Creating a Business Plan for Invention Licensing

Inventing a new product involves two kinds of plans. Firstly, inventors must plan for the development of the product. Although once the product has been created, the next important step is to create a business plan for actually licensing the invention. The latter plan is just as important as the product development phase, as commercialization of the invention is what can help make the inventor get paid, and perhaps even get rich.

Many inventors already have an idea of how the invention will be commercialized right at the outset. However, most of the details for marketing and licensing the product are inside their head. The business planning stage helps to provide details about the product on paper. The business plan will include information such as a definition of the product, the reasons why people would purchase the product, the current context of the industry, the target companies for licensing the product, and the predicted profits from invention licensing.

Within the business plan, the product definition will be one of the first parts detailed. The product definition will express how the invention poses a solution for a problem that many customers are facing, but for which there is no adequate solution at present. In this section, it helps to include results from your market research, such as interviews with customers and data from your surveys, so that you can demonstrate clear evidence of the need of your product.

Another important segment of your business plan should be an analysis of potential licensees. An inventor’s business plan should strategically position their product as helping to advance the market share and profitability of companies interested in licensing. It helps to do research of potential companies by discovering whether your product will appeal to their vision. This can be done by analysing their financial reports, their company information on their website, or by speaking to someone from their business development department.