4 ms·

Guess its pretty hard to compete with large companies over patents simply due to the networks and connections large companies can use to distribute their stuff

Guess its pretty hard to compete with large companies over patents simply due to the networks and connections large companies can use to distribute their stuff more efficiently.

cookiecaper 9y ago
Yes. Small companies take note. Getting "NetScaped", where a big platform vendor re-implements your application and gives it away for free, is 100% normal. It appears that Swype wasn't naive about this and attempted to patent their innovation, but that BigCos conveniently circumvented that. It's practically always going to be cheaper to lock 3-4 engineers in a closet for a year and have them re-implement your software than to acquire a company. Software companies do not get acquired for the software. They get acquired because they offer access to something that BigCo can't easily replicate, usually a loyal audience in a sector that BigCo covets (e.g., Facebook and Instagram). Sometimes it can be about intellectual property, but as we see in this case, they have big fancy lawyers and you don't, and they'll work hard to circumvent you, so you'll have to have a very robust and thorough IP base to get them to decide it's better to just buy you. Swype is by no means the first innovative phone app to get NetScaped like this. It happens all the time. If you're building a company in this space, where the platform operators are also the main distributors and therefore don't need your audience, be very careful. It's dicey. [This may be a good argument for alternative app stores a la Amazon's Android offering.] Blockbuster anti-trust cases only happen for companies that are the darling of 1996 Silicon Valley and the symbol of the nascent internet revolution (i.e., not you).
- forkLding 9y ago
  Agree on this, its really not the innovative tooling (although could be if you're ahead by many years or have already the best minds in your company with an on-the-way revolutionary product) but really the customers/distribution and existing relationships the acquirer is looking for. Simply put, a technology advantage is still hard to really to quantify in business or acquisition strategy unless it already has a large amount of users or a huge advantage over building it yourself.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]

Guess its pretty hard to compete with large companies over patents simply due to the networks and connections large companies can use to distribute their stuff more efficiently.

cookiecaper 9y ago

Yes. Small companies take note. Getting "NetScaped", where a big platform vendor re-implements your application and gives it away for free, is 100% normal. It appears that Swype wasn't naive about this and attempted to patent their innovation, but that BigCos conveniently circumvented that. It's practically always going to be cheaper to lock 3-4 engineers in a closet for a year and have them re-implement your software than to acquire a company. Software companies do not get acquired for the software. They get acquired because they offer access to something that BigCo can't easily replicate, usually a loyal audience in a sector that BigCo covets (e.g., Facebook and Instagram). Sometimes it can be about intellectual property, but as we see in this case, they have big fancy lawyers and you don't, and they'll work hard to circumvent you, so you'll have to have a very robust and thorough IP base to get them to decide it's better to just buy you. Swype is by no means the first innovative phone app to get NetScaped like this. It happens all the time. If you're building a company in this space, where the platform operators are also the main distributors and therefore don't need your audience, be very careful. It's dicey. [This may be a good argument for alternative app stores a la Amazon's Android offering.] Blockbuster anti-trust cases only happen for companies that are the darling of 1996 Silicon Valley and the symbol of the nascent internet revolution (i.e., not you).

forkLding 9y ago
Agree on this, its really not the innovative tooling (although could be if you're ahead by many years or have already the best minds in your company with an on-the-way revolutionary product) but really the customers/distribution and existing relationships the acquirer is looking for. Simply put, a technology advantage is still hard to really to quantify in business or acquisition strategy unless it already has a large amount of users or a huge advantage over building it yourself.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]