The FORGE method
FORGE is how IPGuru turns a raw idea into a filing-ready invention. Five phases, Focus, Observe, Refine, Grade, Execute, with a gate between each. Every phase names real work, produces real analysis, and ends in a clear decision before the next begins. You never build on a foundation you have not tested.
Why we work this way
Most ideas fail not because they are bad, but because time and money are spent before anyone checks whether they should be. FORGE front-loads the cheap, decisive work and gates the expensive work behind it.
Focus and Observe are free. You learn whether an idea is worth pursuing before you spend anything structural.
Each phase is an activity you actually do, capture, research, build, test, deliver, not a vague stage.
Between phases sits a gate: a short checklist and a decision. You advance only when the evidence supports it.
Weak results loop back with specific direction, and a PIVOT lets you change course without losing your work.
The journey
Follow one invention through. Each phase shows the analysis it produces and the crew on it; each gate shows the decision that unlocks the next.
Not every project ends in a patent. For an improvement you would rather keep secret, IPGuru can take you to a trade-secret completion instead, documenting and protecting it without a public filing. Other objectives, such as open source, are on the roadmap.
The gates
A gate is not a wall. It is a short, honest checkpoint between two phases: a checklist, a readiness read, and a decision that is always yours.
Each gate is a few required artefacts, shown plainly as "2 of 3 done". Never a ticket system to manage.
The project scorecard gives an honest signal, in the journey header, of how ready you are to advance.
You advance, iterate back for more work, or change direction. You are never forced forward.
You can override a soft gate with an explanation. It is logged and carried into the application.
When a gate is met, Nova summarises what was achieved and proposes the next step. You confirm with one tap.
The gate out of Observe is where a free, validated idea becomes a paid project and the build unlocks.
The engine of quality
Refine and Grade are not a one-way street. A weak grade sends specific direction back into Refine: a thin embodiment count, a claim exposed by prior art, an objection from the mock examiner. Each pass hardens the invention. You watch the claims get stronger, cycle by numbered cycle, until the examiner has no substantive objection left.
Gold, autonomous iterative refinement
On Gold projects you can hand a gate to the Virtual Inventor, an AI that acts on your behalf. You set the goal and what success means; it does the iterative work to get there. You review the progress, and you make the gate decision.
Set your own success criteria, or pick a standardised set that matches your strategy: optimisation, new feature, blending products, or category inspiration. A goal is tied to a gate, for example:
It runs the refine loop autonomously toward your goal:
You stay in control of the two things that matter: you define what success means, and you decide when a gate is reached. The Virtual Inventor never advances a gate on its own, and a PIVOT is always yours to make. Gold projects only.
Changing direction
Sometimes the evidence says the angle is wrong. Vega, the crew's coach, coordinates a PIVOT the way Nova coordinates the project. It is a whole-project event: your current project is archived as a read-only record, a new one is seeded from it, and your grade carries forward at no charge. Nothing is lost, and the history of why you changed course is kept.
Who does what
| Phase | The analysis | Who leads it |
|---|---|---|
| Focus | Idea capture, first concept image | Nova, Kira |
| Observe | Market, competitors, early patentability, prior art | Cora, Vega, Sean |
| Refine | Imaging loop, description, draft, claims, embodiments | Kira, Remy, Sean, Iris |
| Grade | Deep prior art, patentability, mock examination, scorecard | Cora, Yuki, Noor, Sean |
| Execute | Final claims, disclosure, filing pack, plain-English, binder | Remy, Iris, Noor |
Nova coordinates throughout; Sean is the lead author of your deliverables; the patent team (Noor, Remy, Yuki) joins on an upgraded project. Meet the crew.
Start with the free phases and let the evidence tell you whether to build.
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