.png)
I’m a technologist, an entrepreneur—and yes, an inventor. With over 300 patents to my name, you might assume I’ve always had a passion for intellectual property. The truth? I didn’t choose patents. They chose me.
Like many founders, I was pulled into the patent world not out of love, but necessity. And let’s be honest; patents are boring. Or at least they were. Until I realized they’re not just legal documents. They’re business accelerators, idea validators, and sometimes, roadblocks we don’t even see coming.
The Patent Dilemma: A System at Odds with Innovators
In 2024, over 700,000 patents were filed in the U.S., and more than 300,000 were granted. Most of them came from industries like semiconductors, AI, and cybersecurity. Surprisingly, nearly half of these filings came from outside the U.S. It begs the question: Are American innovators falling behind—or just overwhelmed by the process?
Even if you do manage to file, 78% of granted patents that go to litigation are invalidated. That’s not just a number—it’s a red flag.
Let me tell you a story. A friend of mine, leading a brilliant team of ten PhDs in the Bay Area, spent a year researching new technology and building new IP for his company. When they were ready to file a patent, he proudly shared it with me. In just a few minutes, I found a nearly identical patent—filed by his own company seven years earlier. A year of effort... erased by a gap in visibility. That’s the real cost of not knowing your freedom to operate.
What Is the Problem? Attorneys...
The traditional IP process is broken—built around expensive attorney hours and slow timelines. For founders and early-stage innovators, that model doesn’t work. They typically think of it as something they will eventually get to when they have more money. They delay IP research and going after patents till later in the development process.
Look at provisional patents: these are meant to be the entry point, the “idea placeholder.” You’d expect millions of them. Instead, we get about 150,000 filed per year. Why? Because the barrier is too high—financially, strategically, and emotionally. Attorney billable hours just don’t match the fast pace, scalability and efficiency we look for in business.
It shouldn’t be this hard to protect or evaluate an idea.
That’s why I started senseIP. To democratize innovation, because I truly believe that most people can potentially be inventors. But thus far, the cost in terms of money, time and effort were too prohibitive.
A New Hope: IP at the Speed of Thought
IP protection should be high-quality, fast and affordable. To help inventors act on their ideas—not “someday,” but right now. At the very least, I would like inventors to take a few minutes and check if their idea is unique based on freedom to operate research and take a few more minutes to fine-tune and make their idea more unique.
With the senseIP platform, anyone can:
- Chat with Leo, the AI IP expert and get step by step friendly guidance
- Crystalize their idea into core concepts
- Validate originality and uniqueness in real time
- Spot existing patents that may block them and hinder freedom to operate
- Adjust uniqueness accordingly. No IP knowledge is necessary.
- Polish the idea and get a summary (can be used for presentations)
- Draft & file a provisional patent—in minutes
- Research, draft and file full non-provisional patents
- Manage the entire IP portfolio (for advanced inventors/ organizations)
No attorneys. No email ping-pong. No invoice surprises.
Since 2023, the senseIP platform has helped over 900 companies and individuals to file more than 2,700 patents, with a strong customer satisfaction rate.
Our fastest provisional filing? Six minutes. More typically? Around 30 minutes. Compare that to weeks or months in the traditional mode of operation, not to mention thousands of dollars in legal fees. With the platform, you can do it for as little as $200 for your provisional patent and the first idea validations are free.
Freedom to Operate Is Not Optional
If you don’t protect your idea, your competitors might beat you. That’s tough. But if you’re infringing on someone else’s patent, it’s worse. That’s a legal nightmare.
Those massive litigation penalties—like the $2.3 billion awarded in just five U.S. patent cases last year—they’re not edge cases. They’re wake-up calls.
Freedom to operate isn’t a legal checkbox. It’s the foundation of your ability to build, test, and scale without fear.
A Call to Inventors
Everyone has ideas. Not all of them are viable. And that’s okay. Sometimes, killing an idea early is smarter than chasing it blindly. Steve Jobs said it best: “Deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do.”
My recommendation is to have Leo help you figure that out—instantly, intelligently, affordably.
If you’re reading this and have a spark of an idea, I invite you to put Leo to the test. And remember, your first idea validations are free.
Innovation shouldn’t be a luxury. Let’s make it a natural part of day-to-day business.
