Nathan Monk and Jennifer Marron reached out to me with this cool idea – in addition to sketchnoting Lean Startup Day at MarsDD on Dec 3, why not sketchnote the banner as well? I told them I’d never worked on anything that big, but they were up for the experiment and I was too. They rounded up canvas and paint, booked the boardroom, and away we went.

I started by drafting possible layouts using pencil and paper. They suggested some ideas to feature on the banner, and I added quick sketchnotes: an unfinished robot for the minimum viable product, arrows for “pivot or persevere”, and so on. I copied key elements of the first draft onto a second draft, and that was good to go.

Based on the proportions of the paper, we cut the canvas to roughly 68” by 120”. Coming from years of sketchnoting on a laptop screen (and doing the occasional blackboard/easel pad), it was certainly quite a new experience! It was so tall that I had to stand on a chair to reach parts of it. Glad to see that the proportion lessons I’d taken in art class paid off, though – I found it easy to work with the large space.

We started by taping the canvas to the wall and chalking outlines. I used my measuring tape to find the center and scribe a circle around it (hooray for high school geometry!). Then I lightly chalked the outlines of the MaRS logo and the sketchnoted quotes while Nathan and Jennifer chalked in the partner logos.

After chalking the layout, we stepped back to see what it looked like. It looked great! Then the duct tape gave way (canvas is heavy!), and we unanimously decided to move it to the boardroom table for the actual painting. If it collapsed that way while painting, we’d suddenly have an abstract art piece on our hands! We spread plastic wrap all over the boardroom table and the floor, set out the paints, and got going.

While Jennifer focused on the partner logos, I painted the MaRS logo, the Lean Startup Day arrows around it, and the sketchnote-style concepts surrounding the logo. We completed the banner in around 4 hours – about 1.5 hours to design and chalk it, and 2.5 hours to fill everything in with paint and touch up with white to cover up mistakes. The materials cost less than $200 – maybe $150? – and that was with way more paint than we needed, since none of us had any idea what to work at that size. I couldn’t get a good picture of it, but once it’s up on Dec 3, I’ll be sure to.

That was fun!

Lessons learned:

• It’s okay to not get things exactly right, so don’t worry about not having a projector or other tools.
• Chalk lightly and with a light colour so that it’s easy to brush off mistakes!
• Have lots of small brushes on hand for detail work.
• A little paint goes a long way.
• So does a sewing tape measure.
• White (or something close to your background colour) makes a great cover-up.

You can view 3 comments or e-mail me at sacha@sachachua.com.

And here’s how I drew it…

Check out my other ENT101 sketchnotes, or other sketchnotes and visual book notes!

Text for searching:

MaRS Entrepreneurship 101 Nov 21, 2012 # ENT101
IP MANAGEMENT: Creating Value by Protecting Knowledge Based Assets

NATHANIEL LIPKUS, Intellectual property
MATTHEW POWELL, patents
ASHLEE FROESE, trademarks

Do you use NDAs instead of stronger intellectual property protections?

Non-disclosure agreement costs a ton to enforce !

ONLY 20% of Canadian science /tech businesses – IP protection

Types: Patent, Trademark, Trade secret, Design, Copyright

IP has value!

PATENTS
design around
Control over how an advantage reaches customers

ex: do you need to reinvent the smartphone?

Is it patentable? New, Useful, Non-obvious

Process for sharpening images
Picture copyright

Patent laws <– Strict !!
Public disclosure
Use (ex: commercial)
offering for sale
actually selling it

Patent –> making something PUBLIC in exchange for control

Disclosure
Claims – Patent

Patents are granted on a per-country basis
Patent fee deferrals
Patent cooperation treaty –> options to file (30 months!)

Patent process 1 2 3 4 5
1. Understand inventorship & ownership
2. Prepare patent application
3. File the patent
4. Negotiate with examiner
5. Granted !

That’s too broad
Okay how about this?

Patents Vs. Trade Secret (Shhh…)
Public | can’t stop independent
control | others can protect details
that can be reverse engineered

TRADEMARKS
Your company reputation!
Not just names
mass of consumers

Non-traditional trademarks
3D designs, Colour, Sound ex: M&M Lion, distinguishing guise: Nesquick bottle: bunnies!

Recommended!
Generic -> Descriptive -> Suggestive -> Coined

Some exceptions:
The Beer Store
The more distinctive, the easier to protect.

Do your due diligence! (Is this viable? What’s out there?)

Best way

#1 Trademark registration
–> formal ownership
–> easier litigation
–> can be renewed forever
–> useful for internet also www.
The Living Brand
Keep an eye on your brand
Use it

Ex: escalator, Zipper, Kleenex, Aspirin… becomes generic term!
Update as needed, audit what’s going on

Online: Other people w/trademarks, Cybersquatters
Reserve your space

GOOD HOUSEKEEPING

1. Know your IP: Invention disclosures, spreadsheets

2. Ensure IP Ownership
Contracts — employees, contractors,etc.
Audit IP periodically
Start … … … …

IP HURDLES VS BARRIERS
Patents –> license? invalidate?
Trademarks –> license? modify?

Ex: Samsung vs. Apple
patents between user interface and hardware
Example: Gilead -] licensed HIV drugs to manufacturers in developing countries

Q&A
Q: Lean Startup?
A: Few things can beat being first to market in some industries. Patents–> maintian competitive advantage
A: Don’t forget about IP benefits
A: Can file for proposed use –trademarks?
Q: Business method patents, patent trolls?
A: Not healthy.. Moral discussion? Hybrid–>research labs. Nonpractising entities
Software patents: seat at the table. Challenge with prior art. Problems with patent system.
Q: enforceability of software patents?
A: Yes, if valid.
A: Not algorithms, but processes.

You can e-mail me at sacha@sachachua.com.