Steve Barbarich

Steve Barbarich is an inventor, author & CEO in the consumer goods industry. He frequently does speaking seminars on the topics of inventing, patenting and marketing.

Biography

Steve Barbarich was born in San Francisco, CA. Graduating from Claremont Harvey Mudd College as an engineering major in 1993, he then went on to start up several companies such as ip&r, absolutelyNEW & ChooseDirect.

IP&R

IP&R was started in 1995 by CEO Steve Barbarich. He grew the business from a marketing firm where inventors could bring their patented idea and get it into the marketplace, to the full-service design, marketing, packaging, and manufacturer it is today. IP&R has revenues under $20 million a year.

IP&R has several arms. goPROTO is the branch that designs and engineers products, specializing in taking a product from inventor's patent drawing to a working invention. "It's about deciphering what the idea is," says Troy Stevens, director of goPROTO. Patents, he says, are relatively easy to get, but "it's really just the technical boundaries of what your concept is. If you take a look at the patent picture and the final product, they often look totally different. The patent is an idea—an invention is something that actually works," says Stevens.

absolutelyNEW is the brand under which IP&R sells finished products. And Amazing Innovations is the branch that markets finished products to companies that may want to license them. The company has about 120 employees, including engineers, marketers, designers, licensing experts, market researchers, and packaging specialists.

The process works like this: An inventor comes up with an idea and secures a patent (IP&R requires customers to hold patents.) Then, he or she approaches IP&R or is solicited through direct mailing. When a customer signs on, IP&R works on the design, prototyping, and packaging of the would-be product. If IP&R thinks the product has potential, it will take it to trade shows to determine the level of interest among potential customers.

Barbarich left IP&R in 2006 & went on to found

ChooseDirect

Founded by Barbarich in 2007, ChooseDirect sells luxury outdoor living goods online through it subsidiary companies, ChooseHotTubsDirect & ChooseOutDoorKitchens.

Bibliography

He is the author of his own book, The Complete Manual on How to Make Money from Your Inventions and Patents.

Awards

He is on Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Athletics Wall of Fame for soccer by meeting the Harvey Mudd College academic and athletic criteria.

Philanthropy

Steve Barbarich uses business profits to donate to various disaster relief agencies.

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