Provisional Patent?

He is referring to his filing a provisional utility patent application, not "getting a provisional patent." Filing a provisional utility patent application is a somewhat-abbreviated and generally less-expensive alternative to a non-provisional "regular" utility patent application. The main difference between a provisional and non-provisional application is that the provisional application generally does not have claims and it is not examined. A provisional application is filed primarily to get a priority filing date and if the applicant follows the provisional application with a non-provisional application within a year's time, the applicant can claim the provisional application's filing date as the priority date (at least for that matter in the non-provisional that was also disclosed in the provisional). Not only is it very advisable to at least file a provisional application before disclosing technological details, a prudent investor will want to see a startup take whatever steps available to protect its IP. In the long run, there isn't much that is "cheap" about the patent process – perhaps only the $65 micro entity provisional application filing fee. You should consult patent counsel in private to discuss your IP goals to get actionable advice.