As I do a victory lap after receiving my 1500# units let me stop and recap my journey up to this point. It’s going to be “wordy” and for those that know me know that’s just par for the course but being “wordy” in a world dominated by 15 second reels doesn’t really generate sales. But this post isn’t for that. It’s for that person starting their own home business. Along the way their were some specific challenges that I’m sure many wouldn’t face. E.g. the board game community is a notoriously fickle group that prides themselves on authenticity and when I was launching my Kickstarter the voices of criticism and outright personal insults came in waves. It was truly my first time I had experienced such a public backlash but what’s a good story without a little controversy? Besides, I had sat in multiple DRBs (disciplinary review boards) in the NAVY and the experience of groups of men who barely know me, spewing vitriol, idle threats and comments about my family prepared me for that moment and the internet might live forever but its trends have the memory of a goldfish.
Anyways, I soft launched “Battleshots” a little over a year ago when I was still in the NAVY. But the Journey is YEARS in the making. Like some of you I first saw “Battleshots” being played as a meme. (Think a DIY drinking version of the game “Battleships”) (this meme was seen by the Boardgame community as well, hence the lack of Authenticity comments) and I guess you might say that was the spark but it was about 4 years ago that I first started the process.
Step 1. Will I get sued?!
I mean no one goes into business with the intention of being poorer than when they got into it right? So my first thought and course of action was making sure that I could in fact utilize the name “Battleshots”. I was vaguely aware of Patents and what they did. So much so that when I went about googling how to patent a product I learned that I didn’t actually want to do a patent BUT a Trademark. Patents are for inventions! Trademarks are for the rights to a name and that’s what I needed. I’ll make a separate post after this regarding how to get a TM. It took quite a while to get tbh and during that time I became very familiar with Trademark law and its limitations. A key takeaway for you is to know is that you actually don’t NEED a trademark (most of the time). See, the law actually gives precedence to the company that used the name in Business first. So if you start a business selling a service or product and name it something that is unique then already you’re protected. So much so that if another company enters the same arena as you and unwittingly names the company similar enough to yours and then decides to Trademark it that you would still have precedence. Despite them getting a Trademark you would have what’s known as Trademark priority! So again, don’t fret about getting that TM unless you are like me and feel the added layer of security is nice.
2. But what if Battleships(Milton Bradley) sues me anyway?!
I mean … they might. We live in a litigious society and one of the many silly things about this country is that someone can sue you and lose but they still “win”. They “win” because they have lots of money and you have little money and your little money was drained fighting a stupid fight they initiated.
This is a fight I would gladly take.
Here’s why. A quick history. The game “Battleships” is actually pretty old and not surprisingly it was (presumably) invented by the Russians. But the first commercial version was available in ‘31. Some time later a company makes there own version called “Combat: The Battleship Game”. See, Ol Milt and Rad Brad made there own version around the same time too but they called it “Broadsides: A Game of Naval Strategy” it wasn’t until 1967 that they released “Battleships” the game that inspired the 2012 cinematic masterpiece “Battleship” debuting, Rhianna produced in part by Hasbro.
Point Being! - There’s a long history here, spanning a century, and at this point I’m just carrying on the tradition of bringing forth a new iteration of a tried and true trope to turn a buck as quick as one can turn a phrase.
3. The design - I knew early on that if I’m not going to be bringing a new idea then I would need make my design straight , as the kids would say.
Here’s what I learned, great design is a long process and it’s continuously fluid. Do not become attached emotionally to your initial idea. Making something simple, well, is surprisingly difficult. Don’t over invest time or money until you’ve ironed out all the kinks to your process/product. My mother told me something years ago that every Entrepreneur should do well to remember. “Fail Fast, Fail Cheap”.
True Entrepreneurs have an unlimited resource of new ideas. They almost always have limited funds and always have limited time. So, when your trying something new don’t fetishize your impending failure but ensure that if it happens you, say it with me now, “ Fail fast, Fail cheap”.
To be continued…
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