Intro Lecture: From Idea to Reality – What you need to know to be successful with a new product

Class Description: Have you ever had a great idea for a new product, process, or program and no idea about what it takes to make an idea a reality? This course will teach you what you need to know to be successful with a new product.

This is a two part course. There is an Introductory Lecture followed by a content intensive workshop that will be offered at a later date.

Introductory Lecture

• Patents, Copyrights, Trademarks, and Trade Secrets
• Investors
o A look at the types of investors.
o The benefits of each type.
o How each type affects your position within the company?
• Business Plans
o Major topics within a business plan and the importance of each.

This introductory lecture will cover the basics and set the foundation for the workshop course.

Workshop

Following the introductory course there will be a content intensive workshop that will go over the following topics

• Identifying and validating the market including focus groups and beta tests.
• Evaluating the competition.
• Developing a business plan.
• Setting up a company, partnership, or sole proprietorship.
• Obtaining financing.
• Protecting your idea – Copyrights, patents, trade secrets.
• Producing prototypes.
• Professional help – lawyers, accountants, and engineers.
• Documentation, user manuals training, warranties, continued support.

The course is spread over 4 sessions each for a time period of 2 hours.

Background on the instructor

Charles V. Studebaker

For the past twenty-five years Chuck has been taking ideas and turning them into reality. He has developed software products, electronic devices, and hardware devices targeted to specific markets. When he first decided he wanted to “bring a product” to market, he states that “I knew nothing about what was necessary reach my goals. I just knew I had a great new idea and that everyone would be lining up to buy my product.”

Experience has taught him that the products can be vastly different however the basic steps one must take to be successful are the same.

Chuck has developed products for the sport industry, travel industry, transportation and trucking, publishing industry, general accounting, and wireless WI-FI industry. He has taken products from rough drawings to complete “on the shelf” finished products.