Sure, but I don't get how this helps. Is it just the bigger company will hold off because you now have "ammunition" to also sue them for infringement in a kind

Sure, but I don't get how this helps. Is it just the bigger company will hold off because you now have "ammunition" to also sue them for infringement in a kind of MAD standoff? The article (and a sibling comment) also mentions investor reasons ("If it’s a startup trying to get traction against an established player, they may not get funding because they don’t get the patent in place,") but I don't understand why that's the case unless it goes back to some kind of signaling that you won't be an easy legal target. I'd think all a patent would show is that you have an idea, which investors would already know and is true regardless of whether the patent is pending or approved.