The Secret to Start-up Success: Secure IP from a Local University?

Angel investor and founder of inBounce Entrepreneurship Bijan Khosravi makes several important points in a recent article in Forbes titled, “Why You Want IP for Your Startup.”  First, Mr. Khosravi points out that IP, particularly patents, provide a competitive advantage.  Sure, you have a great idea, but competitors are essentially free to copy that idea without IP protection.  The first mover advantage may not be good enough, especially if you need time to expand to other geographic markets.  This seems to be particularly true in the age of Rocket Internet.  Second, Mr. Khosravi points to local universities as great sources of intellectual property for startups.  He points to the Association of University Technology Manager’s search engine for finding university technology [here, http://gtp.autm.net/].  He provides his own successful example of securing patents from University of California, Davis.  [Hat tip to Glen Gardner at Vortechs Group.]