Why some founders see IP everywhere while others remain stuck in the operational grind – and how to make the leap from reactive to strategic IP thinking.
The Trust Problem: When CTOs Get Caught in the IP Middleman Trap
Ahh, the life of the CTO. The daily grind between your CEO, your CFO, and your R&D teams. Sounds like 24/7 fun. On top of it, there is this nagging Patent Attorney sending you emails with questions that keep you awake at night. How the hell did it come to that?!
The answer is simple. You, my friend, have “inverse” trust issues! You trust too much! You believe your team sent the attorney all the relevant data, and you believe your Attorney is asking all the relevant questions. The problem is…they don’t. Neither of them. And now you have to play the middleman. And the grind continues.
I have been a Patent Attorney and worked in startups for over 15 years, so let a veteran give you some advice. You need a professional to play this part. You will never become a Patent Attorney, and your Patent Attorney will never become one of your R&D team.
Get a part-time professional and let him do his job. Want to measure how much better s/he is then you in handling your company’s IP? here’s my top 5 KPIs for your fractional IP director:
- Portfolio Growth: Track the number of new IP assets (patents, trade secrets, trademarks) added to your company’s portfolio over time and keep a log to show how the IP portfolio is expanding quarterly or annually.
- IP Cost Efficiency: Compare the total IP-related expenses (e.g., filing, prosecution, and maintenance) before and after the fractional IP director’s involvement. Measure how much cost was reduced while maintaining or improving portfolio quality (especially critical for startups with limited budgets).
- IP-R&D Synergy: Track the percentage of R&D projects that lead to IP filings. For startups, this ensures that innovation efforts are efficiently captured and protected as IP.
- IP Portfolio Quality: Perform quarterly or annually audits to assess the relevance and strength of each IP asset. Use simple scoring criteria to ensure that each asset is strategically valuable to the company, focusing on quality over quantity.
- Time to First IP Filing: Track how quickly innovations or discoveries lead to a first IP filing. Startups need to move quickly to protect their innovations, so reducing the time between idea generation and IP filing is key.
You will thank me later, 100%.
The Mindset Shift: From IP-Indifferent to Seeing IP Everywhere
But here’s the thing – solving the operational chaos is just the beginning. The real transformation happens when you develop what I call “IP vision.”
I am talking with people, a lot of people. Founders, funders, entrepreneurs, VCs, NGOs, NPOs, if it has a pulse, or initials, I have talked to them.
And still I am surprised to see the vast differences within this group. Some are IP-indifferent, some are IP-minded, and some, well, some share my (paranoid?) state of mind and see IP everywhere. In employee contracts, in supplier negotiations, in JD projects, in M&As, everywhere.
Maybe I am young enough to still be surprised, but I am 100% old enough to notice that there is no rule-of-thumb in a-priori knowing what my next Zoom/Team/Meet meeting will look like based only on their founders’ age, R&D stage, or investment round. It’s still a mystery, that keeps me on my toes.
Now, while the >20-patent-families CEOs thinking IP is just a nice-to-have are a great professional challenge, I am naturally drawn more to my tribe, those who took the red pill, which enabled them to understand that IP, like the illusion created by the Matrix, is everywhere.
So, this post is my shoutout to one of my clients, who wrote me a heartwarming email, with a message saying “Your services are a top priority for us (even before my first salary from this funding). it’s clear to us how valuable your expertise will be in moving us forward.”.
You know who you are, my friend, and let me tell you, you are near the end of the Gaussian.
Conclusion: How do you transform from reactive IP management to strategic IP leadership?
- Break free from the IP middleman trap: Hire fractional IP expertise to handle the operational coordination between your R&D teams and patent attorneys, freeing you from the daily grind.
- Develop strategic IP vision: Use the freed bandwidth to start seeing IP opportunities in every business decision – from employee contracts to supplier negotiations to M&A discussions.
- Treat IP as a strategic asset: Stop viewing intellectual property as just a legal requirement or operational headache, and start leveraging it as a competitive advantage woven into your business strategy.
If you are a founder, or an investor, and want to take the red pill, which will let you understand what is occurring outside the illusion created by the Matrix, you are only a message away!
