+1.970.776.4355 · Loveland, CO · Russ Krajec, principal Currently accepting Fractional Chief IP Officer engagements →

  • What Angel Investors Want to Hear vs What is Best for the Startup?

    We looked at a company who had been more or less steady-state for several years but wanted an infusion of cash. They were operating in two smaller markets without fully capturing either of the two smaller, midwest cities, but were coming to investors asking for additional funds.

  • Bad Advice – Non-publication Requests for Patents

    Occasionally, I run into patents where the patent attorney talks the client into a non-publication request.

  • Bad Behavior By Angel Groups -“Due Diligence”

    Due diligence is supposed to help investors and the entrepreneurs, but many times it is a charade.

  • Gullible Angel Investors and Provisional Patent Applications

    Last time, we discussed the provisional patent application hoax perpetuated by patent attorneys. In this post, we look at the scam from the inventor/entrepreneur side.

  • The Provisional Patent Hoax

    One of the greatest hoaxes in our industry is the notion that provisional patent applications are a good thing. They are not.

  • How accelerators and angel groups lose their way.

    Ever drive by a construction site and see dozens of “supervisors” standing around, while one guy with a shovel is actually working? This is the perfect metaphor for the angel investment community, with the energetic, hard-working entrepreneur is deep down in the hole furiously shoveling, and everyone else standing around watching – and occasionally telling…

  • The Endless Science Project

    Some startups are the Endless Science Project. They start from a “cool” technological idea and work on endless science projects. They run one science project for a while, get tired of it, and move on to another one. Investors enable this to happen, and we, as investors, need to wean the entrepreneur.

  • Calling yourself an “Expert”

    I would much rather have men ask why I have no statue, than why I have one. – Cato the Elder, from Plutarch’s Lives

  • Patents Age Like Fine Wine

    We like to think about patents as call options on technology. With a call option, you have the opportunity, but not the obligation, to cash in the option before it expires.

  • Trading on the Differences

    Every time you see a news story or read a blog about a topic you know very well, it is amazing that the stories have lots of factual problems. This is not a problem, it is opportunity.