I. Valuation Reality 80 % of a seed-stage startup's worth is intangible IP. II. Four-Phase VSI Program 1. Discovery Canvas (patentability scans, trade-secret mapping). 2. Protection Layer (provisional patents, contributor agreements, code escrow). 3. Monetization (licensing, cross-licence pools, defensive pubs). 4. Governance (board KPIs, audits, global filing plan). III. Pitfalls to Avoid Missing inventor assignments, NDA overkill, open-source license conflicts. IV. Success Examples AI-Saa
S firm secured 5 patents, 3x valuation; Io
T startup leveraged IP-backed credit line. V. Investor Perspective Protected IP lowers risk premium, attracts strategic capital. VI. Toolkit Jurisdiction timelines, cost matrix, OSS risk checklist. VII.
Conclusion IP isn't overhead; it's growth fuel. VSI guides founders from concept to defensible moat.
