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DO NOT MISS OUR SEPTEMBER WEBINARS ALL FREE TO REGISTER!!
Tuesday, Sep. 15th, 2020
11:15 am - 12:15 pm Pacific Time
2:15 pm - 3:15 pm Eastern Time
The number of women inventors has quintupled since the 1970s, yet fewer than 20% of issued U.S. patents have at least one woman inventor, fewer than 12% of U.S. patent inventors are female, and fewer than 8% of U.S. patents list a woman as the primary inventor. Meanwhile, 36.3% of all businesses in the U.S. are women-owned, but the annual venture capital funding going to startups with women founding teams has been hovering around 2-3% over the last 12 years. The question: What can and should be done to close the gap? What are the short and long-term solutions? Foresight president, Efrat Kasznik, will be joining a panel of women experts, and will be addressing the funding gap.
In connection with this panel, Efrat has previously published an article on IPWatchdog titled: Boys Will Be Boys: Getting a Foot in the Funding Door for Women Entrepreneurs. Much has been written on women's disproportionate numbers as scientists trained in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), as well the under-representation of women as inventors of record on USPTO patents. These statistics relate to women's role in scientific development and inventorship, or in other words: in the creation of intellectual property (IP). Having said that, the reasons why women don't get funded have little to do with IP, and much to do with the institutional structure of the venture capital (VC) ecosystem, as well as the corporate representation (or lack thereof) of women in senior management and board positions.
Tuesday, Sep. 29th, 2020
11:15 am - 12:15 pm Pacific Time
2:15 pm - 3:15 pm Eastern Time
A study of the IP positions of Unicorns (i.e., startups with valuations of over $1 Billion) conducted in 2015 revealed that 30% of US Unicorns have no US patent assets at all, while approximately 62% have 10 or fewer US patent assets (i.e., issued patents plus pending applications). Some of the Unicorns analyzed have since started creating a solid IP portfolio, many are still falling behind. Is it in the best interest of management and investors of these companies to examine their IP position and analyze their exposure, particularly if they are planning to enter new markets? Are these Unicorns at a higher risk of impending litigation? How does the lack of patents impact the success of their exit events, like an IPO or acquisition? These and other questions will be discussed. Foresight president, Efrat Kasznik, will be a speaker/moderator on this panel.
This panel will discuss the Foresight Unicorn patents and valuation study, as published in an article on IPWatchdog titled: The Naked Truth: 30% of US Unicorns Have No Patents. Since we specialize in analyzing the valuation of intellectual property (IP) one hand, and the valuations of startups on the other hand, we took upon ourselves to look into the list of Unicorns and try to understand the patent position of these companies, and how it may be correlated with valuation. This article was heavily quoted by the IP and business media when we first published it in 2015. Our conclusions about the lack of significant patent holdings by US unicorns, are still valid today.
Speaker:
Efrat Kasznik, President, Foresight Valuation Group, LLC
Efrat Kasznik is President of Foresight Valuation Group, LLC, a Silicon-Valley based IP valuation and strategy consulting firm, and a Lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Efrat is a valuation and intellectual property expert with two decades of consulting experience, focusing on assisting IP holders across industries with the creation, commercialization and monetization of their intangible assets. She helps clients, ranging in size from Fortune 100 companies to start-ups, with IP and business valuations in support of licensing deals, IP and technology acquisitions, M&A transactions, financial reporting, strategic planning and fundraising. She frequently serves as a testifying expert in disputes involving IP and startup valuations and damages. Efrat currently serves as Chair of the High-Tech Sector - LES USA-Canada, and has been recognized as one of the top IP strategists in the world by IAM every year since 2013.
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