This post feels unfinished. There a number of places where sentences hang and thoughts don't feel completed. Is it just me? In general your article seems to

This post feels unfinished. There a number of places where sentences hang and thoughts don't feel completed. Is it just me? In general your article seems to be more about software patents and software startups but by omitting those words it comes across an over-generalising (e.g so what if 6% of AngelList companies mention patents? What am I meant to take from that?). Sure, you do mention 'hardware' startups but you talk about them as though this is something new. The 20 year time period only looks like overkill when your experience is in shipping code on a daily basis. If hardware startups only had 5 years to run, the only innovation created would be large incumbents copying the tech 5yrs after launch (instead of, say, trying to buy the company). I think software patents stifle innovation but I also see that there are benefits to patents as a whole.