Four Plans. One System. Start Where Clarity Demands.
Inventiply Foundry™ is not a menu of consulting services. It’s a structured system with four plans. You begin where clarity demands. You upgrade only when your progress supports it.
That discipline is the point.
Most companies overspend too early on legal work they don’t yet need. Others underinvest until avoidable risk hardens into unavoidable cost. The Foundry prevents both mistakes by giving you a rational progression from signal to evidence to control to enterprise value.
Gary Shuster on IP as an Asset Class: “IP is a unique asset class. The input is brainpower. The cost is what is required to convince the government that it deserves protection. And IP is the only asset class that lets you hold a legal monopoly in the face of antitrust laws.”
Signal — Do we have something valuable yet?
Signal is the entry plan. It answers the first honest question before you commit capital or architecture.
If the answer is no, the correct response is not “file anyway.” The correct response is to enter a creation loop and build protectable leverage.
If the answer is yes, Signal assesses your posture across design-around exposure, invalidation risk, licensing options, expiration timing, defensive strategies, and enterprise value impact.
Signal is directional. It is not a legal opinion. It’s clarity before architecture hardens.
Included modules: IP & Valuation Risk Analysis. If needed: Innovation Sprints (creation loop).
Validation — Can we defend it in the real world?
Signal tells you whether you have something. Validation tells you whether you can prove it to a skeptical investor, competitor, or examiner.
Validation builds defensibility across four dimensions: evidence mapping (claim-to-function documentation a third party can understand), legal environment evaluation (under current law and foreseeable changes), an Expansion Horizon Map (what’s protectable now, soon, later, and probably never), and strategic positioning (where single-point failures hide and where competitors will try to design around).
Gary Shuster — On Validation vs. Signal: “If Facebook gets a patent that cites one of my patents as a reference, that’s a signal — Facebook is considering operating in an adjacent space. Validation looks at the actual patent file wrapper and figures out if the signal is real (they had to argue to overcome it) or noise (the examiner doesn’t even discuss it). Same with valuation. A signal might be ‘the market will be in the billions,’ but validation might find the market analysis was flawed or relies on tech you don’t cover.”
Included modules: IP Strategy & Optimization, Broadening & Expansion (initial scope: Expansion Horizon Map). Add-ons available: Innovation Sprints, Infringement Detective.
Moat & Toll Booth — Own your core. Charge rent on adjacent roads.
Signal gives clarity. Validation gives defensibility. Moat & Toll Booth gives control and unanticipated revenue.
A moat protects what you operate. It makes competitors’ design-around expensive or commercially irrational. A toll booth monetizes what others are willing to license — especially adjacent embodiments you decide not to pursue, but others will.
Your company builds Product A. But your invention also covers Use Case B. Why block B when you can monetize it? That’s non-dilutive funding. New revenue streams from IP you already own.
Cameron Powell — On Moats and Toll Booths: “The moat keeps people out of our core business — that’s the ‘we know how to do it and we are doing it’ space. After eBay v. MercExchange, judges are usually unwilling to stop people from crossing the moat (no injunctions), but it’s still very different from a toll booth. The moat covers what we want exclusivity in. The toll booth is licensing.”
Included modules: Full Broadening & Expansion, Innovation Sprints (pipeline installation), Infringement Detective, IP Strategy & Optimization.
Learn more about Moat & Toll Booth →
Exit — The Evidence-Based Story
Our first question to new clients is usually: What’s your exit?
Whether your goal is acquisition, strategic sale, IPO positioning, or raising capital without being discounted, Exit shapes your invention and portfolio around enterprise value.
Cameron Powell — On Building Exit Into IP: “What we offer is building a coherent, investable story around the technology. If the exit strategy is ‘invent it then license it,’ we need the patent and ancillary documents to scream ‘practice this and you’re going to make a fortune.’ If the exit strategy is ‘build a business and sell at around year 5,’ we need the patent spend to be front-loaded so we have issued IP in large enough volume to support a sale. In all cases, we write the story literally into the patent application as well as building it into whatever the company does on the way to exit.”
Exit includes everything in Moat & Toll Booth plus: diligence-ready packet, enterprise narrative, founder and brand story integration, partner/customer story alignment, media positioning, and go-to-market strategy aligned with IP protection. Multi-exit scenario shaping is available as a premium add-on.
How to Choose
If you’re early, start with Signal — or get a free IP Risk Report first. If you’re filing, converting a provisional, or fundraising, and the evidence supports deeper investment, move to Validation. If you’re in a contested market or expect copycats, activate Moat & Toll Booth. If you’re preparing for fundraising, acquisition, or scale, activate Exit.
Foundry is designed to escalate only when justified. We will tell you if you don’t need the next tier.