Do you need patent pipelines that grow and protect bottom line value?
We build/audit/train your patent teams, processes, or departments, providing invention disclosure and review systems that generate more invention disclosures, reduce the time from disclosure to filing decisions, help create quality filings, and open up innovation culture to compound value.
Experiencing any of this?
1. Disjointed Decision-Making
A poorly run patent approval process that requires 30+ decision-makers in endless meetings (200 billion dollar company) or disjointed email chains (4.5 billion dollar company) can delay patent filings for months.
2. Excessive Time from Disclosure to Filing
When it takes over three months (or even longer) to move from an inventor’s disclosure to a filed patent, your protection can lag far behind the innovation. This can be brutal, especially if each product iteration has a competitive lifespan shorter than the filing process.
3. High-Performing Teams Neglecting Disclosures
Fast-moving engineering teams sometimes get so caught up in development that they overlook the critical step of documenting and disclosing their inventions.
4. Narrow-Focused Innovators
Some engineers prioritize only those ideas tied directly to specific targets, potentially missing out on breakthrough innovations that fall outside their immediate goals.
5. Talent Drain Due to Poor Incentives
When the culture or reward system doesn’t support or value disclosures, both employees and executives may lose motivation—sometimes even leaving to launch their own ventures.
6. Missed Monetization Opportunities
Without a robust patent portfolio, your company may struggle to license, sell, or leverage patents for market advantage and additional revenue.
7. Tightening Patent Budgets
As budgets shrink, companies may opt for less expensive legal counsel or services, often compromising on the quality and strategic value of their patent filings.
8. Unpredictable Cost Surges
Irregular filing patterns can lead to sudden spikes in patent costs, straining your budget and disrupting long-term planning.
9. Stifled Disclosure Culture
A cumbersome disclosure process—with lengthy reviews or frequent rejections—can discourage inventors from sharing future innovations.
10. Overburdened In-House Counsel
In-house legal teams juggling multiple responsibilities may see patent initiatives fall by the wayside, resulting in missed opportunities and delays.
11. Difficulty Attracting Investment
A weak or inconsistent patent strategy can undermine your ability to showcase innovation, making it harder to attract investors and secure funding.
12. Constant back and forth with the inventors and the patent committee.
When a committee does not have the information it needs, it produces information requests from the inventor instead of filing decisions—often delaying the decisions by months.
How Can We Help?
What if we could help you get from disclosure to decision in under two months and filing in under three?
We built the Flow Engine to return time, lower effort, and compound value for your company.
The Flow Engine is built from our experience running, building, and boosting numbers at patent departments in multi-billion dollar companies (including a Fortune 50) around the world.
It is designed to create more disclosures, faster times from disclosures to filing decisions, and actual filing—while improving the quality of information that moves through the process.
It is a modular system that applies to every part of the invention disclosure and review process.
We Are Not Just Another Patent Firm
We see it as our job to build and maximize value for your company through the world of patents. So, we concern ourselves with every aspect of the invention's journey, from innovation to patent filing. We partner with you to build out, perfect, and grow your innovation collection and patent filing.
We found that these processes can affect employee churn, company culture, bottom-line innovation, and realized profits. Getting it right can feel like the difference between night and day.
The Team
Will Prorok
Early on, he focused on boosting invention disclosures after a client requested an increase. He took the client's most profitable BU to a 3x monthly increase in disclosure filings. To his surprise, it helped change the culture and helped innovation flow in the company. The idea behind the “Flow Engine” was born.
Bart Sullivan
Built the patent departments for Pixar and WETA Digital, adding over 400 patents to each in 4 years. He also ran the patent department for Disney Innovation. He built fast, efficient, robust disclosure review processes that allowed companies to build strong and valuable patent portfolios quickly.
What Could Happen?
1. Streamlined Decision-Making
Your patent committee gets complete, actionable information right away—no more endless meetings or disjointed email chains delaying decisions.
2. Accelerated Patent Filing
With an optimized process, patents can often be filed within three months of an inventor’s disclosure, ensuring protection keeps pace with innovation.
3. Empowered, High-Performing Teams
A simple, intuitive disclosure system encourages teams to document every breakthrough, fueling innovation and patent success.
4. Enhanced Creativity and Flexibility
By capturing all ideas—not just those tied to immediate targets—engineers can explore creative solutions freely. After all, some of the greatest patents were born from spontaneous, desk-side ingenuity.
5. Improved Talent Retention
A rewarding and efficient patent process motivates both employees and executives to share their ideas in-house, reducing the risk of losing top talent to competitors or start-ups.
6. Stronger Market Position
A robust patent portfolio helps secure your market niche, safeguarding your competitive edge and carving out a stronger market presence.
7. Expanded Monetization Opportunities
A comprehensive patent strategy opens doors to licensing, sales, and other revenue-generating opportunities, turning your innovations into tangible assets.
8. Scalable Patent Budgets
As patents start delivering real value, your investment in intellectual property can grow in line with the benefits—rather than feeling like a constrained expense.
9. Predictable, Manageable Costs
A smooth, consistent filing process minimizes sudden cost surges, resulting in a more stable, forecastable expenditure.
10. A Vibrant Disclosure Culture
Streamlined processes make it easier for engineers to disclose innovations regularly, creating a continuous flow of ideas and improvements.
11. Focused In-House Counsel
With fewer administrative burdens, your legal team can dedicate more time to strategic initiatives, further strengthening your patent portfolio.
12. Enhanced Investor Appeal
A targeted and robust patent portfolio sends a powerful message to investors, showcasing a commitment to innovation and long-term value creation.
13. Swift Protection of Rapid Innovation
Fast, efficient patent filings ensure that even breakthrough innovations are secured promptly—protecting your competitive advantage from day one.
Founder’s Note:
The key to patent filing is value—does the innovation justify the cost?
Patents protect value, but what if the patent process could generate more value? A streamlined system that uncovers hidden innovation and accelerates disclosures could transform R&D, boosting returns and expanding the company.
Many companies struggle with slow, outdated, and labor-intensive disclosure processes, leaving valuable ideas behind. When engineers lack the time, energy, or know-how to disclose innovations—especially those beyond their daily tasks—ideas stay hidden.
Flipping the switch with a fast, low-friction, and detailed process allows innovation to flow freely, filing decisions to move quickly, and value to compound.
That’s the power of the Flow Engine: more innovation, more value.