Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 27, 2014

I always advise software startups to file patents to protect their “secret sauce” from competitors, and to increase their valuation. The good news is that a patent can scare off or at least delay competitors, and as a “rule of thumb” patents can add up to $1M to your startup valuation for investors or M&A exits (merger and acquisition).

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Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 7, 2011

I always advise software startups to file patents to protect their “secret sauce” from competitors, and to increase their valuation. The bad news is that patent trolls can squeeze the lifeblood out of innocent and unsuspecting entrepreneurs, as exemplified by the current mess around Lodsys patent No. Different rules around the world.

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Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 13, 2012

I always advise software startups to file patents to protect their “secret sauce” from competitors, and to increase their valuation. They don’t insist on something very narrow, with proper technical content. Different rules around the world. What I have described so far is the situation in the US.

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Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 29, 2010

I always advise software startups to file patents to protect their “secret sauce” from competitors, and to increase their valuation. They don’t insist on something very narrow, with proper technical content. It is in the jargon not “technical.” Yet the software patent process is a mess. Patents are litigation intensive.

Patents 50

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