IP Class for Women Entrepreneurs Building Scalable Companies

Some economists estimate that 75% of a scalable company’s value is based on its intellectual property.  Without legal protection, the company’s public IP could be freely used — even by competitors.  Obviously, investors care about the scope and quality of a company’s IP protection before they invest.

Consequently, intellectual property protection is the linchpin of a scalable company.

In my experience as an IP attorney, however, few entrepreneurs really understand the value of IP.  Even fewer know how to use IP law strategically to protect the company’s IP assets and create barriers to competition.  Worse yet, many entrepreneurs make serious mistakes that can cost the company everything!  I’ve spent years doing legal clean up and fighting bet-the-company cases in court.  Many of the issues that I’ve litigated could have been avoided.  Seeing millions of dollars wasted on litigation, motivated me to help entrepreneurs and start this blog.

My experience as a women attorney has also motivated me to specifically help women entrepreneurs, who have difficult gender based obstacles and are grossly underfunded.

To help women, Heather Schafer and I are excited to announce we will be offering a tele-class for women entrepreneurs who want to build highly valuable, scalable companies:

House: work Education Program:

A Woman Entrepreneur’s Strategic Guide to Intellectual Property

The House: work program is an 8 week class for entrepreneurs who want to build scalable companies.

Class Dates: August 28-October 16 Class Times:  Sunday evenings from 5:30-7:00 (CT)

The House:work course will teach women founders:

• Critical strategies for designing a House of IP and getting the right type of protection
• The basics of the legal pillars for their IP House: trademarks, trade secrets, patents, copyrights
• How to ensure that the company owns the IP created for it
• How to survive IP due diligence by investors with flying colors

At the conclusion of the class, each woman will have a detailed IP strategy for the company and a better understanding of how to protect the company’s IP as the company grows.

To get more details about tuition and receive an application, contact me at bowmanlaw[at]me.com. We will be conducting applicant interviews over the next four weeks.

The enrollment for this class is very limited.   We are seeking a few highly motivated, women entrepreneurs who really want to learn, build scalable companies, and get major investment. The class will be a serious commitment and involve on-going reading, homework and tests. We also plan on making it fun and we promise we won’t use sports analogies.  Our materials are women-centered and very unique in the world of IP law.

To find out if you are planning on building a scalable company read this post about scalable business models.

Sorry guys, your turn is coming.  In the next year we will be offering a variety of materials and classes for all genders. Heather and I will be offering a free, tele-class class for software developers very sooon.

Jill Hubbard Bowman is an IP attorney who wants women entrepreneurs to suceed.  Jill did joint women’s studies at the University of Michigan in addition to the law program and taught undergraduate classes in Women and the Law. Jill is also working with Texas State’s RampCorp program for women entrepreneurs.  See Jill’s full bio.

Heather N. Shafer is also an IP attorney who cares about women entrepreneurs.  Heather has been an adjunct professor at Chicago-Kent College of Law since 2006. See Heather’s full bio.