[Discuss] OSH and Funding

[Andrew Quitmeyer]

Wanted to probe this group for advice and discussion about small hardware
company startup funding and dealing with open source hardware.

I have lots and lots of discussions with people in companies trying to
convince them to open source their wares, and I get varying reactions. But
one reply i keep getting  is that they don't WANT to patent their work, but
patents are the only things that their funders and VC's understand, and so
they HAVE to get a patent in order to get funding.

We have found this is often true in our early probings with my company (
comingle.io), where many VC's that we chat with get a little muddled when
they can't take an idea as clear cut as "they have X amount of patents, we
should invest/ buy the company" back to their company.

It's been a hard sell with funders relying on older models of building
companies, but maybe some of you have been sucessful at it? Maybe one just
needs to find enlightened rich people :)


__

Sincerely,

Andrew James Quitmeyer
Digital Naturalism - PhD
www.andrewquitmeyer.com
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