Inventors Online – Inventors Groups of America

Welcome to America’s Inventors Group – IGA’s Inventors Online

IGA’s Inventors Online is the first virtual inventors group. Our goal is to Educate through leadership and guidance from leading industry experts, Empower you with trustworthy resources you need to succeed, and give you the Experience you have been waiting for in the product commercialization world. Our virtual inventors group provides a place to connect, share, educate, and inspire inventors across the nation.

Inventors Online meetings take place once a month, and they are designed to give you resources, pathways, leadership, and guidance. You will get an opportunity to talk to your peers, ask questions, and get advice and help from guest experts. Registration and attendance are always free for all IGA members.

With a rotation through these three different types of meeting, get ready for the ride of your life!

Presentation – During our Inventors Online Presentations, our guest speaker will have insightful slides to give you straight to the point information you can takeaway.

Workshop – During Workshops, our guest speaker will walk you through how to do something, live! With interactive audience participation, a demonstration helps put you in the hot seat, so you can use the knowledge with your own journey!

Fireside Chat – Our Fireside Chats allow our audience to get up close and personal with a personal conversation from our guest speaker, with a lot of Q & A with our audience! Meet and talk with very successful people, pick their brain , and form connections!

Upcoming 2022 Inventors Online!

January 26th — Have a New Invention Idea – Now What? With Marc Portney, Stephen Key, and Andrew Krauss.

February 23rd — Learn How to Become a Successful Toy Inventor, with Ed Gartin, Azhelle Wade, and April Mitchell!

March 30th — How to make your sell sheet POP with augmented reality, with Courtney Laschkewitsch!

April 27th — AMA (Ask Me Anything) with Stephen Key!

May 25th — Meet Keith Chapman, Creator of Paw Patrol & Bob the Builder!

June 29th — Raising Inventors – Tips & advice from successful young entrepreneurs

July 27th — Meet Kathi Vidal, the new Director of the USPTO!

August 31st — Pitching Tips & Strategies that will up your chances of licensing success, with Courtney Laschkewitsch

September 28th

October 26th

November 30th

December 14th.

Most Meetings are Held Wednesdays

at 4pm Pacific / 7pm Eastern

How to be a part of the monthly meetings?

Link to Join Zoom Meeting:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84326946457?pwd=LzJvRmZodnBncFJkSGhKb1pPVGtPdz09

Meeting ID: 843 2694 6457
Passcode: 567923

Note: With a max of 500, please show up early to ensure you are able to join in on the discussion. If our meeting maxes out, we apologize for the inconvenience.

Learn more about our upcoming meeting by following us on social media!

Terms: By joining this meeting, you agree to the following terms:

This meeting will be recorded. By signing up for any and all Inventors Online Meetings, you permit IGA to take screenshots and videos of meetings for internal and public purposes.
Please be respectful of everyone. You will be removed from the meeting if you are not professional throughout the meeting.
No soliciting, advertising your own service or product, spamming the chat box, or going off topic. Do not disclose anything including your product or product idea that isn’t already public information.
IGA does not give legal advice.
The amount of time each person can talk will be limited. When appropriate, a red card will be held up to state that your time is up. Please be respectful of your time given.
Please stay muted, and avoid talking over another participant.
Please turn on your video if you are able to. It is not required, but to create an interactive online inventing community, we would appreciate you leaving your video on.

Past 2021 Inventors Online Meetings

January 27th — Should you License or Venture your idea, with Dimitry Boss!

February 24th — Learn How to Create a Revenue Generating Invention, with Andy Barkin and Terry O’Mara!

March 31st — From Zero to Business: How Marc Portney took 3 Products to Market!

April 14th — Become a Pitching Master and Get Interest Fast, with Ed Gartin!

May 26th — Learn the right way to pitch using LinkedIn and overcome your fear of pitching, with Benjamin Harrison & Justin Aquino!

June 19th — What value do patents offer to independent inventors today? Featuring Special Guest Andrei Iancu – Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office from 2017 until January 2021

July 28th — Breaking into the Pet Industry, & How to Go Pro, with Amanda Hutton!

August 25th — How to Make a Virtual Prototype that Lands you a Licensing Deal, with Courtney Laschkewitsch!

September 29th — How to stand out in a sea of sell sheets, with Courtney Laschkewitsch!

October 27th — How to sell your product in Walmart, with Angela Grayson!

November 24th — The right way to approach licensees, with Ryan Diez and Benjamin Harrison!

December 8th — Don’t let these barriers stop you from inventing in 2022, with Andrew Krauss and Courtney Laschkewitsch!

Past 2020 Inventors Online Meetings

May – Coronavirus and Innovation: Inventor Advice, with Stephen Key.

June – How to come up with an idea that will be licensed for DRTV, with Trish Dowling.

July – What it takes to be a toy inventor, and how to come up with ideas, with Azhelle Wade!

August – Q & A with Elizabeth Dougherty, the Eastern Regional Outreach Director of the USPTO

September – The Biggest Mistakes I’ve Ever Made, with Stephen Key.

October – How to get Publicity for your product, with Christina Daves!

November – How to negotiate a licensing deal. What could go wrong?! With Noah Harfouch.

December – How to pitch a toy or game and land a licensing deal, with April Mitchell!

Recordings of Past Meetings

Understanding Your Patent Rights in 2020!

What the Patent Trial & Appeal Board is, and why inventors should care.

Should You Venture of License Your Idea? Featuring Dimitry Boss

Have you ever tried licensing and venturing at the same time? Not sure if you should license or venture your product idea?

Learn how to create revenue generating inventions, with Andy Barkin & Terry O’Mara!

Learn how to create revenue generating inventions, with Andy Barkin & Terry O'Mara!

From Zero to Business: How Marc Portney took 3 Products to Market

In this special fireside chat, we talked with Marc about picking an idea and starting a business out of it. In this meeting, be ready for the ride of your life!

Become a Pitching Master and Get Interest Fast, with Ed Gartin and April Mitchell!

You’re pitching your ideas wrong! You won’t want to contact another company until you learn the shocking truth about why your pitch isn’t working.

Learn the right way to pitch using LinkedIn, and overcome your fear of pitching!

You're a product developer. And you've made your way to the point of pitching. But you freeze. How do you pitch? What methods? What scripts? Are you nervous? Learn how to overcome them and also pitch on LI!

What value do patents offer independent inventors today?

What can inventors do to strengthen their patent applications? None other than Andrei Iancu, the Director of the USPTO from 2017 until this January, will provide us with his answers to this all-important question.

Breaking into the Pet industry & how to go pro, with Amanda Hutton

Do you have many ideas you want to bring to market? Interested in going pro and working with multiple companies? You need to meet Amanda Hutton.

How to Make a Virtual Prototype that Lands you a Licensing Deal!

From learning about the different types of prototypes, to when you will need one, to if you should be the one to make it, to a live demonstration of how to virtually frankenstein, we'll dive into all of this and more!

Sell Sheet Lingo! How to stand out in a sea of sell sheets!

Inventors are constantly pitching their ideas to companies. How do you stand out with yours? Play some fun games, and learn about the power of sell sheet lingo!

How to Sell Your Product in Walmart!

So, how do you improve your chances of selling at Walmart? Do you need inventory? How important is intellectual property?

The Right Way to Approach Potential Licensees

The first step in building a relationship with a potential licensee today begins, most often, with a short message. But what do you say? It's time to find out!

Don’t Let These Barriers Stop You From Inventing in 2022!

Andrew & Courtney go head to head combating your barriers, so you can start fresh, without excuses, making progress towards your inventing goals!

Have a New Invention Idea, Now What?

Learn about the two main ways to bring your ideas to market from three industry veterans, who will describe the pros and cons of each.

Learn How to Become a Successful Toy Inventor!

Learn powerful & thought-provoking information on the toy industry from these three powerhouses!

How to Make Your Sell Sheet POP with Augmented Reality!

Learn how to create a 3D Model & AR version of your product, demonstrated live!

Ask Me Anything, with Stephen Key!

Learn about Stephen's journey, & how to be creative, in our first ever AMA.

Meet Keith Chapman, the Creator of PAW Patrol & Bob the Builder!

Learn how to design and license characters that produce multibillion-dollar empires!

Raising Inventors. Tips & Advice from Successful Young Entrepreneurs

Learn how these young entrepreneurs brought their ideas to market.
Download the presentation here.

Meet Kathi Vidal – The New Director of the USPTO

We discuss all of the tools provided by the USPTO and then welcome the New Director of the USPTO, Kathi Vidal.

Pitching Tips & Strategies that will up your chances of licensing success, with Courtney Laschkewitsch

Learn how to become a licensing pitching pro, fast!

What to Expect After You File a Patent Application

Our featured guests are Stacey White, Lead Administrative Patent Judge at the PTAB, and John Schneider, Administrative Patent Judge at the USPTO. They will describe the free legal assistance programs the USPTO has developed to help independent inventors throughout the patent prosecution process, including drafting an application and filing an appeal.

Funding For Early Stage Inventions

Listen to our featured guest Dr. Ben Schrag, SBIR/STTR Program Director and Policy Liaison at National Science Foundation discuss how to fund for early stage inventions.

Licensing & Manufacturing At The Same Time

Here we talk with successful entrepreneur Mohamed Ali from Egypt. Mohamed successfully launched an entire product line that he licensed and manufactured all at the same time. Watch to learn how.

Behind the Scenes with a Former Patent Examiner – Eric Blatt

Eric reviewed patent applications at the USPTO for 6 years. Today, he advises emerging companies on intellectual property and strategic transactions as a partner at Scale LLP.

Tom Czar President of MediaOne is looking for ideas!

Tom Czar President of MediaOne has represented some of the largest brands. For Martha Stewart, Dyson and Ring! Does your product have what it takes?

Catching Up With Director Vidal

We sit down and chat with USPTO Director Kathi Vidal.

Learn How To License Products From an Expert

Keith Mullin is an expert in Product Licensing. One of his specialties is working in the pet industry. Watch this one hour video to learn how to become a professional inventor.

Successful Pitching: Strategies for Winning Over Companies with your Ideas!

Are you pitching? If so, please join IGA Cofounder Stephen Key, and SmartPitch Creator Benjamin Harrison for the Inventors Groups of America monthly meeting. Stephen is going to share everything he’s learned about pitching!

12 Tips for Successful Product Licensing!

Today to be successful at Product Licensing you must stand out. Get the latest tips and strategies to license you ideas today.

Learn How To Sell Your Ideas From Sucessful Inventors

Join us as we talk with successful inventors and how they brought their ideas to market.

How To Use Design Patents To Get A Licensing Deal

Join us as we talk with Kevin Prince from QuickPatents about Design Patents and how you can use them to get a licensing deal.

From Selling on QVC and HSN to Home Depot – Learn How Mike Did It

Guest Mike Van Horst tells the story of how he brought his product to market.

How to Make Money on Amazon Today

Guest Steven Pope shows us how to sell our inventions on Amazon.

Overcoming the #1 Things Holding You Back

Serial Inventor Courteny Laschkewitsch discusses essential mindset changes for getting a licensing deal.

AI Tools For Entrepreneurs and Inventors Part 2

Dan Brown, founder of InQuestAI discusses the latest AI tools for Entrepreneurs and Inventors.

How To Draft Provisional Patent Applications

Provisional patent applications offer many benefits to inventors. Do you know what they are? Filing a provisional patent application helps you begin establishing ownership of your invention. You can also use a provisional patent application as a selling tool.

Idea to Income: Thriving as a Creative Person in Corporate America

Do you have a passion for ideas and products that solve problems? Do you want to be creative for a living? Our special guest, Phillip Kauffman, will share his unique path to becoming the creative director at a major beverage company with an emphasis on takeaways for you.

Meet Ken Johnson, Creator of Phase 10, 2nd Best-Selling Card Game

Can you imagine creating a game that is so beloved, it is still selling after 40 years?
That is reality for Ken Johnson, the creator of Phase10.

Get Into Companies to Sell Your Ideas!

Join Dana Knowles and Chad Brislawn as they discuss how to contact and get into companies to pitch your ideas.

How to Keep Copycats from Stealing Your Idea

Worried about copycats stealing your idea online? In this expert-led webinar, we break down the essential tools and strategies to protect your invention from fakes and knockoffs. Learn how to safeguard your intellectual property, prepare in advance, and fight back against online theft. Watch now to protect what's yours!

The First Meeting: How to Turn Interest into a Licensing Deal

You’ve pitched your product. They’re interested. Now what? Securing a meeting with a potential licensee is a big step—but it’s just the beginning. This first conversation isn’t about selling your idea, it’s about building trust, gathering insights, and positioning yourself as a professional worth working with.

How to License Your Ideas for Products Repeatedly

Join us as we talk with Serial Inventor Tim Brennan about licensing product ideas repeatedly.

Q&A Session: Gain Clarity on Turning Your Ideas Into Products

Learn how to turn your ideas into products.