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. This patent holding company has charged infringement and demanded royalties from every app developer for the iPhone and Android, for a feature most agree has been in apps for many years.

Patents 93

Patents Software Technical Advisors Startup 93

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 12, 2009

This is part of my series with Advice on Raising Venture Capital. I recently wrote a post on how to Deal with your Elephants in the Room during your VC meetings. Elephants being big issues that the VC will be thinking whether you bring it to his/her attention or not. Skeletons in the Closet are these types of issues.

Venture Capital 311

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Examples 311

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 1, 2021

If you are approaching a recognized venture capital group, or even an accredited angel investor, a non-disclosure agreement is counter-productive. Disclosures relative to patents. Entrepreneurs should never disclose the details of a planned or current patent application to any outsiders, even with a CDA in place.

Ideas 159

Ideas Tips Technical Review Patents 159

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.

Patents 91

Patents Software Technical Advisors Innocal 91

SoCal Tech Calendar

JUNE 17, 2019

The program is open to entrepreneurs that are starting companies in areas that are likely to draw venture capital investment. LAVA is extremely pleased to announce its next First Time Entrepreneur training program. The program is not open to service providers. See [link] (more)

LAVA 100

LAVA Entrepreneur Screening Patents 100

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 22, 2018

We’ve also seen a substantial inflow of venture capital from all over the world.”. Caltech generates more patents than any other university while UCLA boasts more startups founded by its graduate than any other school in the nation. In fact, as is well-reported, the luster of Silicon Valley is fading.

Southern California 224

Southern California Dollar Shave Club SoCal Develop 224

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2023

Key to required patents or trade secrets. In many cases, one of the cofounders may bring some work in progress that can be patented, trademarked, or copyrighted. Every previous experience filing and winning a patent is a rare and valuable asset. Building the product may be the easy part of your startup challenge.

Equity 99

Equity Patents CTO Hire Startup 99

Xconomy

MARCH 22, 2018

Bose’s Steve Romine says that’s still an important focus for the Framingham, MA-based company, which has been awarded hundreds of patents for advances in technologies such as noise-canceling headphones. But in the past few years, Bose has also started to look outside its walls for other sources of innovation.

Venture Capital 70

Venture Capital Patents Research Invest 70

Berkonomics

AUGUST 10, 2017

The company grew to be well known in this limited niche and was operating at slightly above breakeven, when the Board and CEO decided to seek venture investment from what we hoped would be a first tier VC firm in Silicon Valley. All investors, including the VC firm, lost everything.

Venture Capital 243

Venture Capital Product Resource Marketing 243

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 9, 2020

Key to required patents or trade secrets. In many cases, one of the co-founders may bring some work in progress that can be patented, trademarked, or copyrighted. Every previous experience filing and winning a patent is a rare and valuable asset. Building the product may be the easy part of your startup challenge.

Startup 174

Startup Equity Patents CTO Hire 174

SoCal Tech Calendar

DECEMBER 1, 2016

We're honored to have two distinguished speakers joining us as panelists: Erik Rannala, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Mucker Capital, a VC fund, and co-founder of MuckerLab, ranked among the elite accelerators in the nation. Read more about Erik on the Mucker Capital website.

Burbank 100

Burbank Patents Venture Capital Google 100

socalTECH

DECEMBER 31, 2018

This morning's reflections are from Kelly Perdew , managing general partner of at Moonshots Capital (www.moonshotscapital.com). Raising money as a first-time VC fund is hard.In Many of my friends who are VCs (and some friends who tried to raise a fund unsuccessfully) warned me that raising for a first-time fund would be very difficult.

Capital 113

Capital Venture Capital News Invest 113

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 3, 2011

As the authors make clear in the book’s preface, their goal is to create a “definitive guide to venture capital deals” and “demystify the venture capital financing process.” They are both former entrepreneurs and current Partners at Foundry Group , a highly successful, early stage venture firm. No Often Means No.

Venture Capital 205

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Writing Guide 205

SoCal Tech Calendar

NOVEMBER 25, 2011

How 'IP Capitalists' are beating Venture Capitalists in Innovative Companies? Google bought Motorola Mobility for $12B to get access to their 17,000 patents. Nortel sold its 6000 patents for $4.5B Even IBM (the #1 in US Patents) sold over 1000 of its patents recently. to Apple, Sony, Microsoft, EMC consortium.

Technology Council 100

Technology Council IP TCOSC Patents 100

SoCal CTO

JUNE 9, 2010

Draw Your Ideas - A VC : Venture Capital and Technology , May 16, 2010 I saw Jack Dorsey give this talk at The 99% Conference last month. Why Lawyers Don’t Run Startups - Steve Blank , May 27, 2010 Startups need to have a great lawyer, accountant, patent attorney, etc. SlideShare: VC signaling in seed rounds.

Startup 248

Startup Venture Capital Conference Social Media 248

socalTECH

AUGUST 19, 2010

San Diego-based venture capital firm Enterprise Partners is one of the firms in a $39M, Series E funding round for Mountain View-based Complete Genomics , Complete Genomics said today. Illumina and Solexa, the firm Illumina acquired on August 3rd, have sued Complete Genomics on patent infringement of three patents.

Enterprise Partners 154

Enterprise Partners Patents San Diego Venture Capital 154

InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 13, 2016

Additionally, independent organizations, such as Pitchbook, compile annual lists of the number of VC-backed companies launched at US Universities. Note: due to the founders’ relative lack of experience, most student enterprises do not qualify for venture capital.

Venture Capital 100

Venture Capital Technical Review Class Patents 100

socalTECH

OCTOBER 7, 2010

A new report released today by Next 10 , a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy group, says that Southern California--and California, as a whole--leads the green innovation, cleantech venture capital, and energy market. billion invested in cleantech venture capital in the state since 2006.

Southern California 165

Southern California Report Orange County Patents 165

socalTECH

JULY 26, 2021

The company said the new funding will help it accelerate growth, further develop its patented brewing technologies, and complete delivery of outstanding pre-orders. The startup, led by CEO Roderic de Rode, said its hardware uses centrifugal force to make its own coffee, in addition to grinding and its other features.

Patents 113

Patents Los Angeles Mobile Funding 113

SoCal CTO

MAY 18, 2010

VCs in seed clothing: Chris Dixon, Mark Suster, and Naval Ravikant interviewed - Venture Hacks , May 5, 2010 Great discussion around VC signaling in seed rounds — and how these signals help or hurt your ability to raise money in the next round.

Startup 150

Startup SaaS Metrics Patents 150

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 24, 2020

UC Riverside licensed out the technology for Helicoid in March of 2019, to commercialize their bio-inspired patented helicoid architecture for use in composite materials. Helicoid is a spinout of the University of California Riverside. READ MORE>>.

Riverside 124

Riverside SoCalTech Patents Invest 124

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 21, 2023

Even if you have booked an hour with a VC, you should plan to talk only for the first fifteen minutes. Investors don’t need to know the implementation details of your patent or customer support plan. The average length of a funding pitch to angel investors is ten minutes. Don’t forget to ask for the order.

Slides 147

Slides Funding Technical Review Startup 147

socalTECH

AUGUST 17, 2010

Cibus said it is developing a patent-protected technology which helps develop environmentally friendly crop traits for the agricultural community, which are free from the market resistance and regulatory burdens of introducing foreign genetic material into crops. The funding appears to be part of an ongoing, $2.6M fundraising by the firm.

San Diego 140

San Diego Patents Venture Capital Capital 140

Xconomy

DECEMBER 14, 2018

The patent holder, the University of Toronto, gave companies the right to manufacture insulin. But the university also allowed them to patent the improvements they made, which enabled them to slap higher prices on each new version. In the nearly 100 years since insulin’s discovery, no generic version has become available in the U.S.

Patents 77

Patents Pricing Competition San Diego 77

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 27, 2023

Most universities have a file of patents from project work that they are willing to license to any entrepreneur for business commercialization, with little or no cost up front. These often lead to angel investors and venture capital investments later, or connections to local company venture funds for selected focus and technology areas.

Entrepreneur 110

Entrepreneur Class Startup Resource 110

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 30, 2014

Today I’m handing her the largest A-round check I’ve ever written as a VC as we lead her $10 million A-Round at uBeam. As I’ve written about recently, at Upfront Ventures we started talking a couple of years ago about wanting to fund stuff with more meaning. When I first met Meredith Perry she was 24.

Technical Review 418

Technical Review Software Review CTO Hire IP 418

Xconomy

MARCH 17, 2017

I hit the airwaves Friday morning to talk venture capital, startups, self-driving cars, and March Madness. Stocks and Jocks , a Chicago-based weekday business and sports talk radio program, invited me on the show to share my thoughts on some of the latest trends in the startup world. I also made some biased predictions about.

Patents 52

Patents Venture Capital Startup Capital 52

TechCrunch LA

APRIL 22, 2019

So the former venture capital investor from the consumer startup brand studio Launch set out to create one. With Naqzi on board, the company began filing patents for its unique process and the products it’s bringing to market, says Paiji. “E verything is proprietary everything is backed by patents,” she says.

Design 161

Design Patents Los Angeles Ideas 161

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 14, 2018

Newport Beach-based patent licensing firm Acacia Research has made its first move into the blockchain and cryptocurrency market, saying this morning that it has made an investment in New York-based Bitzumi. Bitzumi is developing technology for the cryptocurrency and blockchain industries, including a next generation decentralized exchange.

Research 124

Research Invest Patents Equity 124

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 15, 2022

Finally I realized that venture capital and angel investors are actually humans, despite some views to the contrary. Registered patents and other intellectual property. As a startup mentor, I’m always amazed that some entrepreneurs seem to be an immediate hit with investors, while others struggle to get any attention at all.

Entrepreneur 111

Entrepreneur Social Media Patents Mentor 111

Xconomy

JANUARY 25, 2019

Three decades later, I’m a successful biomedical researcher and serial entrepreneur with more than 120 patents to my name, and eight successful businesses under my belt.

Entrepreneur 110

Entrepreneur Patents Research Venture Capital 110

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 2, 2022

There are dozens of sources to help you construct your business model, and a good example is a classic book by venture capital investor Elizabeth Edwards, simply named “ Startup ,” which is really designed as a handbook for launching a company for less. Investors look for a sustainable competitive advantage, like a patent.

Sales 102

Sales Customer Custom Outsource 102

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 24, 2015

If you are approaching a recognized venture capital group, or even an accredited angel investor, a non-disclosure agreement is counter-productive. Disclosures relative to patents. Entrepreneurs should never disclose the details of a planned or current patent application to any outsiders, even with a CDA in place.

Ideas 106

Ideas Technical Review Patents Entrepreneur 106

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 29, 2017

Get an NDA before detailed patent disclosures. Entrepreneurs should never disclose the details of a planned or current patent application to any outsiders, until after a non-disclosure or other contract has been signed. Some entrepreneurs avoid the patent process, since patent details become public once a patent is issued.

Technical Review 61

Technical Review Patents Ideas Social Media 61

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 28, 2013

Helping solicit new business ideas and patents from individuals, federal research labs, universities and other R&D organizations countrywide. Members submit ideas and patents, the JumpStartFund community members and the JumpStartFund team vets them. El Segundo, CA based JumpStarter Inc., Social network for investors.

El Segundo 76

El Segundo Social Network Startup Patents 76

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 10, 2018

Key to required patents or trade secrets. In many cases, one of the co-founders may bring some work in progress that can be patented, trademarked, or copyrighted. Every previous experience filing and winning a patent is a rare and valuable asset. Building the product may be the easy part of your startup challenge.

Equity 95

Equity Patents CTO Hire Startup 95

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2021

In many cases, growing the ecosystem is so important that your best competitive move may be to invest in facilitating “competition,” such as Tesla Motors giving away their battery patents to other auto providers, without royalties, to build the ecosystem. Find funders who seek long-term returns. Money-making is different in the digital age.

Competition 142

Competition Software Review Social Media Customer 142