How To Protect Your Business Beyond IP

02/07/22 • 25 min

“I like to counsel people about how to build a business that they would be able to sell someday... by being saleable, that means it actually has some market value to a third party.”

— Erin Austin

If you don’t have an exit strategy for your service-based business, you’ll definitely want to listen to this episode!

My guest, Erin Austin, is an experienced lawyer and the founder of the consulting firm Think Beyond IP, which provides asset-building consulting for B2B, service-based businesses.

Erin helps owners prepare for their most optimal and lucrative exit, through using her special talents to identify and protect those hidden and overlooked assets in expertise-based businesses that can be leveraged for maximum value.

Yes, a service-based business can have powerful and valuable assets — they just happen to be intellectual, rather than physical!

“We don’t think of our businesses, when we are service providers or experts, as being an asset-driven business,” Erin explains. “We think of it as being kind of a service... and I like to change the conversation, to make sure people understand you really DO have assets in your business, but the only way for them to have value is to make sure that you’re identifying them, and protecting them, and leveraging them appropriately.”

Intellectual property goes beyond just trademarks and patents. Your intellectual property can include your insights, your internal processes, and even your mailing list. Listen now to discover the hidden value in your business — so that you can maximize your exit when you’re ready to move on to your next chapter!

In‌ ‌this‌ ‌episode,‌ ‌you’ll discover:‌ ‌

The assets that you may already have in your business which are ripe for leveraging
How to protect a range of assets from internal and external threats
What goes into selling a business that operates under your name

About Erin Austin: Erin Austin is a consultant and lawyer who combines her 25+ years of practicing law — including roles as COO and General Counsel at IP-driven companies — to help the founders of expertise-based firms build and protect saleable assets so that the business is ready to sell when the founder is ready to exit.

Highlights:‌ ‌

01:04 Intro

02:15 Meet Erin Austin

03:41 Potential assets

06:05 Protecting assets

07:04 Trademark

10:03 Copyright

11:58 Patents & trade secrets

14:23 Sellable v. saleable

16:40 Operating under your name

20:18 Building with leverage

23:04 Takeaway