Let us explore what an innovation agency is and how it can help bring you more success in the challenging innovation process.  

Why Hire An Innovation Agency?

Innovation Agency is a term created to distinguish agencies that specialize in innovation from the agencies such as advertising, design, marketing, and PR agencies.

An innovation agency specializes in helping businesses create, market, and sell new products and services. They utilize a team of experts to help your business with everything from ideation to execution. An innovation consulting company allows companies to improve their innovation processes. They typically don’t have expertise in ideation, prototyping, product development, and launching. However, they can help you develop a better process for coming up with new ideas and bringing them to market. The crucial difference here is that an innovation agency specializes in assisting clients in creating new products, services, or business models. In contrast, innovation consultants typically advise improving existing products, services, or business models.

Characteristics Of An Innovative Agency

Agencies have innovative staff with access to creative resources such as design studios and marketing agencies. They have a track record of helping clients successfully innovate. Innovation agencies can help clients innovate in several ways. Firstly, they help identify and define problems that need solving. Secondly, they provide access to creative resources like innovators, design studios, prototyping experts, engineering expertise, and product launch expertise. Lastly, they guide and support clients through the challenging innovation process.

An innovative agency specializes in taking ideas and turning them into new products, services, and business models. They can help clients overcome challenges that many organizations experience in translating an idea into an innovation. They help clients identify and assess opportunities, understand the customer and their needs, and develop a strong business case. Innovation agencies also create prototypes and test them with customers. They specialize in scaling innovations, protecting and commercializing them, managing risk, and making innovations sustainable.

Using an agency with a deep track record of helping clients achieve success is an excellent way to increase your chances of success with your innovation efforts. When you choose the right innovation agency, they bring together expertise you don’t have to improve what you do have. They have the experience and knowledge to help you navigate the challenges during the innovation process. This can be extremely helpful in ensuring that your innovation efforts are successful.

Innovation Agency Resources

If you want to learn more about innovation agencies and what is involved, start with a quick Google search of innovation agencies. There are several of them that specialize in different industries. Secondly, stay tuned as I will be sharing more about innovation agencies and why and how to leverage them to your benefit. Lastly, check out Techtrend Group at techtrend.com. Full Disclosure — Techtrend is the innovation agency I started in 1996 and am now the Chairman. That said, I’m not that involved in the day-to-day at Techtrend. They just recently relaunched their site and updated their portfolio. They specialize in tech, consumer electronics, architecture, and digital immersive media experiences. Techtrend will give you a good view of an innovation agency.

Stephen Key joins us to discuss how inventors can successfully license their most valued ideas. 

Stephen Key and Licensing Inventions

Stephen has an extensive following on YouTube, where he coaches, mentors, and advises inventors. His channel focuses on those who have ideas but don’t want to start a business. Creative people want to do what they are good at but don’t always want to do the heavy lifting. This is where the licensing business model comes into play.

The first part of the process is recognizing that companies must keep innovating to stay alive. Then you need to deeply understand a specific company’s culture, business model, etc., and sell them an invention that fits what they are looking for. Licensing is all about finding that perfect partner that has everything in place today. If you come up with an idea, it is not copy-proof. When you market your product to an established leader, they can get it to market fast, protecting you.  

Where Inventors Go Wrong

Most inventors who approached HP didn’t understand our product lines, strategies, customer segments, etc. If an inventor who had done their research came to me, the conversations would have been different. Product developers need to understand the company’s mission, vision, supply chain, costs, etc. Most inventors look at things only from their perspective, resulting in failure. Inventors need to invest time with potential licensees. In my ten years at HP, the winners at this were the ones who knew our mission, technologies, and competitors and had a plan of attack. 

The 10G Challenge, InventRight TV and inventYes

There are many contests and programs to help inventors win. CableLabs is hosting a contest called the 10G Challenge, based on new services that will run on multi-gigabyte broadband networks. The prize is $50,000 in four different categories: Health, education, work, and entertainment. The best overall idea wins $100,000. At the end of it all, the inventor keeps their idea. 

Stephen started his YouTube channel, InventRight TV, to give people a roadmap on how they can license their inventions. He also created inventYes, a free program that teaches kids how to license their inventions. It’s all about giving people the opportunity to see how they can change the world. 

Check out Stephen’s YouTube channel here.

Check out his LinkedIn page here. 

About our Guest: Stephen Key

Stephen Key is an author, writer, and leading expert in licensing consumer product ideas. The innovative packaging solution he brought to market has more than 20 patents and received 15 industry awards, including two Edisons. InventRight, the coaching program he cofounded in 1999, has helped people from more than 60 countries license their product ideas. Stephen has a popular YouTube channel inventRight TV, and writers for Forbes, Inc., and Entrepreneur.

In 2017, he cofounded Inventors Groups of America to educate and empower inventors and inventing group leaders. He is also the co-founder of inventYES, a free program for high school students worldwide. In 2020, he became a founding member of the United States Intellectual Property Alliance to help educate entrepreneurs and inventors on intellectual property.

Greg Shepard of BOSS Capital Partners joins us to discuss autism, neurodiversity, and entrepreneurship. 

The School System and Learning Styles

Growing up, Greg struggled with learning in school and communicating. He had a different style of learning that schools did not teach. He scored very high in some areas but struggled in others. Greg’s kids go to the Winston School, which specialize in neurodiverse students. The school teaches students their learning styles before they do anything else. Once the kids understand how they learn, they can know which type best fits them.

My three kids also had different learning styles when they were growing up. My wife and I homeschooled each of them through different curriculums. The school system fails students when they don’t match teaching styles to learning styles. 

Autism, Neurodiversity, and Entrepreneurship

Greg says starting a business is like a GPS. When using a GPS, you must know your current location and where you’re going. He connects that way of thinking to the acquiring of businesses. Most people jump into things before knowing where they are going and end up in the wrong place. Greg chooses to define the destination ahead of time and plan accordingly. 

It is not a matter of intelligence but rather the lens you see things through. Most people learn things one way and look at things that way. Neurodivergent people look between and around, seeing things differently naturally. This ability has greatly attributed to Greg’s career success.  

Organizations and Neurodiverse Employees

 In most organizations, neurodivergent people cannot get through the application process. To change this, organizations need to get rid of certain obstacles. Job applications often ask the wrong questions to those with different ways of thinking. Interviewers need to focus on areas these people are passionate about. This process will highlight their capabilities rather than getting overlooked. Additionally, neurodivergent people do not operate well with things that are not direct and specific. They need targeted things, and many interviewers fail to provide direct questions. 

About our Guest: Greg Shepard

Greg is a 20-year startup veteran and serial entrepreneur with 14 liquidity events— selling two as part of a $925M transaction that won 4 PE awards for transactions between $250M-$1B. He is a ForbesBooks author and has written over 100 articles published in 25 national and international publications. Hie is also a TEDx speaker and keynote speaker for universities, associations, and conferences worldwide. He is the Host of Meet The BOSS Forbes Radio show and guested on over 25 popular podcasts and numerous network TV and radio shows.

Greg co-founded BOSS Capital Partners, a global syndicate for investing in tech startups worldwide. He also Co-Founded BOSSStartupScience, the learning center based on Greg’s Business Operating Support System (BOSS). BOSS is an open-source methodology developed to empower entrepreneurs while increasing startup success rates.