MarkCrest - Step 10 | Document, Diligence, Partnership, Monetization
Be prepared to have all your so called ducks in a row. If you are working on a monetization or liquidity event then you will need to have the same documentation as you would if you decided to create a public company.
You have created your IP, protected, planned strategy and policies, access control, estabolished ownership & audits, reviewed infringement policies so you are ready to document your controls and armor so to speak.
Documentation is now the critical piece. Remember we talked about audit well this is the end game is you are looking for investment, transfer or sale of IP, engaging in partnership of other monetization processes such as licensing.
Whether it is a public entity, you are a private individual or a private corporation of entity any monetization or liquidation event is going to need a significant level of backup for any valuation.
Depending on the avenues of capital being accessed or proposed the due diligence is likely going to be deep and detailed. You need to have someone appointed to lead this effort or you need to document everything you have done in a binder format they can hand over to their team based on an agreement that the non public enforceable IP is yours.
All work consisting of patent and trademark registrations, employment contracts, non-disclosure agreements, monitoring subscriptions, logs and other backup will need to be in a form including digital and ready for inspection with well documented explanation of what they are looking at so there is no misunderstanding and speeds up the evaluation process.
Catalog all your binder and digital storage devices including the risks. This is similar to what they call a “Safe Harbor Statement” for a public company. Check on the sec.gov site to see what is used to protect public companies from litigation for the risks associated with financial disclosure and this should provide a good framework to protect against significant risks in the even the transaction or arrangement contemplated looks like it is going to proceed.
To streamline this process it is also helpful to save all documentation referring any activities with the IP including meetings and proposed or considered partnerships. The work you did on the audit could prove to be some of the most important pieces of the picture and it is integral to delivering the road map to the potential acquisition entity about the integrity of your processes and organization.
Document, document, document and prepare. It is worth the work if you are preparing for a liquidation or monetization event and will pay you back fin many ways including reduction in potential litigation and insurance costs.
Step 1: Idea
The starting point is an idea, a vision, an architecture, the "intellectual Property" that may be unique and could be valuable if protected. Click here...
Step 9: Infringement
This is one of the pieces of the process most do not pay enough attention. Value has been created with the IP and value can be created outside the IP with monetization and that process needs to have integrity without cost of legal actions related to infringement. Click here...
Steps 5 to 7 - Access, Agreements, Ownership
Important steps to monetization. Create policies surrounding your intellectual property. Understand what access means and how to protect. Create agreements to protect access and value. Document ownership.
Steps 8 to 10 - Audits, Infringement, Documentation
It is important to audit your intellectual property and status of each asset. It is also important to understand what infringement means and the best way to approach whether you are infringing or being infringed. Documentation will ultimately be the most important piece of the monetization process. Think of it as a documented audit trail.