The following is a new business plan that is under development here. The current goal is to have it in place and ready to test by the middle of the year. I plan to start the company growth in earnest by the end of 2008, and then steadily take on more Developers as the growth can support it.

Concepts

Concepts are the end product of the system. As such, they carry great value, and are effectively treated as a commodity within the company.

1. The inventor of the concept maintains all rights of ownership of the concept prior to any work being done on it.
2. Once internal project work has been done, the ownership rights become modified based on the agreement created between the inventor and the company. Work will not be performed until the inventor confirms the agreement.
3. External Concepts - These are created by parties not directly hired or retained within the company network.
   1. Each submission will be reviewed for viability, marketability, and timeliness.
   2. Based on the rating created by the review, the concept may be rejected or admitted to the system.
      
   3. Prior to admitting the concept to the system, an agreement will be put in place between the inventor and the company to confirm their relationship and any details regarding division of royalties and compensation of development fees.
      
      1. One possible arrangement will be a set arrangement to confirm a minimum accepted percentage so as to provide a go/no-go standard for potential deals.
         
      2. It is possible that the outside inventor will be retained to continue development of the item, however, it will be at the sole discretion of the company to choose if this is the best route based on the inventor's experience in the field of the invention and with product development in general.
4. Internal Concepts - These are created by members of the development team.
   
   1. All members will have a standing division of royalties agreement executed with the company. This agreement will define the initial division of profits for new concepts submitted.
      
   2. The inventor of the concept will have the option of maintaining sole development rights on the concept for a given development period.
      
   3. If it is determined that the development of a concept is not adequately progressing, the managing developers can override the inventor's management choices.
      
      1. The inventor will be given notice of the situation first, and be given the opportunity to create an improved situation themselves or to follow a recommendation by the managing developers.
         
      2. If the situation is not adequately improved within the specified period, the managing developers will have the authority to implement a development direction of their choice, including removing the inventor from the development of the concept.
         
      3. In the event that an override situation occurs, royalties will be divided in the same way as if the inventor brought in more assistance themselves (ie. there will be no penalty for this, other than the normal division).
      4. It is hoped that this corrective mechanism will provide for more efficient development and serve to help increase the long term return for all parties involved. 
   4. Exclusion of concepts - In the case that a development member prefers to not spend any company time to develop a concept, it will be allowed for them to retain all rights to the concept and pursue licensing and/or promotion of the concept as long as they do not utilize company resources to do so.
      
      1. It will be up to the development member to decide if they want to register the concept within the system and confirm that it is excluded from company development in order to help alleviate any potential issues later on.
         
      2. In the event that it is found that a development member is using company resources to pursue a private concept development they will choose one of the following options:
         1. Immediately leave the company and reimburse the company for any time and resources.
            1. If this option is pursued, it will be possible to pay for this from future royalties that are collected prior to disbursement to the individual.
               
            2. Banning of future employment and/or possibly concept submission as an independent inventor.
         2. Immediately submit the concept to the system, confirming the amount of company time and resources used for the project up to that point.
5. Concept Lifetime - It has been experienced that even strong concepts may not find a suitable customer match for an extended period of time.
   
   1. Over the development cycle, prior to the concept being placed with a customer, the Managing Developers will review concepts and decide to continue with the development process or to wait and focus resources on other concepts. Many times a strong definition along with a good rendering will be enough to start the sales process. 
   2. Some concepts may turn out that they are just not able to be sold without further development. In these cases, the Managing Developers will review the available resources for continuing development, and make the decision based on estimated potential return and likelihood of placement.
   3. In the case that a concept is placed in this holding pattern, any of the Developers with a share of ownership in the concept can petition to the Managing Developers to be able to continue working on the concept during their open hours. Any significant expenditure of company resources will need to be pre-approved on the same basis as any other project, and the work will continue to be periodically reviewed for effectiveness.
   4. In the event that a concept is not placed within a reasonable period of time, the share holders of a concept may option buying the concept back from the company to be able to pursue alternate means of licensing and promotion of the concept.