For more than four decades, I have worked with inventors, founders, researchers, and innovation teams trying to answer one deceptively simple question: How do I turn this invention into income?

It is a fair question. It is also the point at which many otherwise intelligent, capable inventors begin to drift into the most expensive part of the journey. Not because they lack creativity. Not because the invention is weak. But because commercialisation is a different discipline from invention, and too many people try to do it alone, on instinct, while learning the rules mid-stream.

I understand the temptation to commercialise your invention yourself. At first glance, it seems sensible. You know the product better than anyone. You have lived with the problem. You have spent the late nights, the weekends, the prototypes, the conversations, and, in many cases, a painful amount of your own money. It is only natural to think that if you just push a little harder, protect it a little better, re...