It’s our birthday month! Patent Bots is officially eight years old.
To celebrate, we’re taking a look back at how things have changed and grown over the years - all made possible thanks to our great customers, advisors, and countless other supporters.
February 2018. The Philadelphia Eagles defeated the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl. The Winter Olympics took place in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Black Panther dominated the box office. And Jeff O’Neill had grown increasingly frustrated with the patent tools available and decided to build his own. Thus, Patent Bots was born.
That first year, Jeff was the only employee. He served as lead developer, sales person, and customer support specialist, while also maintaining his own patent practice. In those first days, Patent Bots had just two products to offer - patent proofreading and examiner stats. Yet by the end of 2018, the company had 13 customers using them.
Here we are now in February 2026. This year, the Seattle Seahawks defeated the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl. The Winter Olympics are underway, this time in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo. It’s too early to know which movie will dominate the box office, but so far Wuthering Heights has done well.
As for Patent Bots, we’re now five employees strong. We have six products (check them out if you haven’t already), and 479 customers using them (a number that is growing every day).
Along the way, we’ve accepted $0 in outside funding, which has given us the freedom to focus on longer-term goals, chief among them maintaining the highest product quality and focusing on the needs of our users. Our success is measured in big wins and small ones, challenges and fun, but most importantly in the number of patent attorneys we help every day. We’re in it for the long haul with our customers and not for what’s new and shiny and attractive to investors.