Building an IP position before a raise

What a credible position looks like

One or two applications whose independent claims cover the technical thing that makes your product hard to copy. Written assignments from every inventor, recorded. Consistent, accurate language on the website and in the deck. And a view on freedom to operate, even a scoped one.

What does not help: a dozen filings on incremental features, each with claim 1 describing a product variant. They cost money to prosecute and renew, and they signal activity rather than strategy.

Timing

Filing before the raise matters for two reasons. The pitch process itself is a disclosure risk - an architecture slide can enable the invention. And filings made after a term sheet look reactive.

If runway is tight, one well-drafted application is a better use of the money than three cheap ones. Drafting quality is what decides whether the asset is worth anything, and it is invisible at the time.

What to actually do

• Prioritise claim quality over filing count.
• File before the pitch process, not after the term sheet.
• Get title clean and recorded first.
• Be able to say, in one sentence, what a competitor would have to avoid.