Michael D. Moberly, Principal, Founder kpstrat and ‘Business Intangible Asset Blog – Business Intangible Asset Strategies and Risk Mitigator

This post offers – describes relevant, experiential, and reliable perspectives – insights to-for founders – management teams of startups and early-stage businesses to consider, irrespective of sector, product, or service to…

• measurably – memorably differentiate their business things intangible to-for prospective investors, as well as, consumers, customers, clients, suppliers, and/or licensees, etc.

Those seeking – vying to appear on the radar of prospective investors’ (VC’s) as viable candidates for investment, are…

• obliged to articulate (paint) a discernably authentic + persuasive portrait that conveys an objective, collaborative, and sustainable passion to progressively strive to achieve – sustain planned steps, stages, and outcomes.

Key underliers to the above lie with recognizing – appreciating that 80-90+% of every startup’s – early-stage business’s attractivity, initial valuation, competitiveness, market entry, and revenue generation capability is reliant on intangible assets, ala

• various forms, contexts, and applications of intangible – non-physical assets
• which translates to which, how, where, and when every management team unravels, differentiates, applies, and relies on specific (mission essential) collections – collaborations of intangible assets, e.g.,
• developing clear (lucrative, competitive, sustainable) paths to-for asset monetization, commercialization, safeguarding, and risk mitigation, which…

collectively – collaboratively – lucratively – competitively – sustainably…

• convey knowledge, knowhow, experiential prudence, and an appreciation for the importance of ensuring strategic resilience, and
• converge as relevant – memorable differentiators to prospective investors and applicable to abusiness’s operating culture.

I experientially examine multiple sources (authored pieces, etc.) for each post to convey the…

• relevance of – importance for business leaders, management teams, boards, and investors to differentiate, articulate, and direct attention to business’s ‘mission essential’ intangible assets (not solely their IP). This practice underlies all 900+ posts published @ ‘Business Intangible Asset Blog’.
• effective strategies for early-stage businesses – startups to develop, introduce, apply, exploit, and safeguard,
  • the right (forms, contexts, applications) of intangible asset, ala  
  • intellectual (knowledge, knowhow) capital,
  • structural (process, procedure) capital, and
  • relationship (association) capital,

at the right time, in the right way, in the right place, and at the right cost, while designating – articulating – treating same as sustainable, resilient, and ‘mission essential’.

I have attended – spoken at numerous venture capital forums wherein founders – leaders of private and university-based startups and early-stage business’s (often engaged in some facet of the bio-pharma R&D arena) made presentations to…

• gatherings of variously interested parties, VC investors, and/or their respective on-site representative,
  • the latter charged ‘asking questions’, assessing – differentiating ‘pitches’, and executing an initial introduction, and perhaps coordinating a follow-up.

Respectfully, VC’s (venture capital) is generally ‘not in it for the long haul’, that is, their interest – the nature of their investment tends to be focused on 24-36 month increments from which their ROI is projected – contractually expected.

Without exception, investor expectations are dependent – reliant on the invested management team to…

• execute their plan – strategy as willed and on time,
• align same with investors’ guidance, and
• recognize + convert their applied for – issued IP and business specific – ‘mission essential’ intangible assets into sustainable, valuable, competitive, and revenue generating assets, without either,
• encumbering risk or challenge which stifles momentum or undermines – detracts from the relevance – viability of the underlying R&D and management team reputation,

Particular – perspective applied to this post was gleaned from…

• Doug Leone, Managing Partner, Sequoia Capital Global, TechCrunch Disrupt Moscone Center – San Francisco 9-16-18.
• CNBC – Jessica Bursztynsky ‘Start-up investors are warning of dark days ahead as boom times are ‘unambiguously over’. May 28, 2022

The ‘Business Intangible Asset Blog’ is experientially-researched, written, and produced by Michael D. Moberly, to provide perspectives, insights, and additional and sometimes alternative perspectives to readers, ala business leaders, management teams, boards, and investors, etc., to aid in identifying, distinguishing, assessing, valuing, safeguarding, and lucratively – competitively utilizing -applying their ‘mission essential’ intangible assets. 

Readers are-encouraged to review and comment on this, and other posts wherein arrays of issues related to business things intangible are authentically and practically conveyed.