Startup Capital with Charlie Pascal

By: Josh Sloat

Strategic Fundraising and Patent Value

Whether you’re a founder looking to take the next fundraising steps beyond bootstrapping, an aspiring angel investor looking to understand the risks of seed investing, or even a practitioner hoping to get a better grasp of how this all works hand-in-hand with patent strategy, this month's episode of the Patently Strategic Podcast provides an incredible springboard into the high risk, high reward world of strategic fundraising for early-stage startups!
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Our Guest Host: Charlie Pascal

To help us with the specifics, we’ve enlisted the assistance of Charlie Pascal. Charlie is the founder and principal attorney at Pascal Advisory LLC, where he’s spent the last decade focused primarily on working with early-stage tech and life science companies to navigate the legal complexities of everything from the pre-incorporation cocktail napkin stage to helping founders pick teams and build a board, on through our focus today, which is advising on all of the funding rounds from friends and family on through venture capital. Much like Aurora does with many of our early-stage clients, Charlie functions as what you can essentially think of as fractional general counsel for companies that aren't yet ready or able to engage full-time in-house legal counsel.
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Episode Overview

Charlie and the panel discuss:

• The various routes and rounds of fundraising available to early-stage companies.
• How patents can play into each and how differences in business models can significantly impact patent strategy. 
• As a founder, what goes initially into projecting a budget for fundraising needs, and later, how to think about valuation.
• How to get the most out of your patents when it comes to valuation and approaching investors.
• And great pro tips on some surprising sharp corners related to things like preferred stock, down rounds, the investor payout waterfall, and the very commonly used and freely downloadable SAFE equity agreement created by Y-Combinator.

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How to Listen

Patently Strategic is available on all major podcasting directories, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. We're also available on 12 other directories including Stitcher, iHeart Radio, and TuneIn, so you should be able to find us wherever you listen to podcasts.
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Resources.

To further explore the topics discussed, see the following past episodes and resources:
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• What Investors Want in Patents for key insights from an investor on how angels and VCs think about your patent portfolio and what it means in terms of reflecting the soul of your invention and its place in the market
• Government Grants and Patent Rights for a deep dive into the sometimes sneaky IP ownership strings that come attached to commonly sought grants like SBIR and STTR. 
• Key Considerations for IP Diligence for current and aspiring angel investors.

Transcripts​
We're also providing computer-generated transcripts for improved accessibility and additional reference opportunities.