Zumiko H.
Partnership? My review, and some advice
I would like to say I agree with what Nick stated. I originally wrote a review that was flagged for review by ISP. It simply verified that my experience was the same as Nick's, but I want to help prospective inventors, so I will just say my experience was the same and leave it at that; but also offer advice. Here we go. 1. If a company claims they can save you 80% on services like the patent process, design and engineering, production, etc, make sure you verify this claim. If it is a significant claim, do your due diligence on this. An integrity company should be able to prove its position very easily on this claim. 2. If a company claims to have significant expertise in analyzing the viability of the potential of your product in the marketplace worth millions of potential sales as well as that they will be instrumental in making that happen, ask for verified evidence they have done so in the past in any capacity, particularly if that company is asking for a large amount of money from you and a chunk of your company. If they have, they should be very happy to share this with you. 3. If a company wants to partner with you and tells you that you will be the ultimate decision-maker on everything, see if that means financially also. Obviously, you will be spending money to bring your product to market. If they are asking for substantial money that they say will go to services to bring your product to market, do you get to be involved in deciding who those parties are, and do you control the money (which is your money) to pay these parties? If not, then talk about that disconnect of you being the ultimate decision-maker if that is the case. 4. When you get a product made and ready for market, if you were asked to put significant dollars up for this 'partnership,' ask specifically how much of that $$ will be allocated to marketing and what that marketing will consist of. For instance, paid ads are very different than simple SEO. It is extremely important to understand the details of this because marketing is absolutely crucial to the success of any product if you are going direct to market and not via distributors. Don't have any misunderstandings here. 5. It is one thing to do business with a company offering specific services to help you bring something to market as far as consulting fees, where that all lines out well. It is very different for a company claiming to be your partner who wants a significant amount of money from you and a significant portion of your company! This is a very significant decision. I hope this general advice helps you. I wish it had been provided to me before I made my decision so I am simply trying to help people with guidance. Good luck! P.S. 9/17/24 I have been alerted by the review that was responded to. I hope the owner has updated how they do business for the benefit of future clients. I stand by my review and experience entirely and maybe it has done some good. Further, the owner suggests I am not a verified reviewer, which is interesting because all but one review here is not verified and the one with four reviews only has 4 reviews in a 30-day time span and then is no longer. I thought that was an interesting point for the owner to make when all the reviews seem exactly like mine, but the owner feels that makes them invalid. That logic is interesting. Again, good luck inventors!
Response from Ideal Strategic PartnersSep 17, 2024
Hi Zumiko, Your review was flagged because it contained statements that are frankly untrue and misleading. In a comprehensive search of all individuals who have contacted us in the history of our company, there has never been one person containing your first or last name that we've ever communicated with. Your profile also shows that you have only ever posted one review on TrustPilot and are not a verified reviewer. Those points alone should give insight to the readers as to the validity of the review. In addition, we have requested (on three separate occasions) that you provide more information regarding your experience with our organization to substantiate the review posted. No response was ever received to those requests. Let’s start by clearly stating that we are NOT a “services” company. This means we do not have any clients. We do not work for anyone nor does anyone work for us. We extend offers to select individuals when they AND their project are a fit for what we look for. That said, while professionalism is paramount within our organization, we will be very direct in letting everyone know that we are not a fit for the majority of people who reach out to us. We will, however, always try to point people in the right direction if that is the case. We have summarized the main points of your review and have provided responses to each below : 1. Unverified claims of saving 80% on services like patents and production. Patents are not all created equal. Some require much more time and detail than others. This means, of course, that the cost of obtaining them will vary drastically. We have a very experienced Patent team led by an very experienced attorney who has over 2,000 patents filed and approved on behalf of his clients and has been practicing IP law for over 35 years. This firm handles the vast majority of our IP work and, thus, we do obtain significantly preferential treatment (including pricing). We are able to obtain “wholesale” pricing for our partners that they would not be able to obtain on their own. This is the same basic, fundamental economic concept that applies to production with our network of manufacturers/factories. In trying to figure out how we would “verify” this per your review, there is no way to do that as each portfolio partner’s needs and scope of work vary. Our method of accountability to our partners is crystal clear and defined in the Agreement that formalizes our partnership. We realize that this is something you wouldn’t know as we have never extended one to you. 2. Assertions of having significant expertise in assessing market potential without providing evidence. The evidence of the competency of our team can be found by examining the individuals who lead our organization along with our Advisory Network. While we do keep our portfolio partners/companies confidential unless they waive that, there are plenty of examples to substantiate the expertise in evaluating opportunities and potential for success. 3. Promises of the inventor being the ultimate decision-maker. Every project takes a unique path as entrepreneurship is not a linear journey. Some projects require more in the way of establishing distribution channels while others require more Direct-To-Consumer marketing efforts. Again, our clear and mutually-agreed-upon deliverables are our method of accountability. Our partners are also the majority owners of the business that we partner with them to build. This means that they are, indeed, the ultimate decision makers for the life of their company. We do not take any Board Seats or Voting Rights in our partnerships. It is our firm belief that if someone who did, indeed, engage with us and have an experience such as this, then they would have no issue identifying themselves truthfully and/or discussing their concerns directly. Please let us know if your position has changed. We are happy to discuss further. We sincerely wish you nothing but the best in all of your endeavors.




