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Whatcom County has a history of community based intellectual property (IP) as demonstrated by the patent volume for our area with over 70 patents awarded each of the previous three years.

These innovations and others, however, often lay dormant as the IP holder is not interested or equipped to take the steps necessary to commercialize (build a business around) the opportunity. It can be challenging for inventors to identify resources to help them develop their invention toward economic benefit.

To assist inventors, the NW Innovation Resource Center (NWIRC) can provide assistance to IP holders who do not wish to start a business themselves, but would like to see their inventions taken to the market. The NWIRC will determine the best method of generating commercial value for the individual and the region. If it is determined that a business should be started as the commercialization vehicle, the NWIRC’s Accelerator Program of services for new businesses will become involved to provide support and guidance for establishing and growing the business.

Additional information is available here.

As we look at helping startups and innovators move forward, we want to help them focus on the things that ensure their success. There is no shortage of companies that have failed for lack of customers. The Lean Startup Methodology starts with the idea that a startup is about discovery, validation, creation and cultivation of customers. Starting from the philosophical premise of lean manufacturing and the optimization for production, the Lean Startup Methodology focuses on minimizing the waste in the startup process.

There are several books that help to frame this process:

• The original book that started the conversation: The Four Steps to the Epiphany by Stephan Blank
• The Entrepreneurs Guide to Customer Development by Patrick Vlaskovitz and Brant Cooper
• Business Model Generation by Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur
• Soon: The Lean Startup by Eric Ries (more info at http://lean.st )
• Running Lean by Ash Maurya

And for personal time management in this same metaphor:

• Personal Kanban by Jim Benson

A very helpful mailing list focused on the lean startup methodology is at:

http://googlegroups.com/group/lean-startup-circle

These resources help you get connected to this Lean Startup conversation, which promises to improve the rate of success for startups.

At the April Pitch Event for the NWIRC, we had a great collection of entrepreneurs and mentors turn out. We had a quick pitch process, where companies pitched for 3 minutes and did Q+A for 5 minutes. This provided a way for people to outline what they were focusing on and allowed a dialog about the idea.

Out of the nine companies that presented, Aquacare came in on top with the audience voting.

• Aquacare – Henning Gatz – http://www.aquacare.com
• Thermenex – Jeff Weston – http://www.thermenex.com
• New Market Design – Jerimiah Welch http://www.envision-rx.com
• Cascade Community Wind – Terry Meyer – http://cascadecommunitywind.com/
• Engineering 2020 – Mark Buerher – http://www.2020engineering.com/
• Net solutions North America – Patrice Valentine – http://www.netsolutionsna.com
• The Tracker Pro – Joshua Gray – http://thetrackerpro.com
• Aloha Assistive Solutions – Trevor Mork
• Just Be Love – Ellen Shea - http://justbelove.net

Each of these companies had an idea and a direction that could be interesting. As an early stage company or idea, there is always work to refine the product idea and to explore the market validation for that idea. This Pitch Event was the first step in connecting the entrepreneurs to Mentors and resources that will help them refine the process and for them to move forward.

We congratulate all the presenters, they all put in a lot of work and did a fine job presenting their ideas.