Develop a Business Plan
1: Executive Summary, Company & Product Descriptions
2: Business and Management Structure
3: Seek Professional Assistance
4: Market Research
5: Financial Analysis and Projections
6: SBIR/STTR and Other Seed Funding
7: Venture Capital and Other Funding
8: Product Development and Marketing Plan
Seek Professional Assistance
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Attorneys, Accountants, & Other Professionals
You will need to find a good lawyer, accountant, and other expert assistance to start and run your business. Look for professionals with experience in the specific field where you need expertise, and who you trust and work with well. For example, consult an accountant with experience working with small business startups and SBIR funding if you are applying for that source of government seed money. For business insurance, seek help from an insurance broker. For taxes, seek a tax expert.
For attorneys, look for familiarity with life science startups and experience in licensing. Attorneys are needed to help set up the company, identify and record your obligations, and deal with intellectual property (IP), licensing, and investors’ rights matters. If you are working with a university technology transfer company, they will likely have an experienced attorney you can use unless your interests diverge. Also, look for a bank that is familiar with and able to provide services for a life science company from startups through later stages.
Example: Hiring an Attorney to Protect Intellectual Property
What are the advantages of establishing your intellectual property legally?
- It is attractive to investors and customers
- It deters infringement lawsuits from others claiming some or all of your product is their idea.
- It may deter others from working on something similar.
- It adds value to your company’s assets and can increase your leveraging power.
Tips:
- For professional and consulting services, take advantage of state and local resources available to small businesses, often free of charge. The Small Business Administration (SBA) website has a searchable database of local resources.
- Some law firms will provide services at low cost if your business looks like it will be a good source of future income.
- You can charge part of the expense of hiring professionals to the indirect costs in grant awards.
- You may want to employ a personal attorney to represent your interests, for example, if your interests diverge from the business’s interests.
Read More:
Intellectual Property FAQs
Business Name, Tax IDs, and Insurance
Challenge:
See how much terminology you know about protecting intellectual property.
Instructions: Drag the words at the bottom into the boxes you think correspond with the correct definition.
