting inventors with companies actively looking for new product ideas.
Learn more about Gateway and submit your product for review by the Gateway team: https://inventright.com/gateway
🎥 Subscribe to inventRightTV for weekly videos on licensing, product development, entrepreneurship, patents, and bringing ideas to market.
For over 25 years, inventRight has helped inventors license inventions.
⭐ Testimonials from inventRight clients: https://inventright.com/success/
🏆 Products licensed with inventRight help: https://inventright.com/products/
→ Contact inventRight: https://inventright.com/contact
inventRight, LLC. is not a law firm and does not provide legal, patent, trademark, or copyright advice. Please exercise caution when evaluating any information, including but not limited to business opportunities; links to news stories; links to services, products, or other websites. No endorsements are issued by inventRight, LLC., expressed or implied. Depiction of any trademarks/logos does not represent endorsement of inventRight, LLC., its services, or products by the trademark owner. All trademarks are registered trademarks of their respective companies.
Reference on this video to any specific commercial products, process, service, manufacturer, company, or trademark does not constitute its endorsement or recommendation by inventRight, LLC. or its hosts. This video may contain links to external websites that are not provided or maintained by or in any way affiliated with inventRight, LLC. Please note that inventRight, LLC. does not guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of any information on these external websites. The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.
Stephen Key has done both. He's licensed ideas to companies and collected royalties, but he's also ventured products himself, built a business, managed employees, and sold millions of units around the world. In this video, he takes a deep dive into the realities of product licensing versus venturing — including the work, money, risk, control, potential rewards, and tradeoffs involved with each path.
If you've heard that licensing is easy “mailbox money,” Stephen wants you to understand the reality. Licensing takes time, persistence, good ideas, effective marketing materials, proof of concept, and the ability to reach the right people at the right companies. And even when you successfully license a product, there's no guarantee it will become a commercial success.
But manufacturing and selling a product yourself comes with its own realities: inventory, advertising, employees, financing, distribution, cash flow, knockoffs, and the ongoing challenge of creating enough demand to actually sell your product profitably.
So which path is right for you?
Stephen explains why that answer may have as much to do with the kind of person you are as the product you've created. If you want control and enjoy building a business, venturing may be a better fit. If you have a steady stream of ideas and want to spend your time creating rather than operating a company, licensing may give you more freedom to do that. And sometimes, the smartest strategy involves doing both.
In this video, you'll learn:
The realities of product licensing
Licensing versus venturing — and how to choose
What companies need before licensing an idea
What you can realistically expect to earn
Chapters
00:00 The Truth About Product Licensing
00:20 How to Take Control of Your Career
01:01 Is Product Licensing Really Easy Money?
02:14 Licensing vs. Venturing: Which Is Right for You?
03:22 Do You Need More Than One Product Idea?
04:04 How Much Does Product Licensing Cost?
05:06 How Much Does It Cost to Manufacture a Product?
06:02 Why Is Selling a New Product So Difficult?
06:38 Are You an Inventor or an Entrepreneur?
08:11 Why Stephen Key Chose Product Licensing
09:18 Does Product Licensing Really Work?
10:13 Why Companies License Ideas From Inventors
11:11 How to Find Companies That Will License Your Idea
12:14 Do You Need a Prototype to License an Idea?
13:00 What Do You Need to License a Product?
14:47 How inventRight Gateway Helps Inventors
15:47 What Is a Typical Royalty Rate?
17:03 Is Product Licensing Really “Mailbox Money”?
17:26 Product Licensing Success Stories
19:52 Can You Get Rich From Product Licensing?
20:27 Should You License, Manufacture, or Do Both?
21:28 Who Should You Learn Product Licensing From?
22:24 How to Know If You Have a Good Product Idea
23:28 The Reality of Licensing Your Ideas
24:02 How to Keep Going When an Idea Doesn't Work
Finding companies to contact is easy. Knowing which companies are right for your product — and getting the right people to pay attention — is much harder. Gateway was created to help bridge that gap by connecting inventors with companies actively looking for new product ideas.
Learn more about Gateway and submit your product for review by the Gateway team: https://inventright.com/gateway
🎥 Subscribe to inventRightTV for weekly videos on licensing, product development, entrepreneurship, patents, and bringing ideas to market.
For over 25 years, inventRight has helped inventors license inventions.
⭐ Testimonials from inventRight clients: https://inventright.com/success/
🏆 Products licensed with inventRight help: https://inventright.com/products/
→ Contact inventRight: https://inventright.com/contact
inventRight, LLC. is not a law firm and does not provide legal, patent, trademark, or copyright advice. Please exercise caution when evaluating any information, including but not limited to business opportunities; links to news stories; links to services, products, or other websites. No endorsements are issued by inventRight, LLC., expressed or implied. Depiction of any trademarks/logos does not represent endorsement of inventRight, LLC., its services, or products by the trademark owner. All trademarks are registered trademarks of their respective companies.
Reference on this video to any specific commercial products, process, service, manufacturer, company, or trademark does not constitute its endorsement or recommendation by inventRight, LLC. or its hosts. This video may contain links to external websites that are not provided or maintained by or in any way affiliated with inventRight, LLC. Please note that inventRight, LLC. does not guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of any information on these external websites. The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.
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Ansvarsfraskrivelse: Podcasten og kunstværket, der er indlejret på denne side, er fra Stephen Key, som tilhører dens ejer og ikke er tilknyttet eller godkendt af Listen Notes, Inc.
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