Patents are extremely important for a startup generally (especially for getting funding from VCs). Not sure how much it affects funding in the software side of

Patents are extremely important for a startup generally (especially for getting funding from VCs). Not sure how much it affects funding in the software side of things (depending on what you actually do I would guess). Patents are helpful and provide some protection if you partner up with a another company and they steal your product (see the recent Cisco case). Owning a patent is not likely going to help you with a troll. You likely wouldn't be able to counterclaim infringement since they don't actually do anything. If you do get sued by an actual company, then a counterclaim of infringement would be useful for settlement/negotiations.