Engage an Intellectual Property (IP) Firm
In order to provide credibility to the investors it is advisable that entrepreneurs of the start-up get in touch with some IP firm, during early stages of the start-up itself before getting funded, to ensure that the start-up meets due diligence requirements of the investors. The IP firm can also provide confirmation to the start-up regarding freedom to operate their business.
Obtain Intellectual Property (IPR) Protection
Intellectual property rights (IPR), such as copyrights, trademarks, patents, contracts and trade secrets need to be established, much before posting of any campaigns.The start-up has to identify all types of its core technologies and obtain the relevant IPR for the same.
Secure a Clean Slate
Investors also perform due diligence to make sure that the IP portfolio owned by the start-up is completely owned by the start-up and is not shadowed by any claims from former employees, companies, institutions, or investors. The start-up should therefore ensure that any invention is assigned to the start-up and should not be in name of any employee of the start-up.
Showcase a Business Plan to the Investors
The IPR protection thus obtained can be used to subsequently showcase a business plan to the investors. Investors take a call on funding the start-up by extensively studying the range, strength, and protection offered by the IP portfolio of the start-up. If the IP portfolio of the start-up is strong, the funding from the investors does not stop with an initial round of investment but additional funding can be received in subsequent rounds of investment.
Cheers to becoming another benchmark in the start-up world!