Lolle & Nielsen Inventions owns a lot of products, projects and patents, but after inventing the Upclimber-system, we decided to give the system it’s own company. This is our thoughts on why.
11th May 2016 was the day, we created the first company within Lolle & Nielsen Inventions: Upclimber ApS. The new company owns the Upclimber-system – a system that installs windows faster and easier, and at the same time improves the working environment for the workers.
The electric Upclimber hoist makes it easier, faster and more ergonomically responsible to install windows. Here it’s mounted on a platform.
Upclimber had been under development for 18 months, when we decided that the system needed its own company. Here are the reason why:
1: It’s a system – not a product
We mostly invent products. We’re currently inventing an ergonomic hedge trimmer for cemetery gardeners, Opløft is essentially a desk and while Smart//Mover has moved into the system-space with it’s add-ons, it was initially designed as a standalone product. Upclimber is different.
From day one it’s been invented and designed as a modular system. The hoist is the main module that can be mounted on a scaffold or a platform, and we see a lot of add-ons to come. This means that the system isn’t done when we release it, but will keep being developed.
Upclimber already consists of a ton of intellectual property – e.g. two patents pending – and we expect a lot more to come. For that reason we want to store all the IP associated with Upclimber in one company.
2: Protect it and prepare for the future
While a lot of products, inventions and projects resides inside Lolle & Nielsen Inventions, we want to make the borders between Upclimber and the rest of Lolle & Nielsen Inventions crystal clear by isolating Upclimber in a separate company.
The sheer size of the Upclimber-system means that it potentially can hurt the rest of Lolle & Nielsen Inventions, if it runs into problems, and we don’t want any unforeseen issues (think legal, development and market rejection) to hurt Lolle & Nielsen Inventions.
On a more positive note, the isolation makes it easier to get investors or partners onboard – when we want to expand into markets outside Denmark – as well as make a complete exit in a later stage.
3: It might (and hopefully does) become huge
After 18 months of development our expectations to Upclimber was getting pretty high. The system proved its worth in the initial prototype tests, and as it has a huge market potentially nationally as well as internationally we realized: This might turn into something big!
We have designed a system with great potential.
It could potentially be bigger than Lolle & Nielsen Inventions, which is the main reason why it makes sense to isolate it in a new company.
It is the first time we’ve made a company to isolate a product and its IP from the rest of Lolle & Nielsen Inventions, but it’s our clear ambition to do it again in the future in project with similar potential.
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