Miguel Rodriguez – Protect Your IP Before Pitching Your Idea

Sep 8, 2022

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BIO: Miguel Rodriguez is the CEO of the US Presidential Service Center. He has retired from an outstanding US government career and is currently a facilitator with the George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management Program.

STORY: Miguel was actively involved in developing government contracting with companies. Some of these companies would take his ideas and start side projects without his knowledge. This led him to learn the importance of protecting his intellectual properties the hard way.

LEARNING: Always have an NDA with you before pitching your ideas. Get compensated for your intellectual property.

“Protect your intellectual property right from day one when entering any business transaction.”

Miguel Rodriguez

Guest profile

Miguel Rodriguez is the CEO of the US Presidential Service Center. He has retired from an outstanding US government career and is currently with the George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management Program as a facilitator.

Worst investment ever

Miguel was actively involved in developing government contracting with companies. He didn’t realize for a very long time that in the course of this consulting, he was exposing his intellectual properties to the companies he was working with. Some of these companies would take his ideas and start their own projects on the side without acknowledging Miguel as the owner of these ideas. It wasn’t until he learned just how much he was losing that Miguel started copywriting his intellectual properties.

Lessons learned

Whenever you engage in any business discussion where you’re presenting your ideas or works, ensure everyone involved signs an NDA that protects intellectual property from going beyond that discussion.
If there’s a need for anyone to own your intellectual property, ensure that you receive a monetary return from that.

Andrew’s takeaways

Be careful when bidding for a massive project. Don’t let the excitement make you do anything to get it because you may lose something in the process and still not land the project.

Actionable advice

Protect your intellectual property right from day one when entering any business transaction. Before you give your pitch, let everyone know your deliverables and how you expect to be paid.

No.1 goal for the next 12 months

Miguel’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to develop strong relationships with other companies worldwide that will work together to build jobs and address food shortages in Africa and Latin America.

Parting words

“Don’t be discouraged by failure because it’s in failure that we learn. So take that failure and keep moving forward.”

Miguel Rodriguez

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