Question
Hi! We are a software development startup from New York preparing for a round of external financing. Broadly, we develop mobile apps for end-user privacy enhancements. While we believe in our product and have a great distribution/marketing strategy in place etc., we were wondering what we can do on the Intellectual Property end of the equation to attract more funding. What kind of IP Strategy are VCs looking for? What questions and criteria regarding IP should we be on the look-out for and how do we prepare best?
Answers: 1 public & 1 private
Angel financers generally look to see that you've got some IP strategy in place and have taken steps to protect your core ideas before disclosing them. The content of your early applications should be broad to cover changes as your product develops. VC firms have gotten quite astute at valuing IP, so merely bulking up a portfolio with daughter applications to make it look better will be transparent. They may even see that as a negative, that you're trying to pull something rather than be an honest partner with them.
If you're open source that's a whole new set of considerations depending on which license you're operating under.
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