Yes, but this ignores the fact that those patents are transferred to an acquirer upon the sale of your startup. Yes, the patent is largely useless to your start

Yes, but this ignores the fact that those patents are transferred to an acquirer upon the sale of your startup. Yes, the patent is largely useless to your startup. However, if you've proven the market, a patent could be an attractive perk to acquire your startup (rather than just copying and crushing it) since they can use that patent to keep other big players out.