How to market an IP(intellectual Property) ?

[vipin lal]

Hello guys...
I am not sure whether I am asking this in the right place.
I am interested in developing IP's.And I would like to market
them.But as a beginner I dont know how to enter into this business.I
have doubt about fixing the price of an IP and finding out potential
customers.
Right now I have developed some IP's like Triple DES,JPEG encoder
etc. But I am confused about fixing a price.

Could anybody provide me the necessary guidance?

Thanks
lal.

 

[Thomas Stanka]

  I am interested in developing IP's.And I would like to market
them.But as a beginner I dont know how to enter into this business.I
have doubt about fixing the price of an IP and finding out potential
customers.
  Right now I have developed some IP's like Triple DES,JPEG encoder
etc. But I am confused about fixing a price.

Could anybody provide me the necessary guidance?

Some interessting questions you should answer yourself:
- Why buying your IP instead of developing itself(better,
cheaper,...)?
- How could you convince your customer that your code contains no
bugs?
- How yould you convince your customer, that you could (and will)
support in case of any bugs left that arise several months after the
contract?

From my point of view I would avoid to buy from an one-man-company any
IP, as I think that the last two points are hard to cover from a
single person.

bye Thomas

 

[Mike Treseler]

Right now I have developed some IP's like Triple DES,JPEG encoder
etc. But I am confused about fixing a price.

Customers are the problem, not the price.
Consider starting out with open source samples.
You might meet a future customer that way.

-- Mike Treseler

 

[vipin lal]

Thanks Thomas for your reply.

Some interessting questions you should answer yourself:
- Why buying your IP instead of developing itself(better,
cheaper,...)?

It is true that there are many IP vendors such as xilinx,ARM,Cast etc
in this area.But I think that there IP's are costly(i am sure
though).I will be selling it at a lower price.And one more point I
have to say is that, when you design something you can optimize it for
speed or area used.I can ask the customer his specifications and
customize the design accordingly so that it works perfectly for him.I
dont think this kind of modifications in the code is not done in "big
vendors" case.

- How could you convince your customer that your code contains no
bugs?

This I have no idea.Say I have implemented a 63 bit DES , there is no
way that I can test all the input cases and make sure that design is
working.
Do you have any idea about any organizations which are ready to
certify your design or something like that?

- How yould you convince your customer, that you could (and will)
support in case of any bugs left that arise several months after the
contract?

This is another thing I am confused about.I am sure that, if the code
has bugs I will definitely assist them,but how can I get people's
trust?
Is it not possible to mention it in the contract.I saw some vendor
sites.They have mentioned a 90 days warrany period on their code.Is
that enough or you have to extend the period more?

From my point of view I would avoid to buy from an one-man-company any
IP, as I think that the last two points are hard to cover from a
single person.

So if I have a website and a registered company will you be ready to
trade with them? Right now I cant recruit people, because I have no
idea about the future of this kind of business.

 

[vipin lal]

Customers are the problem, not the price.
Consider starting out with open source samples.
You might meet a future customer that way.

      -- Mike Treseler

Hi Mike, starting with open source samples for getting in touch with
future customers is a nice idea.I will consider that.
I went through some forums and some people said that many small
companies who entered into this area left without much success or they
were taken by some big vendors.Is it that difficult to hold on in this
business?
Really confusing!!!

Thanks
--vipin

 

[Tricky]

It is true that there are many IP vendors such as xilinx,ARM,Cast etc
in this area.But I think that there IP's are costly(i am sure
though).I will be selling it at a lower price.And one more point I
have to say is that, when you design something you can optimize it for
speed or area used.I can ask the customer his specifications and
customize the design accordingly so that it works perfectly for him.I
dont think this kind of modifications in the code is not done in "big
vendors" case.

I think the problem you face is that most developers after IP will be
spending tens of thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) developing a
new board. They are not going to worry about paying an extra couple of
thousand to licence the IP from a more reputable vendor.

Going to the open source market might work on a small scale volumes of
after sales, but I bet you'd be better off getting a job for a company
that develops IP.

 

[vipin lal]

I think the problem you face is that most developers after IP will be
spending tens of thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) developing a
new board. They are not going to worry about paying an extra couple of
thousand to licence the IP from a more reputable vendor.

Going to the open source market might work on a small scale volumes of
after sales, but I bet you'd be better off getting a job for a company
that develops IP.

yeah,may be true in some sense.but I prefer working what ever I feel
like doing.That is why I am trying to do this.Money is not the only
reason I do this.

 

[Jeff Cunningham]

This is another thing I am confused about.I am sure that, if the code
has bugs I will definitely assist them,but how can I get people's
trust?
Is it not possible to mention it in the contract.I saw some vendor
sites.They have mentioned a 90 days warrany period on their code.Is
that enough or you have to extend the period more?

I strongly suggest you read the book "Marketing High Technology" by
William Davidow of Intel. It should be required reading for all EEs.

-Jeff

 

[KJ]

I strongly suggest you read the book "Marketing High Technology" by
William Davidow of Intel. It should be required reading for all EEs.

I wonder if there are any EE books that are suggested reading for the
marketers...and if those are picture books?

KJ