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Ask HN: How would you “hack” fundraising in SFA during 7 days

1 points by randomnames ↗ HN
I am visiting SFA / the Bay Area for the first time. In my pocket I have a pitch deck and some IP developed as part of a research program in Europe. I am arriving Saturday and have no plans, not even accommodation yet. What would you do?

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I know, sounds maybe a little bit naive, but I am fine with that :-) I am considering trying to couch surf or AirBnB - but where would you look? My plan is to attend as many meet ups as possible, in hopes to run into as many early stage investors as possible. Curious for your opinion!

3 comments

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brudgers
Curious if there currently is a product with users. Also curious about the status of IP ownership.

Good luck.

randomnames
Product: yes - Users: no - IP: yes. So in startup terms stealth, but with some very unique patent value proposition. Happy to share more non-public. As well sorry for the delay in getting back - right now still in China.
brudgers
I'm not trying to invest.

I'm not seeing a clear business model.

To me, producing a patented product in-house might be equivalent to self-licensing the patent. This makes the value of the patent primarily defensive and not revenue producing. On the other hand licensing the patent to others makes the patent revenue producing.

Which means I'm not seeing a clear business model. If there's a product, then users matter and the value of the patent isn't really relevant to the growth of the company, by which I mean the company could acquire users and grow without using a patented technology.

On the other hand, if the goal is licensing then it is primarily a marketing exercise and growth is likely to be more linear and in the form of periodic returns rather than in the form of capital gain on equity that is typically sought by the Silicon Valley startup investment industry.