Founder Journal #5
"Sometimes the biggest value of a patent isn't the protection it gives your idea. It's the commitment it demands from you."
About the Founder Journal
Building a company isn't a straight line. It's a series of experiments, setbacks, unexpected lessons, and small victories that rarely make it into product announcements.
The Founder Journal is where we share the stories behind PFV Innovations—not as a marketing campaign, but as an honest record of what it's like to invent, build, and keep moving forward. Whether you're a musician, an entrepreneur, an inventor, or simply someone with an idea you can't stop thinking about, we hope these stories encourage you to keep going.
When people hear that Flip Pick is patent pending, they usually assume we always knew we'd file a patent.
The truth is...
We weren't sure.
Like so many first-time inventors, we did what everyone does.
We started researching.
And the more we researched, the more confusing it became.
Half the internet seemed to say patents were essential.
The other half insisted they were a waste of money.
Some people said we'd be foolish not to file.
Others argued we were better off spending that money on building the business instead.
It felt like every answer raised two new questions.
Crawl-ees Was Still in the Back of Our Minds
Years earlier, we'd had another idea.
Jamie designed little baby knee pads for crawling infants.
We called them Crawl-ees.
We believed in the idea.
But we never pursued it.
A couple of years later, we walked into Target and saw almost the exact same product on the shelf.
That moment stayed with us.
Not because someone "stole" our idea.
They didn't.
Because it reminded us that good ideas don't wait forever.
When Flip Pick came along, we didn't want to spend years wondering,
"What if we'd tried?"
First We Had to Know
Before we ever talked to a patent attorney, we spent days searching ourselves.
Google Patents.
The USPTO database.
The marketplace.
We searched everywhere we could think of.
Nothing.
At least nothing that worked the way Flip Pick did.
Eventually we paid for a professional patent search.
Again...
Nothing close.
That didn't guarantee we were patentable.
But it gave us enough confidence to keep going.
We Almost Did It Ourselves
Like so many parts of this journey, my first thought was,
"I can probably learn this."
At the time, we both had an incredibly demanding jobs.
Realistically, there weren't enough hours in the day.
So after a couple of months of research, we hired a patent attorney.
Looking back...
That was the right decision for us.
Ironically, if today's AI tools had existed back then, I probably would have tried much harder to draft the application myself.
Not because attorneys aren't valuable.
But because learning has always been our first instinct.
We Thought Filing the Patent Was the Hard Part
This might have been our biggest misconception of all.
Once the application was filed...
We felt unstoppable.
We imagined licensing opportunities.
Investors.
Manufacturing partners.
Surely now everyone would take us seriously.
Instead...
The filing was simply the starting line.
The real work hadn't even begun.
Building the product.
Finding manufacturers.
Creating a website.
Learning marketing.
Helping customers.
Making content.
Improving the design.
Those things consumed the next four years.
The patent didn't build the company.
The company had to earn the patent's value.
The Office Actions
There have been moments during the patent process when we genuinely thought it was over.
Prior art surfaced that none of our searches had uncovered.
Reading those Office Actions felt devastating.
For a little while, it seemed like we'd spent a tremendous amount of money only to end up right back where we'd started.
Looking back now...
I don't see those moments the same way.
Because even if our original application is never allowed, something else happened the day we filed it.
We committed.
Without realizing it, we'd crossed a line.
Flip Pick stopped being a weekend project.
It became something we were determined to bring into the world.
That commitment changed everything.
We Didn't Need Investors
Early on, we assumed a patent would naturally attract investors.
Maybe licensing opportunities.
Maybe someone would swoop in and help us build the company.
That didn't happen.
Instead, we bootstrapped the business ourselves.
At first, that felt like a disadvantage.
Now, we see one enormous benefit.
Every decision we've made has been guided by one question:
"Is this better for guitar players?"
Not,
"Is this better for next quarter's earnings?"
That freedom has allowed us to redesign the product, build a free Companion App, and spend years improving Flip Pick instead of rushing to maximize short-term returns.
Looking back, we wouldn't trade that freedom.
So...Should You File a Patent?
People ask us that question all the time.
The honest answer is:
It depends.
Every invention is different.
Every situation is different.
A patent isn't automatically the right choice.
Neither is skipping one.
Our advice is simple.
Do your research.
Talk to people you trust.
Understand what patents can and can't do.
Then make the decision that's right for your circumstances.
Looking Back
If there's one thing we've learned, it's this:
Patents don't build products.
People do.
A patent can't manufacture your idea.
It can't market it.
It can't answer customer emails.
It can't improve your design.
It can't build trust.
Those things still require showing up every day and doing the work.
Looking back, filing the patent may not have guaranteed our success.
But it did something almost as important.
It gave us permission to stop wondering if we should pursue Flip Pick...
...and start asking how far we could take it.
Thanks for reading.
The Founder Journal is our ongoing record of what we're learning while building PFV Innovations. We don't have all the answers, but we believe there is value in sharing the journey honestly. If you're building something of your own—whether it's a business, a song, a piece of art, or simply a better version of yourself—we hope you'll keep going. So will we.
Note: We're sharing our personal experience as founders, not legal advice. Every invention and every patent strategy is different. If you're considering protecting your own invention, we encourage you to do your research and speak with a qualified patent professional.
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