-- If you don't know the problem, you may be that problem. --> Look to your right. --> Look to your left. YOU in the middle are in the way--you're blocking progress, so lend a hand and become useful. --> Exchange business calling cards having names and addresses of fellow 'idea people' found at your IASL meeting. --> Arrange to meet them again during the month to check each other's progress.

-- We don't have weigh-ins at our IASL meetings and maybe we should? -- Like something similar to Weight Watchers for inventor comparisons: "How far we have progressed?"

-- We see familiar faces and feel that the guy or gal sitting to our right and left are smarter than we are, or surely they are more advanced? -- So-what? Nothing is wrong with that! You should link-up with those who can do you good. -- Go on, you have my permission ;-) Go ahead and team up.

-- "Twenty years from now you'll be more disapponted by the things you didn't try than by the ones you did. So, throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the tradewinds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." -- Mark Twain

-- InnovateVMS, the Venture Mentoring Service of Innovate St. Louis, was started in May 2007 to focus on educating and mentoring entrepreneurs in the St. Louis area.

-- Innovate St. Louis and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation worked together to model InnovateVMS after MIT's highly successful mentoring program. Our program matches teams of experienced mentors with each entrepreneur to provide coaching and advise for developing that venture's product or concept.

-- It is a free service for qualified start-up companies that could benefit from the advice and counsel of business veterans.

-- Mentors:
-- Our mentors bring a wealth of experience and knowledge from many industries, as well as the desire to assist ventures in their early stages. We strive to provide unbiased, objective advice, thus InnovateVMS mentors may not invest in, or have an operational interest in, the companies they mentor. Mentors meet monthly as a group for networking and updates on the ventures, as well as volunteering their time for mentoring sessions.

-- Ventures:
-- Our services support start-up and early-stage ventures in the St. Louis region, covering a range of technologies, services and industries. Interested candidates are interviewed to determine compatibility with the program.

-- Support:
-- InnovateVMS is honored to be working closely with the academic community of St. Louis. We appreciate the guidance, support, and collaboration of these institutions in working with InnovateVMS to grow the entrepreneurial culture of our region:

- Harris Stowe State University
- Saint Louis University
- University of Missouri - St. Louis
- Webster University
- Washington University in St. Louis

-- Additionally, InnovateVMS has received generous funding from the AT&T Foundation and the Ameren Community Development Corporation.

-- If you are interested in becoming a mentor, or having your company mentored, please contact us at:
info@innovatevms.org

Innovate St. Louis One Metropolitan Square, Suite 1300, St. Louis, MO 63102
(Phone) 314-444-1154

-- This is your homework assignment: I want you to create a list of answers to the following question: "How many more ways can a Zippo lighter be used, other than using one to light a cigarette, cigar, or smoking-pipe?

-- Ten-plus years ago, when this was first presented to our group, we each came up with a variety of ten different things. And collectively, we combined our answers and the total was twenty. -- And over the month I gave it more thought and by the next month's meeting I discovered as many as thirty!!

-- "Over 16,500 design patents were issued in fiscal year 2004." --

-- "Everything from can openers to storage boxes have been stylized. A 32% increase in the number of employed industrial designers during the last five years."

-- "Form follows function." -- When you create an article, imagine how it will look.

-- You can't sleep. This "idea" won't let you go. It is terrific - and if you can get it patented, you'll become RICH! - R-i-g-h-t

-- You call that number you've seen on tv. They tell you that they are putting papers in the mail for you to sign. You just can't wait for the mail to arrive with this [#@$%] contract. You read it, but ignore the cover letter explaining your legal rights, and you sign and send in these papers.

-- You 'fool,' you just blew it!! And that's not good.

-- Or, you looked in the telephone book and called a patent attorney? He or she preferred that you made an appointment and came in to discuss your "invention." -- Again, this is not the better way, but it beats dealing with an 'unscrupulous invention developer,' as you could have mis-happed before? --

-- The better way of dealing with an 'inventive idea' is calling your family's lawyer and he will suggest a colleague patent attorney. Someone you both can trust.

-- The reason I say "Someone you can trust" is because many other patent attorneys give you just what you asked for--they get you only a patent.

-- "So, -- isn't that what I want?" you ask. -- "No," I say. "Is that what you really need?" -- "Where will you be then?"

-- What? You think you're smart? -- Let's test your smartness.

-- We will do an improv night by tossing out suggestive thoughts--you know, ideas that can lead to other ideas--that can lead to inventions.

-- Here is how it works: -- For instance, someone mentions that not only are men and women living longer but they are growing taller as well. -- Someone then says, "Furniture is still made with the seats and table-tops the same heights." -- Somebody also notes that doorways are still standardized, so large furniture can't be brought through them. -- Someone notes that many houses have double-door entries. Another says "Yes, and they used to have double-door French-doors in the Living Rooms, with sliding-door partitions separating rooms." -- "And wardrobes for closets." -- "Large storage trunks, hope chests, chifforobes." -- "And all they're doing now-days is putting wheels under them and making them with lighter and stronger materials."

-- "So, what can we add or change?"

-- "We have newer and better lighting resources." -- "We can make thinner and foldable, Living Room walls." -- "We have much better heating and cooling." -- "We have automated time-controlled devices." -- "We can transmit sound over small hidden receivers and have video pictures using entire walls." -- "We can change the color and scenery of our rooms in an instant." -- "Wow!" "And all we had to do is dream and someone can be - they must be - already making it." 03/12/2005

-- "Beyond 2005: Top Technologies That Will Redefine the Hotels of the Future"

-- "St. Louis Missouri : Hotels : Real Estate : Restaurants"
-- There's no business like show business - "Sauce Magazine"
>--> "Top Secret Recipes - What's New"

-- -- QUIZ FOR PEOPLE WHO KNOW EVERYTHING

-- This is a quiz for people who know everything! I found out in a hurry that I didn't. These are not trick questions. They are straight questions with straight answers.

>> 1. Name the one sport in which neither the spectators nor the participants know the score or the leader until the contest ends.

>> 2. What famous North American landmark is constantly moving backward?

>> 3. Of all vegetables, only two can live to produce on their own for several growing seasons. All other vegetables must be replanted every year. What are the only two perennial vegetables?

>> 4. What fruit has its seeds on the outside?

>> 5. In many liquor stores, you can buy pear brandy, with a real pear inside the bottle. The pear is whole and ripe, and the bottle is genuine; it hasn't been cut in any way. How did the pear get inside the bottle?

>> 6. Only three words in standard English begin with the letters 'dw' and they are all common words. Name two of them.

>> 7. There are 14 punctuation marks in English grammar. Can you name at least half of them?

>> 8. Name the only vegetable or fruit that is never sold frozen, canned, processed, cooked, or in any other form except fresh.

>> 9. Name 6 or more things that you can wear on your feet beginning with the letter 'S'.

>> Answers To Quiz:

>> 1. The one sport in which neither the spectators nor the participants know the score or the leader until the contest ends . . . Boxing.

>> 2. North American landmark constantly moving backward . . . Niagara Falls. (The rim is worn down about two and a half feet each year because of the millions of gallons of water that rush over it every minute.)

>> 3. Only two vegetables that can live to produce on their own for several growing seasons . . . Asparagus and rhubarb.

>> 4. The fruit with its seeds on the outside . . . Strawberry

>> 5. How did the pear get inside the brandy bottle? . . . It grew inside the bottle. (The bottles are placed over pear buds when they are small, and are wired in place on the tree. The bottle is left in place for the entire growing season. When the pears are ripe, they are snipped off at the stems.)

>> 6. Three English words beginning with dw . . . Dwarf, dwell and dwindle.

>> 7. Fourteen punctuation marks in English grammar . . . Period, comma, colon, semicolon, dash, hyphen, apostrophe, question mark, exclamation point, quotation marks, brackets, parenthesis, braces, and ellipses.

>> 8. The only vegetable or fruit never sold frozen, canned, processed, cooked, or in any other form but fresh . . . Lettuce.

>> 9. Six or more things you can wear on your feet beginning with 'S' . . . Shoes, socks, sandals, sneakers, slippers, skis, skates, snowshoes, stockings, stilts.

HAVE A GREAT DAY