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Your experience may be anecdotal, but it's also supported by data: 1. The 2008 Berkeley Patent Survey (http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=14290
by throwawaykf03 13y ago
Your experience may be anecdotal, but it's also supported by data:
1. The 2008 Berkeley Patent Survey (http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1429049 http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1429049), finding that while only 25% of all software startups file patents, about 67% of venture-funded startups do.
2. "Do Patents Facilitate Financing in the Software Industry?", Ronald J. Mann, 2005, (http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=510103 http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=510103), finding that the answer seem to be "yes", amongst other interesting conclusions.
- dnautics 13y agowell wait a second, whether or not they do facilitate is not the same thing as whether or not they are necessary for it to happen. Clearly, the latter is true since there's that other 33%
- throwawaykf03 13y agoYes, they're clearly not necessary, and you'll find many entrepreneurs right here who'll be living proof of it. But if VCs ask for them, having at least one patent does make it easier to secure financing. And there are other, less obvious, reasons VCs may be interested in patents. The second study (and other studies) showed that having at least one patent is correlated with significantly higher chances of a startup having a successful exit. The reasons behind this correlation is not clear, but if it presents such a powerful signal, VCs have a good reason to look for patents.