Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Curtis Wadsworth, Founder and CEO of DorothyAI, located in Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
DorothyAI has built a search platform that brings patent information and market data together in easy-to-understand reports that provide patent lawyers and their clients with the information they need to make good business decisions. Our platform simultaneously queries multiple search models and returns results ranked by actual relevancy and uses various AI-based models, classification models, synonymization models, and more standard approaches to search, like word collocations. We've deployed the platform over the patent database, SEC and FDA databases, and other databases that provide competitive intelligence and market data.
Tell us about yourself
I have been working in the patent world for almost 20 years as a patent agent and associate in big law and then as a sole practitioner working with start-ups and small businesses. After I left big law in 2017, I met Mike Shamos, a distinguished career professor at the Language Technology Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. Mike is also a patent lawyer. We became friends over our shared frustration with a patent search. Mike had some ideas for making patent search better, which we explored using his master's student capstone projects. Having the type of information our platform provides has had an enormously positive impact on my practice, allowing me to quickly identify the most valuable aspects of my client's inventions and allowable craft patent claims that protect these assets. A patent is a powerful means for bringing technology to market. By reducing the costs of patent acquisition and identifying infringement risk throughout the process, we can give more inventors, scientists, and engineers a seat at the table.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
Getting through a merger with another start-up. DorothyAI merged with Activ8 IP in July 2022. We added market insight and report capabilities and added great people to the team, but aligning the interests of investors on both sides of the deal was challenging.
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
Remaining focused on short-term goals without losing touch with the big picture. Everyone wants to build a product that does everything. This is not financially feasible for a start-up. Keeping everyone focused on the timeline rather than their wishlist without being a tyrant is a real challenge.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Be prepared to be poor. It's going to be a while before you can generate enough revenue to support yourself and your team.
- Team first. You will not be able to do this on your own. Find people smarter than you to join your team and do whatever you have to do to keep them happy.
- Have fun! If you let yourself get bogged down with the thousands of things that are constantly going wrong, you will lose your mind. Don't take yourself too seriously. Laugh it off, and get back to work.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://www.dorothyai.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/curtis.wadsworth
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nerdlawyerdiy/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MyDorothyAI
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/curtis-wadsworth-j-d-ph-d-6a289263/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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