In a down economy, one good place to look for ideas is the want ads in your local newspaper. Many times you will find companies, patents, and business partnerships on the cheap. Now these opportunities are not for the faint of heart. There are usually good reasons why they are distressed assets. Typically, they are short of money and have a product that is not catered correctly to their target market. However, if you look closely, many times you will see that the product simply needs a small "tweak" and with some money they will make a successful venture.

So what made us bring this topic up? Well, we saw a small ad in the WSJ for a licensing opportunity for air-to-water machine patents. After some quick research, we believe we found the source of the ad. It was the Air Water Corporation. They are the makers of a complete range of machines that extract the humidity from the air to create clear, clean, and shilled drinking water. The product upside is readily apparent. They can provide clean water virtually anywhere in the world. However, the downside is also clear. The cost of the product is high, and the energy required to create a small amount of water is immense.

But, we can also see opportunity. They provide smaller models with a solar package for electricity. Usually, locations with water problems also have plenty of sun. Also, as clean potable water becomes more and more scarce due to pollution, environmental law, and geo-political unrest, water will become an extremely valuable commodity. This is especially true in locations far from the sea which would make desalinization impractical.

Water is such an important resource that we wouldn't be surprised if someone took a chance on this venture. We can already envision far ranging customers from the UN to the U.S. military!

We freely admit that the writers at Beheron are more into technology that cosmetics. But that doesn't mean that there is nothing to learn from that industry from time to time.

The WSJ recently reported that Clarins Group, the upscale French beauty brand, will begin opening spas inside department stores all over the U.S. Why does it matter to us at BeHeron? Well, we think Clarins' move is simply brilliant. Clarin's recent market research revealed that Clarin's skin care brand ranks fourth in the U.S. whereas in France it is the top brand. Part of the investigation revealed that U.S. women are also results driven. Mr. Zrihen, Clarins U.S. president says, in U.S., "you have to communicate the efficiency of your product, and it has to be fast and easy to use". What's a better way to communicate the efficiency of your product than to invite the user for a treatment and witness the results themselves?

Now, the point that we would like to drive home today is that it is very important for a successful company to continue to assess ways that can make themselves better. Market research as well as consumer opinion are both very important tools in that process.

Mobile phone, bar codes, word of mouth, software, what do they all have in common? Something cool, of course! Introducing the new way of the future, product reviews in the palm of your hands. No longer do we need to surf the web to infinity at different e-opinion websites before making major purchases. WOM (word of mouth) Scouter, a new product designed by Toshiba will change all that. All it needs is for you to take a photo of a product's bar code. The scouter will then send the information to its server where all product information will be collected. Then, it will actively find web blogs that comments on the product, and will return the comments back to the shopper. Pretty nifty if you ask us. We personally cannot wait until this product gets released into U.S. It would make a shopping season very merry one for sure.

This leads us to this point. We at BeHeron always stress the importance of looking outside of the box, find the niche that combines all available technology into something that is uniquely your own. And why not, this seems to be the latest trend. Why create every possible component of your product when you can easily license and enhance. It will be time saving, highly profitable; especially true when the niche market you enter will make other people's lives a lot easier.

Back in December of 2008 we discussed how learning from nature can lead to great inventions. In the same spirit, we would like to introduce you to a few of the cool new robots that are being developed. The developer is Boston Dynamics and we think you will agree that these are some of the most advanced animal based robots on the planet. In particular you must pay particular attention to the BigDog and RiSe in these two videos.

While these are funded by the military today, there is little doubt that these or similar units will be mainstream in the near future. So what will these robots need? New compact power sources? Better software or imaging systems? Or maybe lighter and stronger composite structures? We hope you will be the ones to profit from this new industry!

Sometimes it is best for us at BeHeron to go step by step through a hypothetical situation to learn how to avoid mistakes. We think this hypothetical will help you as well!

Facts:

A and B enter into an oral agreement to start a new business. It was suppose to be 50-50. However, they did not commit their agreement into writing. They have decided A will be responsible for the day to day operation while B will focus his effort on business development. A and B, of course, again decided not to commit that job assignment into writing. All was good, A and B built the business into a success. In return for their hard work, both parties collect a monthly salary, just like all their other employees. No bonus structures were established. 9 months into it, A and B have a small fight. In the pit of rage, A kicks B out of the business, and locks him out of the business. B is left with nothing. B sues to get his rightful share. Unfortunately, B cannot prove that he is 50% owner in this venture.

Lessons of the day:

1. Always, always, always, commit things to writing. This should not just be limited to any agreement reached, but any mental notes involved. Ultimately, the more you write down, the more you have to backtrack when there is a problem later on. Trust us things will happen. You have no idea how many times we at BeHeron see business get together and fail, and how many times we see one owner or the other lose their rights as a result of not being able to prove it. Remember, even if you are starting your business with your family, ultimately a business is a business. Having something commit to writing will help at the event of dissolution years later when no one can accurately recall the exact terms they reached on the day of initial discussion. It is simply not worth it to destroy your relationship over something that can easily be prevented.

2. Although we understand one person will be better at doing one thing than the other party, remember, in order for a business to succeed, even if you are not involved in the other department, some type of oversight will be good. That way, it will ensure all partners involved are running optimally and that the business will only improve because of this. A monthly meeting to resolve all pending issues is generally a good call. Don't wait for you to be out of the loop to start getting worried. Preventive measure is usually the best measure.

3. Finally, most business partners never seek legal help at the start for fear of not being able to afford it. The reality is that creating a fast legal contracts between two parties does not take long or cost much. If you require advice finding legal support, comment on this post, send us an email, or post a question on our forum and we will be happy to help.

In our continuing effort to provide information on financing your startup during this recession, we at BeHeron would like to turn your attention towards organizations that provide much needed prize money for winning new product competitions. One such organization is the Clean Tech Open. Clean Tech Open is an organization of leading entrepreneurs, academics, investors and companies, working together to accelerate the development of clean technology startups.

Organizations such as this, are a great resource for well thought out ventures. Additionally, winners can reap the benefits of free marketing. They report that Clean Tech Open Alumni have secured almost $70 million in funding after the competition has ended. The alumni can be seen here, one of which we reported earlier this year.

But what about the competition! As reported by Clean Tech's website, the Clean Tech Open Competition seeks out early stage clean technology companies, and provides unique resources to empower these start-ups to become viable businesses. You must enter your business idea into one of six categories, and submit a three-page executive summary. There is also an entrance fee.

The six categories are:
Air, Water, and Waste
Energy Efficiency
Green Building
Renewables
Smart Power
Transportation

Now we don't expect you to share the $100,000 with us for giving you the heads-up, but at least give us a plug at the press conference!

Over and over, we at BeHeron tell inventors like you to watch out for up-and-coming industries. However, sometimes we forget that mature industries offer opportunities as well. This is true especially when a mature industry is in a transition phase from being mature to being phased-out. One such industry is oil. We are not saying the petrochemicals industry is going away; however, much of its aging infrastructure is.

In an article by the Oil and Gas Journal, they report that well abandonment on the UK Continental Shelf will offer over $21 Billion in market potential. Now, this is just one area in the world with a high concentration of oil platforms. Just think about all the others: the Gulf of Mexico, the Persian Gulf, Coastal Nigeria, the list goes on and on. Companies like InterAct are starting to reap the rewards of this new market need. InterAct is a Project Management firm specializing in supporting the Oil Industry. So, the question that you need to ask yourself is, "What technologies will be needed to support companies like InterAct and others in this fast growing market?"

A useful tool for brainstorming inventors is to check out large corporate initiatives. Why? Because large corporations have millions of dollars to spend on long term market analysis. That data tells them how to develop strategic plans for the future. This typically results in a "5 year plan". For better or worse, anyone who has been employed by a large-cap company has been indoctrinated by one of these plans. The great part is that you don't need to be employed by a company to hear these plans. They are usually provided in public press releases or quarterly earnings reports.

Inventors have a huge advantage when it comes to these initiatives. You can learn the information quickly and respond much faster than "5 years". So all you have to do is read and react.

An example of this is IBM's Big Green Innovations, which was recently in a report by the Wall Street Journal. Their plan is to target 4 general technological areas that they believe will be large markets in the future. These four areas are advanced water management, alternative energy, carbon management, and computational modeling. You can read the details in a summary presentation here. Upon reading, you will find that IBM will license some of their technology to third party companies to speed its adoption. They are also listing some of the technological challenges that these areas face.

Now when IBM puts out a report on market trends, it would be downright foolish of us not to listen. And it would be ridiculous for an entrepreneur seeking a market not to profit from these reports, especially since they are F-R-E-E!

We at BeHeron have been trying to help inventors and entrepreneurs find new financing opportunities, and we are continually surprised by what we find. Today, we read that Club Auto Sport, an exclusive club where you can store vintage vehicles and socialize with other car enthusiasts, is offering 10,000 square feet of space to incubate green vehicle entrepreneurs. They hope to bring in 13 startups and provide a conference room for green auto and alternative fuel-related companies.

This just goes to show us, that when we find an interest in life and we think we have found a way to leverage that interest into profit, take advantage of networks. Peer groups and social networks are a great way to find investors. For example, if you have an idea to improve a car, join a car club and find like-minded individuals. You might just find a wealthy business partner.

The downside of social networks is that you many not know the people you meet well. So be sure that you use nondisclosure agreements and/or patents to protect yourself. Remember this is business. Even if you are the best of friends, never let a small argument about what was said early on, ruin a friendship. Both sides will forget the details. Get things in writing, you and your business partner will not regret it!

Have you checked out our forum lately? It is the best place to meet new people, gather new ideas and post your questions. Besides, you might just win a prize or two to boot. Check it out today.

We Beheron love to browse the world wide web, and we usually can find one thing or another that is both interesting and educational. Today is no exception. As we were reading this article, we had an epiphany. We have never talked to you about the importance of registering for one's Trademark. Well, that's a big surprise! Especially since one's trademark is an important aspect of one's business. It conveys brand value as well as sets limitation on geographical boundaries for its competitors.

So, the first question is, what is trademark? Well, actually, it includes any symbol, word, device, drawing or combination thereof, that serves to distinguish the goods of one party from another. It must be distinctive, but not necessarily descriptive. This means, the trademark you use must designate you as the company, and the mark cannot be generic so that it can be freely associated with a third party.

How do we get trademark you ask? Trademarks, unlike that of their intellectual property brothers, patent and copyright, are not federally preempted. Most of the trademark usage and rights derive from common law. Because of this nature, trademarks are typically created through adoption and use. Of course, that being the case, it can often lead to a problem. How do you know if someone is a junior user versus a senior user? That is exactly the reason why the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) started with the registration process. That way, if a junior user were to start using the trademark after a senior user has obtained registration, then, the junior user can no longer in good faith claim superior right.

This leads to the next step, how do we register trademarks at USPTO? A good place to start would be the USPTO website. They have a good electronic search software named "TESS" that allows you to search for any preexisting registration. Once you come up with something you like, and it is not registered under TESS, perhaps then you can start the trademark application.

Just remember, trademark is used to separate you from everyone else. So, make sure it is not generic, but distinctive; it does not convey the wrong message; and people cannot loosely associate your mark with someone else's product.

*If you have any questions regarding this topic, please feel free to post your question here, and we will get back to you with our best answer!

In a tough economy, financing is always difficult. But we at BeHeron happen to believe that when there is a will there is a way! One way is to enter corporate or government sponsored small business competitions. One such competition is financed by the oil giant Shell and is called Shell Springboard. They offer winners £40,000 to help jump start their business in project that help reduce CO2 emissions.

This year, the top prize in the UK was awarded to Ma(Innovations) 2T4 Ltd. They have developed a way to increase the efficiency of hybrid cars by over 14% (in terms of CO2 reduction). Now, when we first read of the improvement, we were surprised because we had heard of regenerative breaking before. What we didn't realize was that they were using regenerative breaking to store energy for the gas engine rather than storing electricity in batteries. This led to an significant increase in efficiency. They do this by using the power generated from breaking to compress air to fuel a supercharger. Now that they won, they will be able to take their winnings and move the idea forward. So don't give up, there is still money out there for the taking!

A CalTech lead research team has recently performed a study to determine if there are systems that would be more beneficial to society than a patent system. The concern is that patents are shutting out good ideas. The basic premise is that patents keep technologies from maturing because the benefits of the technology are solely in the hands of the winning inventor. If the technology was open to the market, many more individuals would have an interest in improving that technology.

But without patents, how would you make enough money to make your research pay off? The researchers believe a market based approach would provide enough incentives to make the research worth while. The profits would come from the inventor having market knowledge before anyone else. Take, for example, an inventor that discovers a technology that will be highly dependent on platinum. That inventor would invest in platinum futures knowing that his invention was going to drive the price of that commodity up. The inventor would then have the incentive to release the data on the invention so that the product would succeed as widely as possible. Thus, the technology wins, and the inventor is able to make a profit from leveraging on platinum prices.

We don't see this working well in technology such as software. Because technology such as this is difficult to invest in,especially in a fragmented market. But we are happy that CalTech is looking at issues such as this, because it helps us understand ways to profit from our inventions. If you would like to hear the podcast, click here!

Often, we as inventors love new products and tinker with them. Soon we become experts in products we did not invent. However, in the process of becoming familiar with these "toys", we add our own ideas of how these products could be better. We then have a choice. Do we ignore these ideas or move them forward? You know that we at BeHeron love new products. But we also love products that give small time inventors an oportunity to make them better.

This brings us to the case study of Apple's iPhone. In the brief few years since the iPhone has been introduced to the market, it has spawned hundreds of different accessessories and applications. Many of which, have resulted in superb profits. One such accessory we love is a cell phone cover built by Dro Concepts. Talking about building your success on the success of another product. Oh, and while we are at it, Dro have uses carbon composite technology in their product. The result? A ultra-light and super strong outer shell and a snug form fitting liner. Pretty cool stuff for us nerds here at BeHeron. But better yet, it is a good example of making money off of someone elses product.

Many times when we see a new industry such as solar, we think of new technologies for solutions. While this may be prudent, don't forget to look at old technologies as well. Sometimes, they are more economical, easier to transition to, and are better accepted by consumers and financiers.

One such example is Stirling Energy Systems (SES). They utilize mirrors and a stirling engine to produce electricity from the sun. Now the stiling engine isn't just old, it's really old. It was originally conceived in 1816 as a rival to the steam engine. It works by alternately compressing and expanding a fixed quantity of gas. The benefit of this system is that existing manufacturing processes can be utilized for production. Virtually everything you need can be found in a typical automotive manufacturing plant. This would enable SES to scale up easily, and provide an extremely low cost alternative to other capital intensive technologies. So the next time your grandfather says, "That's easy!" It might pay to listen!

As an inventors, we will often be envious of new technologies developed by others. But that does not mean that we should give up our quest. Often companies will license or partner their technology to others.

A good example of this is d3O. They are makers of a specially engineered material made with intelligent molecules. These molecules are able to move freely like a soft rubber, but when impacted, they lock together to form a rigid surface and absorb the impact energy. They are already used in many sports related products and the military also has an interest in using the material for soldier protection. But more importantly, they allow manufacturers to purchase the material for their own uses as well.

So the next time you see a technology developed first, or that is owned by someone else, don't despair. Give them a call. After all, they might not have thought of your application and there may be a market big enough to make you both a large profit!